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Front input shaft seal leak on the 5 speed M59 transmission

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Offline nprecon

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Front input shaft seal leak on the 5 speed M59 transmission
« on: April 01, 2016, 11:15:02 AM »
Buster developed a leak in this input shaft seal.

Around here O'Reillys, and the standard box automotive parts stores only carried a seal for the automatic transmission.  The only place around my area that could get this seal was NAPA and it takes them three (business) days to get one.  IF I had known there was such an issue obtaining this seal I would have ordered one from on-line ahead of time so it was readily available for installation.

Ed Martin, our local mega-GM dealer stated their computers say this seal/part is no longer available.  However, when I got on line, Tonka Chevrolet Parts Online shows they carried the seal. ???   At any rate, thought I'd post this info in the event some one else is in need of replacing their seal or seals as well.  It's item #6 in this diagram.



http://www.gmpartseast.com/chevy/components/2000-tracker-4wd_speed-manual-transmission-internal-parts-tj040880104-le8m59j10305.html

« Last Edit: April 01, 2016, 11:17:08 AM by nprecon »
'02 Chezuki Tracker with a 2 Liter and 5spd.  It works for me!!!

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Offline nprecon

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Re: Front input shaft seal leak on the 5 speed M59 transmission
« Reply #1 on: April 02, 2016, 07:23:28 AM »
Installing a new clutch and throw-out bearing while the tranny is out too.  Only 60K on the kit but the throw-out bearing was failing so they warranted the whole kit for me.  I was thankful.
'02 Chezuki Tracker with a 2 Liter and 5spd.  It works for me!!!

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Offline beagle..t

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Re: Front input shaft seal leak on the 5 speed M59 transmission
« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2016, 08:02:13 AM »
good deal on clutch   
new rig aka "the mule" 2002 tracker
V6 swap auto  ,2 dr ,2" BL,2" jeffs kit 512 gears warn hubs and 30/9.5/15 BFG AT

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Offline nprecon

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Re: Front input shaft seal leak on the 5 speed M59 transmission
« Reply #3 on: April 02, 2016, 09:30:52 PM »
good deal on clutch

For sure!   I was very surprised.  That took a lot of the "sting" out of the repair cost.
'02 Chezuki Tracker with a 2 Liter and 5spd.  It works for me!!!

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Offline nprecon

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Re: Front input shaft seal leak on the 5 speed M59 transmission
« Reply #4 on: April 06, 2016, 08:17:44 AM »
New seal and clutch parts installed... but still having the bearing noise. Think it is a bad bearing on the main shaft.   So new bearing, synchronizer and seal rebuild kit ordered.
'02 Chezuki Tracker with a 2 Liter and 5spd.  It works for me!!!

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Offline nprecon

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Re: Front input shaft seal leak on the 5 speed M59 transmission
« Reply #5 on: April 06, 2016, 03:18:55 PM »
It turns out to be the lower rear shaft bearing of the tranny.  The bearing was still in one piece... but the outer race had about  a 1/4" of lateral play in it!   If I had decided to "just roll on it" some more I am sure the ball bearings would have separated from the races and strategically mixed into my gear clusters.  The shaft appears to be unharmed.  I will try to remember to get a pic of the bearing.

Odd that this bearing went bad.  It was down low in the case to where it should have received plenty of gear lube.

Chevy Tracker parts are mostly "discontinued" at dealerships so finding the "onesie-twosie" parts are starting to become more problematic already.  Like the seals and input shafts.

Rebuild kit arrived today (instead of next Monday) from Cobra Transmissions.  The lower bearing in the pic below is the culprit.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2016, 10:03:50 PM by nprecon »
'02 Chezuki Tracker with a 2 Liter and 5spd.  It works for me!!!

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Offline nprecon

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Re: Front input shaft seal leak on the 5 speed M59 transmission
« Reply #6 on: April 15, 2016, 09:29:28 PM »
Transmission is rebuilt and back into the truck.  No more bearing noise!  When the case was split the inside of the tranny was clean as new.  You can still see the Royal Purple contrast against the gears and case.  It's good stuff.  I only use it in my transmission though.

I had been running Royal Purple 75W90W gear oil since I put this tranny in.  This is the tranny I had bought from a gent in Oregon about six years ago and installed it when my clutch went out the first time (instead of waiting four or five days to order a new input shaft for the original transmisison).  The input shaft end had worn badly on the pinion bearing end.  This one had a good input shaft when I installed it and... the input shaft was still in great shape after about 50K miles I have put on it since installing it.  I'm guesstimating this tranny had around 150-170K miles on before the front seal leak and bad bearing was caught.

Oh, and I have the new clutch kit in it now too.

When it first went back together.... the clutch pedal didn't feel right at all. I had to depress the clutch pedal way too far for it being a new clutch.  I thought about it and talked about it for a few minutes and decided to source a shim for the flywheel.  I went with a .025" shim.  Shims typically come in .025 and .050 thicknesses.  A regular license plate is about .048 thick to give you an idea on the thicknesses.  Normally, you only shim the flywheel when you have had it resurfaced.  Typically they shave .020" off when resurfacing the face of the flywheel.  When they do this (with flywheels on hydraulic clutches) they typically add a shim to the flywheel to return the distance they shaved off.  There isn't any adjustment in pedal play with hydraulic clutches.  They operate within a very narrow margin of movement. Too little and they won't fully release.  Too much and they won't properly engage.

This was the second clutch going into my truck.... so my reasoning was the clutch discs had worn on the flywheel for 208K miles, plus each time we also had taken an air grinder with a scuff pad over the flywheel to freshen up the surface, plus I figured the throw out bearing arm pocket had worn from the slave cylinder engaging it for over 208K miles... so I ordered the .025 shim from Rock Auto.  Even though Rock Auto listed the shim as "fitting" the 2 liter Tracker flywheel, it had to be modified some to fit the bolt pattern. You can see the shim in the blue and red package in one of the pics below.  At any rate, the clutch pedal depth feels good now and engages and disengages properly.  It is more better than it was.

Oddly. the Cobra Transmission rebuild kit only had the one needle bearing for the back of the input shaft in the kit.  There were three more needle bearings in the transmission.  Two full needle bearings and a unique needle bearing made in two halves.  The original needle bearings appeared to be in good shape though.  The old synchronizers in the tranny were still in great shape as well (surprisingly)... but went ahead and had the new ones installed because I had already bought them in the kit anyway.  May as well use them.

The shifting is very precise now.  Also discovered the spring under the shifter/above the shifter sheet had broken.  Don welded it together for a short term fix.  I later e-mailed Brent at Trail Tough about sourcing one of these springs.  He told me they only came as a part of a complete new shifter assembly... but that he had a used one he would sell me for $10.  I'm taking him up on it.  They are a strange shape and I'm VERY doubtful I would find one on the open market any time soon.

« Last Edit: April 15, 2016, 11:57:43 PM by nprecon »
'02 Chezuki Tracker with a 2 Liter and 5spd.  It works for me!!!

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Offline nprecon

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Re: Front input shaft seal leak on the 5 speed M59 transmission
« Reply #7 on: April 15, 2016, 09:37:01 PM »
Also, I ordered a half dozen of those little detent balls from Figmo at Roadless Gear.  Roadless Gear is yet another great company to deal with for parts for our trucks.  FIGMO bends over backwards to help you out with what you need.

Even though these detent balls are advertised for the transfer case.... they fit in the transmissions too.  There are four or five of these little devils in the transmission under the gears on the shafts.  Hard, small steel balls will take weird bounces when you lose one when pressing gears off or on and they are terrors to find on a floor with other stuff laying around.  If you can't replace a lost one... your assembly work comes to a stop.   Lost only one during the reassemble but had spares on hand.  Worth the money. Chances are great that if I own Buster for another 10 years I'll need these for a transfer case rebuild or upgrade.


http://suzuki.roadlessgear.com/detent-ball-for-samuraisidekicktrackerx90-t-case
« Last Edit: April 30, 2016, 09:14:17 AM by nprecon »
'02 Chezuki Tracker with a 2 Liter and 5spd.  It works for me!!!

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Offline nprecon

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Re: Front input shaft seal leak on the 5 speed M59 transmission
« Reply #8 on: April 29, 2016, 06:45:09 PM »
Received the (newer) used shifter spring from Trail Tough today.
'02 Chezuki Tracker with a 2 Liter and 5spd.  It works for me!!!

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Offline nprecon

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Re: Front input shaft seal leak on the 5 speed M59 transmission
« Reply #9 on: April 29, 2016, 06:53:34 PM »
The new(er) spring is about 1/2" taller than my old, broken and welded spring.

Remove the four phillips screws on the outer sides of the console, unscrew the shifter knob, remove the four 12mm bolts holding the shifter sealing boot down, lift the shifter sealing boot upwards and then press downward on the retainer and turn a quarter turn, and then lift the shifter straight up and out.  I can see why Brent said these springs only come as a part of new shifter assembly.

The lower metal ball of the shifter is a part of the metal shifter shaft and the upper shifter (that has the threaded end for the shifter knob) appear to be attached by molded rubber to the bottom and doesn't appear to separate.

I decided to chuck-up the upper part of the shifter in my vice (with leather padding) and was able to, literally, screw the old spring off and the new spring back onto the shaft.  Greased the ball and shifter tip and re-installed.

New spring is now installed and I can feel a slight improvement in the spring tension when shifting to reverse.  I was finally able to put my console back together so the inside of my truck looks "normal" again.
« Last Edit: April 30, 2016, 09:12:20 AM by nprecon »
'02 Chezuki Tracker with a 2 Liter and 5spd.  It works for me!!!