While I have the transmission out of my '54 Ford I am needing to replace the bearing and seal in the tail shaft. My overall knowledge of transmissions could be printed on the back of a postage stamp so I am curious as to the tear-down and service of the 3-speed manual tranny. I can't find any info on what type it is. I'm assuming it's just a stock cast iron 3-speed, side loader, no overdrive, first is not sychronized. Any help appreciated.
remove the side cover. you'll see a retainer pin at about the 5 o'clock position--drive it out with a brass drift. remove the bolts for the rear housing then turn the housing 1/4 turn clockwise to allow the countershaft to come out. use a brass drift to knock the countershaft rearward out of the front of the trans case. use a 3/4" wood dowel cut to the length of the cluster gear and thrust washers to drive the countershaft the rest of the way out. the dowel will work as a "dummy" shaft and keep you from losing the needle bearings in the cluster gear. you then can remove the rear housing and mainshaft. there's a snap ring holding the mainshaft assembly in the housing. remove it and use a brass or plastic hammer to knock the mainshaft out from the rear of the housing. good luck!
That's the jist of it......in a very abbreviated way. You'll have it 2/3 of the way apart at this point. You may want to consider replacing both ball bearings, the thrust washers, and the bronze synchro rings. If you've had a rear oil leak, you should replace the rear tail bushing before replacing the rear oil seal. We replace the needle bearings and the shift shaft o rings when we do them, but if those seals aren't leaking now, they can be replaced later on w/o pulling the whole trans.
If you're taking it apart, it would be silly not to replace the seals & everything in the small parts kit. I don't know the current cost, but they were always cheap enough & if you lose one needle or break a snap ring, & you'll probably be buying one anyhow. Having the new parts to compare, you'll see how much the little clips and detent devices have worn. The needles between my P-15's input & output shaft were going bad and had wiped the bearing surfaces out somewhat. I bored and shaved them & installed an oilite bushing, which restored shifting precision. I usually use a bent coathanger to let the clustergear down easily into the case when I drive out the countershaft. It usually comes in handy when hoisting the clustergear back into alignment.
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