Gunslingers Tranny problem from the FCT.

[Gunslinger]

Well guys the hits just keep on coming.  I posted earlier that I have a significant oil leak at the rear of the shift tower, the barrels that house the shift rods are apparently worn so oil is sprayed up on the shift rods and works its way out of the tower when I shift.  I thought the easiest way to address it would be to just buy a new tower from KW.  You know, new tranny, new tower, no leaks. 

Well the tower assembled to the tranny just fine, little tight but no forcing needed.  That was the good news, on driving the tranny made the most awful squalling, I thought a dying pig was in the jeep,  made noise in every gear, but not all the time, just when shifting then it went away when driving, I looked all over for it, finally took off the shift tower and put the original back on, all of the noise went away, smooth shifting.  great!  In looking at the KW shift tower I found 1. a casting repair in the tower that was not done well, it leaked oil at a fair rate.  2. both of the shift forks had grinding marks on them in various locations, where they had rubbed on internals of the tranny.  Nice!.. drained the tranny and  Tcase, a fair amount of metal chips came out with the oil, flushed with a 0-16W full synthetic motor oil, drained again, no chips, refilled with GL-1 80/90.  BTW I talked to KW about it, they said return the part, full refund, no argument, no issues. Good customer service.

So Now I'm back to square one. I still have a shift tower that leaks at the rear through the shift rod boss.  I saw that there are some posts on grinding flats on the shift rods to allow drainage, I also saw a mention of drilling the housing to allow oil to flow back into the tranny from the shift rod boss.  Has anyone done that, it seems like the easy fix and does not require disassembly.

Tim, yes the overdrive is awesome, and when I finally get done with this project I will enjoy it.  Again, this is Triple X we are talking about; everything must be done 3 times before its over!
   

[athawk11]

There are a few ways to solve this issue.�
1.      Originally, there were 2 plugs (small round discs) on the back of the rails.� These might be hard to find�and do seem to get pushed out by the rails and lost.� Try to find a set.

2.      Find an M38 shift tower.� This version has threaded plugs.

3.      Take my approach seen below�.

This is a little mini-project I did a few years back when I installed a sealed bearing on the front of the T-90.� I wanted to seal both the front and rear.� For the front, I went down to my local hardware store and purchased 2- ��� (maybe 1/2") copper pipe caps.� I trimmed their length a bit.� I cleaned the port, added some sealant and drove them in with a hammer.
 
For the rear, I made a small plate.� I drilled and tapped a �� mounting hole at the rear of the tower, in between the shift rails. I smoothed the T-90 surface with a grinder. I also had to grind down one of the rails that protruded beyond the tower edge while in the rear position.� I can�t remember which, but it will be obvious if you try this.� I added some sealant and screwed the rear cap to the tower.� Some recommend that you should put a groove in the rails or case so oil can flow back, but I didn�t do this.� My ports were probably sloppy like yours.� The oil has enough room to flow back inward.� The result�no leaks from my shift tower, even after a few years have passed.� It�s an easy project.�