Transmission Progress

I began my holiday weekend by leaving work in Dave's truck and heading east to Pittsburgh. I had found another AX-15 transmission on craigslist.com, and after speaking with the seller on the phone, I decided that it sounded like it was worth the money ($325) and the trip (2.5 hours).



It ended up being a really good trip because I was able to obtain a number of different parts that I needed all at once.



In addition to the transmission, I bought a radiator fan cover (my old one is too long for the new engine), a transfer case shifter (for shifting into 4WD), a master/slave cylinder set-up (for my clutch), and a black seat which I am now regretting because I can't find a matching one online and I just discovered yesterday that it doesn't recline.... great.



I also bought a steering column and a power steering pump for Dave. He happened to call me while I was still there and I told him that this guy had EVERYTHING, so if there was anything he needed I could check, and of course the guy happened to have both things Dave wanted and new exactly where the stuff was despite having a garage filled with stuff.



I had a nice surprise on Monday when I showed up at Dave's place to get some work done: the firewall had been painted and clear coated and was looking very nice and clean.



I finally removed the motor from the engine stand and lowered it to the ground with the cherry picker so that I could mount the flywheel/clutch.



I had to go to Tractor Supply Co. to get bolts that would fit in the crankshaft plate-thing (not sure if it has a technical name). The bolts ended up being the perfect size and the flywheel bolted up nicely.



Next I used a clutch alignment tool to make sure that the clutch disc was properly aligned with the crankshaft, flywheel and pilot bearing. Then I bolted on the pressure plate. I once again did not have the right hardware but luckily Dave had a few coffee cans full of bolts and I was able to find some that worked.



Finally, after a bit of a struggle, Dave and I managed to get the transmission mounted to the engine. It was difficult because the engine crankshaft and the transmission input shaft were not at the same height, so the transmission needed to be simultaneously lifted a few inches and slid forward so the shaft could fit into the clutch disc and pilot bearing.



I finally had the two units secured together and it felt good to have made this much progress. The next step will be to attach the motor mounts to the engine and to hoist it up into the engine bay so that we can figure out where on the frame the engine mounts need to be welded. Then the engine can be bolted in permanently and the wiring harness can be reconnected (this will probably be one of the most difficult tasks of the entire project).