Rear annulus clearance on intermediate shaft

Hurley

Hurley

BLAKLUNG
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Apr 27, 2008
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I'm reassembling the planetary geartrain on the intermediate shaft of my 47RH; service manual calls for .006" - .048" geartrain play/clearance.... and I currently have none.

I've a new sun gear with bushings, new 6-pinion rear planet, new 5 pinion front planet set, all new thrust washers and reusing the existing shaft, snap-ring, annulus sets, outer shell & thrust plates. The snap ring goes on with ease, and i can rotate it in the bore... but when i flip the assembly to check the clearance, I cannot get a .002" feeler between the shoulder on the shaft and the annulus.


What to do? THe service manual calls for a thinner snap ring (currently @ .057" thick), but wittrans.com doesnt offer selectable thickness snap rings, and I'm not really sure where to look next.
 
take your snap ring and put it under a 2x4 on any fairly lever concrete floor. Hit the top of the 2x4 with a 3 lb hammer so that the ring makes an impression in the bottom of the wood. Now take the the wood with the snap ring sitting in the impression you just made over to a belt sander and take a few thousandths off the thickness. Dragging the 2x4 and ring over the concrete floor using it like a sharpening stone will also work well and it is easier not to over due it.
 
Within 20 miles you will have worn the zinc off of the thrust washers and will have picked up several thousand. If the snap ring goes on easily you sure you don't have any clearance? Did you go to a 48RE sunshell? 48RE sunshell is thicker. You could try your used thrust washers and see how much you pick up. We had one that was loose tried to tighten it up by using new washers had to tear it apart because of a clutch issue, and the gear train slop was back. You could sand the snap ring if needed. Curious if the 48RE sunshell was your issue.

On thought you probably need a little clearance to have oil between the thrust washers. Either sand the snapring or try your used thrust washers.
 
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Thanks for the input guys. It is indeed a stock 47RH sun-shell, so no extra thickness there.

I did in fact ensure that all the thrust washer tabs were seated, and that there was nothing lodged between the mating surfaces when i assembled/reassembled the components. Looking closely at the snap-ring land when the parts are assembled, it is apparrent that the edge of the new steel front planet protrudes juuuust past the bottom edge of the ring land.

Can I shave some material off of the 'snout' of the front planet set? Would that be a safer bet than making a thin snap-ring even thinner? Based on appearance, removing ~.010" from the snout area of the front planet seems like a viable solution.
 
Hurley said:
Thanks for the input guys. It is indeed a stock 47RH sun-shell, so no extra thickness there.

I did in fact ensure that all the thrust washer tabs were seated, and that there was nothing lodged between the mating surfaces when i assembled/reassembled the components. Looking closely at the snap-ring land when the parts are assembled, it is apparrent that the edge of the new steel front planet protrudes juuuust past the bottom edge of the ring land.

Can I shave some material off of the 'snout' of the front planet set? Would that be a safer bet than making a thin snap-ring even thinner? Based on appearance, removing ~.010" from the snout area of the front planet seems like a viable solution.
Click to expand...


If you could remove it with a lathe I wouldn't be scared of it. I thought about this some more with the oil groves in the thrust washers. I think it would be ok. I like the gear train to be as tight as possible.
 
...more like my 'hand, table & sandpaper' mill, amirite??? haha

going to investigate taking the snap-ring to .050", which would put me in the .005-.007" clear range. I'm also going to take a close look at the new steel planet and see if that end surface is pretty smooth
 
Hurley said:
...more like my 'hand, table & sandpaper' mill, amirite??? haha

going to investigate taking the snap-ring to .050", which would put me in the .005-.007" clear range. I'm also going to take a close look at the new steel planet and see if that end surface is pretty smooth
Click to expand...

One thing about taking that portion off of the planet, your decreasing the spline contact/engagement area.
 
true (but is that splitting hairs over the amount desired to be removed?).


I'll work on the snapring and let everyone know how it goes!
 
I personally would just run it. As long as it is not tight to where it has preload, those thrust washers will quickly wear enough to have perfect clearance. If they are preloaded too tightly, I could foresee something galling up before the parts to "break-in" and clearance themselves.
 
FWIW, I sanded the snap-ring down, ended up with ~.007" clearance. Rock on.


Also props to 6spdCR for the tip on how to hold the snap ring for sanding, worked as described!
 
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