Good or bad: synchro, pad fork picture

[135sohc]

I wish there was a way! Its hard to do that to heat treated steel.

So when you gonna fire up the forge, cnc and make us some new gears then ? It just kills me every time I think about how much stuff new venture made for everyone and our transmissions are such oddball things compared to everyone else.

you can reshape them with a small file, Just make them pointy again and they will be good. No need to add material.

2nd gear was the worst just from all the mashed metal burr's that were formed up top. I took a dremel with a sanding drum and gently whizzed the worst of the offending crap off but didnt want to go much further. I'll try the file idea tommorrow though. My spare parts 523 will be giving up its selector rings to the cause though, they were all in much better shape. I'm thinking newer/better/more pointy-points will mesh better with the more rounded over points than trying to mesh two semi rounded over spinning metal objects.

[BadAssPerformance]

Yeah we got screwed, LOL...

Wonder if the dog teeth can just be "sharpened" ?

[135sohc]

Unrelated to the current rebuilding process. 2-3-4-5 in my DD have been 'notchy' when its very cold outside and yesterday 5th wouldnt even work So I took the end cover off to see if there was anything outwardly wrong. Expected to find a mess inside there but quite the opposite... Didnt go any further than 5th since there wasnt much to see further in. All original 255,000 miles




Found a shifter adjustment lock pin so tomorrow I'll readjust the crossover cable.

[BadAssPerformance]

255k, wow.. not too bad there.

As for notchy shifting, bushings OK? What oil is in it? If it gets better once its warm, could be an oil issue?

[135sohc]

Its a mixture of poly and factory bushings. Castrol 5w30, when its warm outside everything is ok.

[BadAssPerformance]

How long has the oil been in there? I used to run Castrol 5w30 in a 520 and it was find year round, but ran Castrol 10w40 once (all I had when the trans was apart) and it was HARD to shift in the winter until it warned up. ... Maybe Redline MTL would be better?

[135sohc]

Some of the oil in there was probably the original factory fill, its been 'exchanged' a couple times but never a complete drain and refill to get everything out. I have 2 quarts of amsoil 5w30 MTL but I dont know how well it would mix with the c0cktail of stuff in there now ?

[BadAssPerformance]

Hmmm.... yeah need to flush it out. no drain plug mod yet I take it? Pulling an daxle and tilting the car on its side very carefully can get some more out?

[135sohc]

No drain plug yet. The diff would have to come out and thats a whole can of worms I'm not ready for yet.
I think for now I'll just fill it up and let it be, keep shifting like grandpa to keep everyone inside happy. I'm wondering though if the clutch isnt fully releasing sometimes and thats the notchy-ness because the input shaft, pinion shaft, gears/snychros arnt fully freewheeling while shifting ?

I did put a 'newer' piece of brass on 5th, original looked fine but maybe it was worn enough to not grab the cone and slow things down fast enough.

[BadAssPerformance]

or theres some 200k+ mile gunk built up in the synchro sets?

[135sohc]

There was a very light grey residue coating on everything, especially in the oil sump but hardly anything to get excited over.

[Force Fed Mopar]

I'm running 5w20 oil in mine right now, shifts the same as it did w/ ATF+4. My shifter is worn a bit though, the white plastic pivot ball in the shifter has play in it. Causes some missed shifts when speed shifting, probably some notchiness too.

BTW I was able to install a drain plug in my trans in the car, w/o removing anything. Was just real slow and careful about it. The little bit of shavings that might go through when the bit breaks through will flow out with the oil draining out. Been driving on it for a year now w/o any issues from it. Just make sure you use a thread sealer on it, even with a pipe plug.

[135sohc]

filled it up w/fresh 5w30 and played with the shifter adjustment. Crossed my fingers while pulling out of the driveway and went for a short test drive... All is good so far and maybe improved. Found the source of some annoying persistent noise and it turned out to be the shifter bushing for the selector cable, quick spray of lube shut it up.

[BadAssPerformance]

Cool, glad its better, ready for another 200k miles

[135sohc]

Little update on this. Nothing worse but nothing really improved enough to say its 'fixed' to my liking or maybe I've just become over sensative from driving other newer 5 speed cars that have much more greatly refined transmissions ? and what feels like I'm forcing it into gear is actually 'normal' for a 523 especially when its got a ton of miles on it like this one does.? Either way after the little tear down and inspection last week I have a much higher and renewed level of confidence that this transmission can live to atleast 300k and not be in danger of self destructing and leaving me stranded somewhere. Some time probably this coming spring I will drop it out to replace atleast the input shaft bearings (now that I have the tools to service them) and the differential bearings (still source the tools) since they are most definetly worn and the source of the noise when coasting in gear.

[shackwrrr]

Did you sharpen the dog teeth at all? That will cause it to be hard to get into gear.

Why did this topic get locked?

[135sohc]

Didnt touch anything, the teeth on the 523 parts were all still in very good shape. Locked part was an oops.

[BadAssPerformance]

Maybe with that many miles it could be sloppy shift forks or rails or rail bushings too? Ya know, like something is binding?

By "sloppy" I mean like the fork slops around on the rod so engagement to the slider is not as perpendicular as it could be... or maybe something bent?

[cordes]

Maybe with that many miles it could be sloppy shift forks or rails or rail bushings too? Ya know, like something is binding?

By "sloppy" I mean like the fork slops around on the rod so engagement to the slider is not as perpendicular as it could be... or maybe something bent?

I could easily see that as being the case. I would check the fitment of the forks to the rails for sure.

[135sohc]

All of the forks seemed to still have a tight fit on the rails, none of the roll pin holes were hogged out or sloppy from what I could see/feel with the end cover off. I thought about those little bushings... Are they tinned bronze or just a highly polished steel insert ?

my normal shift sequence is 1-2 @ 15 mph, 2-3 @ 20-25, 3-4 @ 30 mph and 5th @ 40 mph. very little rpm change between gears

---------- Post added at 01:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:40 PM ----------

Add on: If something was bent wouldnt the fork pads show signs of distress ? You saw the pictures, those 5th fork pads hardly have a wear groove on them.