I picked up a cheap S80 over the weekend that reportedly will not engage reverse. The person I bought it from never had it in a car and was only passing on info from the previous owner.

Th ONLY damage I can find internally are chipped teeth on the reverse gear and the reverse idler.







The 5th/reverse synchro sleeve moves freely. The synchros appear to be within tolerance. I was physically able to force the gears to engage after the case was open.

Would damage to the teeth like this alone prevent it from going into reverse, or should I be looking for something else here?

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*sidenote - if anyone has a tip for getting the 32mm nut off the end of the counter shaft, I could use some help. The Helms says to put the shaft gear in a bench vice with a couple of pieces to wood to protect it. When I go to loosen then nut though, the helical cut of the shaft gear essentially "screws" the shaft out from between the peices of wood in the vice.

 

I have never once seen a reverse idler or 1st/2nd sleeve destroyed like that, ever. That thing looks terrible. Replace both. 2nd gear itself also looks pretty rough, you might want to consider replacing that as well, at the very least clean up the engagement teeth with a flap wheel. It wouldn't surprise me if once you get it apart the 1st/2nd hub is scratched up a bit too.

The easiest way to get the nut off the countershaft is with an impact gun. Just grab the countershaft with a rag or a gloved hand and an impact gun will spin the nut right off.

 

Question - are the 1/2 sleeves the same for all B-series transmissions? In other words, can I use one off a GSR countershaft?

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Thanks for the removal tip tip 94EG8. Impact got it off, but I still had to clamp it in the vice. Even once the torque came off, I couldn't spin it off by hand. Very tight fit.

 

No, LS and early cable transmissions are different.

Yes you can, but the 2nd gear synchro on any B-series vtec transmission is different (two piece design) so that will need to come from another LS trans.

I have a better impact gun then most guys have at home (IR 2135 TiMax, 780ft lbs of torque) it makes those countershaft nuts look like a joke.

 

Syncho hub looks OK, but I do see some witness marks on the 2nd gear side.



2nd gear looks iffy, although the synchro itself doesn't look to bad.



1st gear looks fine to me.



The sleeve is trash, so I won't bother posting a picture.

I can get a new 1st/2nd slider for $58, so if I don't HAVE to replace to the syncho hub or the 2nd gear synchro, I can probably rebuild this thing for under $100.

Any feedback on the condition of that synchro hub and 2nd gear/synchro much appreciated. All parts clearanced within tolerance, so I'm down to a judgegment call and don't have much experience with tranny internals.

 

The hub doesn't look so hot, I've definitely seen worse, but it takes less than you would think for them to cause the sleeve to jam and grind.

The gear is questionable at best. At the very least take a flap wheel on a die grinder and clean up the burrs and scuff up the gear cone with some sandpaper. If you replace the gear the mainshaft should be replaced as well since the mainshaft 2nd gear is part of the mainshaft.

The synchro still has lots of clearance.

 

You need to look through that tranny again no way the reverse gear just ended up like that . Im with him ive never seen one look like that .

 

I can only guess that reverse was partially engaged while the car was moving forward.

Both shafts disassembled, everything else looks "ok" and is within service limits.

A used countershaft and reverse idler arrived yesterday. 1/2 slider and hub also look "ok", so I'm going to begin reassembly tonight.

 

Got the used countershaft apart and found that the 1/2 slider teeth are garbage. The 2nd gear side in particular, shown below. The spring that came with it has the face worn completely flat. I can't get it to go into 2nd with a new spring installed. It does function when I used the worn spring.



What are the chances this is even going to engage once it's assembled? ORm is it more likely that it will pop out of 2nd with the worn spring?

I hate to put this back together in this condition, but I'm desparate. The input shaft bearing on the tranny that's in the car now is getting worse daily. It now sounds like someone shaking a can of spray paint after being just a low grumble 3 weeks ago. I've got Saturday off to change it out with THIS transmission, but that's probably my last day off for a month.

In a nutshell, is this 1/2 slider going to get me through 2k-3K miles of driving while I rebuild my primary transmission? Doesn't need to be perfect, just functional.

 

That sleeve will grind, that said use a flap wheel like the ones pictured below to clean the burrs off the inside of the sleeve and it will help a bit. (I just clamp the sleeve in the bench vice and put the flap wheel in the die grinder and go around the inside a few times, a drill will work if you haven't got a die grinder though), it's 3rd/4th that's got the completely different sleeve.




Also, I screwed up earlier, all '92+ B-series 1st/2nd sleeves are the same, so if you have a GS-R one in better shape use it. (I'd still clean it up with a flap wheel) The LS does have a different 2nd gear synchro though.

 

The spring is what holds it in gear . If its flat its going to pop out of gear . I took anouther look at that slide and (i have about twenty of them) that thing looks ruff man text me ill ship you one just paypal shipping .478-808-9122

 

I really appreciate your input guys. Thank you.

I couldn't bring myself to put that slider back into the tranny, so I ordered a new one, managed to juggle around some days off and babied the tranny that was in my car all last week. The slider arrive Saturday morning, I built the tranny Saturday afternoon, installed it yesterday and drove it to work this morning. Smooth as silk.

f20b jones, I would have bought that slider off you, but purchased the new one hours before you posted that. If you've got parts lying around though, I might hit you up after I crack the other tranny open depending on what I find.