523 questions

[Gaboon]

Looking for a little guidence.

I've had a 523 trans with a 3.77 final drive in the shed for a while and think I want to use it to replace the hybrid 555/520 3:50 final drive I have in there now with an OBX diff.

I pulled the 523 apart today and everything looks pristine.
1st question: Intermediate bearing part# is "07NU0720/238" Is this the correct bearing?
2nd question: The intermediate shaft has a sleeve on the end with part#07NU0720/23" one less digit than the bearing. Is this correct? A sleeve from the factory? And if correct, should I weld it?

Next, I have a late model A555 intermediate shaft and input shaft. Can I make a better trans using that gear set on the 523 intermediate shaft? If so, what in all do I swap over? Just gears and use the syncros from the 523?

Correct me if I'm wrong but the OBX will work with the 523 ring gear, correct?

Next, will someone come over and do the work for me?

Thanks.

Joey

[4 l-bodies]

Joey,
What some people do is use the speed gears from the late 555 on the 523 intermediate shaft. Obviously then would also use the 555 input shaft. The ratios are a little more favorable than the 523's. Yes with your hybrid 523 you would then have a small spline 523 if you went that route. You won't be able to use the intermediate shaft from the 555 because the pinion gear on the shaft won't mate to the 523 ring gear. The OBX will bolt up to the 523 ring gear after setting bearing preload. You will want to measure and set this before attaching ring gear to OBX.
Can't come over tomorrow the commute is a little too long :-)
Todd

[Gaboon]

Joey,
What some people do is use the speed gears from the late 555 on the 523 intermediate shaft. Obviously then would also use the 555 input shaft. The ratios are a little more favorable than the 523's. Yes with your hybrid 523 you would then have a small spline 523 if you went that route. You won't be able to use the intermediate shaft from the 555 because the pinion gear on the shaft won't mate to the 523 ring gear. The OBX will bolt up to the 523 ring gear after setting bearing preload. You will want to measure and set this before attaching ring gear to OBX.
Can't come over tomorrow the commute is a little too long :-)
Todd

Thanks Todd.

I think I'll go that route then and install the 555 gear set onto the 523 intermediate shaft and use the 555 small spline input shaft.
No problem setting the pre-load and if I need shims, I have a trans shop just down the road from me who helps me out.

[onerippinturbo2]

what year is the 523? the 92's had the strongest gears in them already just like the 555's

[cordes]

what year is the 523? the 92's had the strongest gears in them already just like the 555's

I believe the 3.77FD was only offered 92+.

the OBX will work. Also, I would have the sleeve welded to the shaft. Many, many guys have had it come off and begin to eat the case under heavy loads at this point. 4 or so tacks with the TIG torch seem to solve the problem.

[Gaboon]

what year is the 523? the 92's had the strongest gears in them already just like the 555's

Not sure what year it is, I'll look at the tag when I get a chance.

I believe the 3.77FD was only offered 92+.

the OBX will work. Also, I would have the sleeve welded to the shaft. Many, many guys have had it come off and begin to eat the case under heavy loads at this point. 4 or so tacks with the TIG torch seem to solve the problem.

So should I use the 523 gears or swap over the 555 gear set?

I was planning to add a few tig welds to the sleeve for that very reason.


Thanks guys.

[cordes]

If given the choice I think the 555 gears look stronger.

[Gaboon]

If given the choice I think the 555 gears look stronger.

I assembled the 555 gears onto the shaft this weekend, blasted the case and painted it, this thing looks like new. The sleeve will be welded today and I'll begin assembly sometime this week. Still have to drop the trans out of the car....I haven't even taken the car cover off yet this year.

[Reaper1]

I have a simple question about our gearsets:

Has anyone stripped a gearset from ANY of our trannies (excluding the 525) from just purely power production? I know plenty have broken them, but there's always been another underlying reason. The reason I bring this up is: I am starting to think that picking one gearset over another (555 over 520, etc) due to strength of the gearset is not even worth talking about.

[cordes]

I have read about people destroying gears in 520s. This was long enough ago for me to believe that it wasn't just bearings being worn etc. IMO there must be a huge difference in capability between the coarse pitch and regular gear sets.

[dwh4784]

A local guy here has stripped 3rd gear at least twice on stock 523's. Rockslinger is his handle but he's more active on td.com.

[mopar-tech]

I have read about people destroying gears in 520s. This was long enough ago for me to believe that it wasn't just bearings being worn etc. IMO there must be a huge difference in capability between the coarse pitch and regular gear sets.

Correct- The 520 and 523 have a finer pitch gear and the steel is not the same spec as the 555 and 568 (reportedly)

The 523 will be a touch stronger than the 520 due to the better 5-gear support and I have managed to kill 520's even with a chrome-moly plate. Third is right in the middle and the gearset deflects under high torque and rips the teeth right off.

[Reaper1]

I can agree that 3rd is in the middle of the gearset and is the weak link due to the reasons mentioned. Has there been anybody in recent years that have stripped any? I honestly haven't seen much of people destroying gearsets. It's bearing failing, shafts getting eaten up, roll pins, synchros...all dumb stuff that means nothing to the actual strength or durability of the tranny considering how old they are and unknown lives.

The 520 and '90 (possibly '91) 523 have a finer tooth pitch on the gears for sure. After a certain point the pitch got more course for the A523 because at a glance to an untrained eye it's hard to tell a 523 gear from a 568 or 555 gear in the later ones.

So, if somebody out there can say that they have seen a rash of A520's or 523's give up due to gear stripping at XXXhp/XXXtq in a XXXX# vehicles, alright. But we don't see it like the Nissan guys or the Honda guys where they have so many failures they know the gears are weak. I honestly don't believe we actually "know" due to the low occurrence count (seemingly anyway).

[dwh4784]

I'll ask Luke (rockslinger) to chime in. It's two maybe three 523's he has stripped 3rd in in recent years. It is in a van, I think he runs at least 20psi and races anything with a pulse so it definitely sees some full boost pulls.

[Reaper1]

Awesome! Yeah, I'd love to get some more input on this. My feeling is that there is a fear of using anything but the strongest thing available in every build. I think people's options might be a lot wider than they think if you eliminate the thinking that you need the biggest/baddest SOB out there.

[Aries_Turbo]

i put a 93 523 in my reliant with a obx. the 568 is still on the shelf.

im not going to go totally insane and max everything out though. stock head, 50 trim, slightly ported 2 piece intake, stock exhaust manifold. i dont envision problems.

i did kill a 91 523 though but i still havent pulled it apart to see what i broke. it started making noise after a 2nd gear burnout and then made gravel in a tin can noises after a 2nd or 3rd gear roll on that hit 20psi.

Brian

[mopar-tech]

Awesome! Yeah, I'd love to get some more input on this. My feeling is that there is a fear of using anything but the strongest thing available in every build. I think people's options might be a lot wider than they think if you eliminate the thinking that you need the biggest/baddest SOB out there.

Depends on what you are building and how you are going to use it.

For most drivers a 520 or 523 is fine. You build a 2.5 that has some boost running thorugh it that trans is only good for a few days.

Been there and done that.

[acannell]

I stripped A523 3rd

http://www.turbododge.com/forums/f4/...boom-help.html

[Ondonti]

i put a 93 523 in my reliant with a obx. the 568 is still on the shelf.

im not going to go totally insane and max everything out though. stock head, 50 trim, slightly ported 2 piece intake, stock exhaust manifold. i dont envision problems.

i did kill a 91 523 though but i still havent pulled it apart to see what i broke. it started making noise after a 2nd gear burnout and then made gravel in a tin can noises after a 2nd or 3rd gear roll on that hit 20psi.

Brian

I killed a 91 3.50 543 the same way. On my way home from the track I was doing some high gear pulls and decels and it just started sounding like gravel being crushed. Drove it the next 20 miles home and when removed, it sounded the same when imput shaft was turned. Never opened it up. Will someday. The later 3.77 sets have the courser teeth and thats all I ever ran in my Duster after the small spline transmission got sick.

Depends on what you are building and how you are going to use it.

For most drivers a 520 or 523 is fine. You build a 2.5 that has some boost running thorugh it that trans is only good for a few days.

Been there and done that.

Purely by numbers its been factually shown that most of us lose our bearing sleeve before anything else happens. No driver errors, shockloads, or whatever to question. The fact that the sleeves were not walking off 10-15 years ago attests to the fact that there wasn't much horsepower behind all these transmission destroying vehicles.
There are different styles of 523/543 gearsets and that can't be ignored capability wise.

I would still rather run a small gear setup if I wanted the perfect track car (the kinda stuff reaper1 is more interested in). Closer gear spread where it matters.

Having personally seen a 525 run 115mph in the 1/4 for years on slicks with no weight reduction also precludes me from claiming a transmission can't do something. Maybe an owner can't. I know I don't have the knack for being nice to drivetrain parts. That is probably a lack of patience and maturity (regardless of age).

[Aries_Turbo]

The later 3.77 sets have the courser teeth and thats all I ever ran in my Duster after the small spline transmission got sick.

....and you ran 500+hp through those gearsets. yeah my 91 was a 3.5 gearset unit. i hope the 3.5fd stuff survived.... cause i have a full 568 rebuild kit and crazy good used synchros from cliff to make a 568 with a 3.5fd if the 523 stuff survived.

Brian