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| [GMCnet] Transmission Freshening & Then Some [message #118494] |
Fri, 11 March 2011 23:31  |
Ken Henderson
Messages: 8726
Registered: March 2004
Location: Americus, GA
Karma:
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Senior Member |
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Y'All have been left out of the fun we've had around S. GA the past week.
As we may have reported, Stick Miller's transmission began to act up: When
cold, it would often quit working. When placed in reverse, it might move a
little and then quit, after which no gear would engage. Then it began to
overheat and to leave a trail of smoke behind the coach, even with light
load.
When I discussed it with Bill Bramlett, his reply was, "Well, I'm going to
be in Gainesville, FL; I guess I could come by there on my way home and we'd
take a look at it. I need to teach someone to work on these things
anyway...". So, early last week I cleaned up the 3 spare transmissions I
had stored in the barn. Stick put his coach on my service rack and pressure
washed the drive train. Then he and I disconnected the axles and other
stuff preparatory to removing the transmission. I ordered a couple of
transmission overhaul kits, including steel discs. I was surprised at the
price of <$115.
Last Friday afternoon Bobby & Bill arrived and he hit the ground running --
we had the transmission out and on the work bench in about 3 hours. On
Saturday we tore the TH425 down and discovered that it had some badly worn
parts so we elected to reassemble it and work on one of my spares.
On Sunday, we (MOSTLY Bill, of course) disassembled, cleaned, and
reassembled a '75 motorhome transmission which I'd had, with no oil pan
mounted, for 5+ years. It turned out to be in excellent condition
internally, having probably never been torn down before. On Monday we
installed it in Stick's coach using, as we had for removal, my X7525-like
engine gantry and two hoists. It went pretty well. We also repacked all of
the axle CV joints and installed new boots. On of the outers was torn,
throwing grease everywhere. The other had no clamps on it and had leaked a
little. Apparently neither inner joint had ever been opened because they
still had the factory clamps which were magnetically applied, and were
filled with the awfulest black liquid I ever had the misfortune of spraying
all over myself and the shop. The boots Stick bought from Advance Auto,
made by Dorman, seem to be pretty nice pieces -- 5 or 6 folds of soft,
resilient material. Only time will tell how they stand up, but they applied
easily. They even came with Band-It clamps, though they MAY not be long
enough to double wrap -- we used my bulk material from McMaster-Carr.
By Tuesday evening we'd gotten Stick's coach rolling again. BUT, the 1-2
and 2-3 shifts were very late. We quit in disgust. Richard Sowers arrived
from Fayetteville, NC to video the planned Wednesday TH425 seminar. John
Sharpe also arrived to participate. A couple of other people were expected,
but because of forecast very heavy rain, reneged.
Sure 'nuff, Wednesday dawned cloudy and windy. But, Hallelujah!, just
before turning the first bolt to remove the transmission from Stick's coach
to hunt the shifting problem, we made one last check: Kickdown ("Detent")
solenoid voltage while moving the accelerator pedal. We learned that a
defective switch was causing 12 VDC to be applied to the detent solenoid at
anything above released pedal. Problem Solved!
By the time Richard had the lights and sound equipment set up, the
thunderstorms had arrived and boomed throughout his filming of Bill's
disassembly of the TH425. Richard's got MANY hours of work to do trying to
filter out the rain and thunder noise (my shop roof is metal and the
insulation didn't dampen the noise much).
On Thursday we happily wrapped up the filming and sealed the transmission
for storage. I began to think, "Now how where should I store this? For how
long? What criteria should I use to decide who to let use it? How much
should they be charged if they do? What ... ?
Friday (today) was to be the start of the Pre-FMCA rally at the farm, so we
moved Bill's, John's, and Stick's coaches to the farm, set up tables for
tonight's BBQ, got the hunting jeep running, and generally prepared for the
day. Then, at the road, we erected a "GMC" sign beside the driveway before
Richard, John and I headed for town in the Yellow VW. No sooner than we got
out of the driveway than a beautiful GMC went roaring by without turning
into the drive. So, we turned around and chased him down (he saw us
following & stopped or he'd have lost us). It turned out to be Dixielanders
Curby & Mary Robertson, driving what was formerly Wayland Tyner's Royale,
now completely refurbished inside and out.
Asked why he passed our beautiful new sign, Curby said, "I'm headed home --
got transmission problems..." I convinced him to come on to the farm and
let's talk about it. Well, to make the story a little shorter, Curby's
coach is now on the rack here in Americus, with no transmission. Tomorrow
it will receive the one Bill rebuilt yesterday and I can quit worrying about
its disposition. Talk about fate taking a hand!
The BBQ dinner was great! By the time we had that, my son and grandsons had
arrived in their X-PB, Ron & Susie Tase's SOB was parked in the woods, Jim &
Marlys Garman had arrived in Steve Ferguson's old coach, Don & Elaine Leslie
had arrive by car from the nearby campground where they're camped with
another SOB group, and Ed Jones had arrived with Pete Papas. All-in-all, a
great group -- but short 10 coaches from whom I received neither a
cancellation notice (as I had from 8 others), nor the courtesy of a call to
tell us they would not be here for BBQ -- we've got LOTS left for tomorrow
night's pot-luck. If they don't show up by 10:00 AM tomorrow, I can't
include them in the official count I must provide to FMCA to make them a
part of our caravan. I'm not sure what that means.
After finishing Curby's coach tomorrow, we'll be back to relaxing, BSing,
and fishing -- my son & grandsons had good luck this afternoon at the bass
pond, catching several on their first few casts.
Ken H.
Americus, GA
'76 X-Birchaven w/Cad500/Howell EFI+ & EBL
www.gmcwipersetc.com
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Ken Henderson
Americus, GA
www.gmcwipersetc.com
Large Wiring Diagrams
76 X-Birchaven
76 X-Palm Beach
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