G. McDonald

I've got the T56 out of the Camaro to fix the clutch that was ruined by an oil pan leak, so while it's all apart, I thought I would replace the front (input shaft) seal on the transmission.

It seems to have been leaking a bit but was not the cause of the clutch failure. I did see one post from a guy who said I have to take off the whole front section of the transmission and replace the seal from behind. Before I start taking the tranny apart I wanted to get a more detailed procedure and hopefully some pictures of the steps involved (there seems to be no description of this procedure in my GM or Haynes shop manuals). Also, will I need any special tools to remove and replace the seal itself? How about gaskets? Is this over my head or is it an easy remove and replace?

Thanks for the info.

Demus

http://www.ls2.com/boggs/parts/T56_ServiceManual.pdf

r6bullets

Bump

I also have the same question. I looked at that link, you don't have to fully dissasemble the trans do you? I have searched and some people say you can just take the front off, any pics?? What exacty do I have to do to replace this seal (input shaft seal)? Any help would be great, I am almost positive that it is leaking. I am on my third clutch due to oil getting in there.

G. McDonald

I was initially a bit intimidated by the idea of taking the M6 tranny apart but I found one other guy on this board who had the same problem with leaking and losing clutches and he told me it was straight forward and not that difficult.

All you do is remove the 10 (or so) bolts that hold the front adapter plate onto the tranny and slide it off over the input shaft. As you slide it off be careful because the input shaft can come off along with some other small intermediate gears but it is fairly self-evident where they go. I took the other guy's advice and actually put two seals in the little recessed area on the back side of the adapter plate (the tranny's front cover). I'm not sure if two seals will actually do a better job but there is no question that the new seals were gripping the the input shafte more tightly than the original. The good thing is it no longer leaks. I believe my leaking started originally pretty much when I changed over to Mobil 1 synthetic ATF so I also changed to Honda Z1 ATF when I did the tranny seal change. No leaks at all after about 8K miles.

There is no gasket between the adapter plate and the tranny case, it is just an RTV thing.

Removing the old seal was fairly easy, just pry it out with a large screw driver, being careful not to gouge the surrounding metal. Install the new seals with a socket of the correct size or PVC piping of the correct diameter.

The trick I did was to remove the input shaft while the front cover was off the tranny and use it as an exact clutch alignment tool. After the clutch was aligned and tightened, I just put the input shaft back and reassembled the tranny. It worked very well. In fact, I would suggest that people replace the seal and use the input shaft as an alignment tool every time they replace the clutch.

Before beginning the procedure, I got frustrated with guessing at where the leak was coming from and got the fluorescent dye and black light kit (from snap on, but others have it). I put the dye in the engine oil and then ran the pig for 10 hours. This proved that the source of my leak was not engine oil so I was fairly confident about attacking the tranny input shaft seal.

Best of luck, post up if you have any other questions.

r6bullets

Thanks for the reply, I can't see this as being to hard of a job. Does it matter if the trans is horizontal or vertical when taking it apart? It dosn't sound like it but I just wanted to make sure. I can't wait until I have a clutch that will actully hold. Stupid oil leak just took out my new RAM HDX clutch. I am keeping my PP and billet steel flywheel and installing a Mcleod single disk. Should be fun, thanks guys.

G. McDonald

I kept the tranny in the horizontal position the whole time it was out of the car and while I had it apart (i.e. the same orientation it is in while in the car) Don't worry, take your time and it will work out fine. Incidentally, I put in the McLeod single disk kevlar and have been quite happy with it - though as yet I have only bolt-ons so I'm not pushing that much power through it. Heads and cam go in this winter - the clutch is going to get a work out.

r6bullets

Thanks again for the help, dosn't sound to bad.

SteveR

Where did you find the input shaft seal?

G. McDonald

I got my seal from a place here in the Toronto area - I will try to find the name of it and post again. In the mean time, I believe you could also find the part you are looking for from D&D Performance (248) 926-6220.

You might want to do a search to confirm that they are reputable, but I believe I have read other peoples' posts that have given favorable reviews.

Good luck.

SteveR

Thanks! Do you happen to have a part number?

G. McDonald

I will see if I can find the invoice at home.

SteveR

Actually I found one today, my wife is supposed to be picking it up now. Thanks anyway though!