Bench testing T19

[Diesel JD]

Hey guys. I got my T19 out of its shipping crate tonight. It all looks good, no obvious problems or missing parts. I was told to put the lever on and see if it goes into each gear. 1st of all, the lever was taken off for shippingm but not the whole control housing. Do I just slip the lever into its groove and tighten the cap/spring assy? After that, how can I tell if it went into the correct gears? It seemed to go into gear where it was supposed to but there seemed to be little difference from neutral in the resistance on the output shaft. What am I looking for to assure its normal? Thanks,
JD

 

[NJKen]

Shine a flaslight down the hole in the top of the case to verify where the stick needs to stick! Drop it in and see how it feels. I would take the PTO cover off and visibly check the insides out. T18 and T19 are tuff transmissions. The only thing I have seen take one out is severe driver abuse and lack of oil/oil contamination. I took one out of one of my trucks with 400K on it and it was still quite usable. I just wanted an automatic.
Ken

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Hopefully they took the shifter out with the trans in neutral. If they took it out in gear you will have a bear of a time getting the shifter in correctly. I went through that with a gasser trans that was in first gear (long throw) and I had to work with a bent steel rod to get the trans back into neutral.

Don't worry about the resistance of the input. Turn the input and hold the output and you will feel if each gear is engaged or not.

 

[Diesel JD]

I think it was in neutral...how can you tell. Yeah so maybe I'll take the PTO cover off, what am I looking for in terms of problems. You say I'm trying to feel it go into each gear on the input shaft, but not to worry about the difference in resistance on the input/output shaft. Excuse my ignorance, I just want to make sure it works. Do I read you guys correctly that there is nothing special that holds the shift lever in there beyond just being in the right slot?

 

[towcat]

........Do I read you guys correctly that there is nothing special that holds the shift lever in there beyond just being in the right slot?

There's a "jesus" pin that centers the pivot ball on the lever to the housing. It's normally held captive in the housing by the screw down collar and the ball. You can guess how easily it gets lost when the collar and ball is removed.....

 

[NJKen]

Yeah so maybe I'll take the PTO cover off, what am I looking for in terms of problems.

You should see nice shiny gears. Pitting, rust, and missing teeth are the most obvious things to look for. If you can turn it on its side and really look in there you can see a few of the dog clutches (little gear looking guys between the big gears on the mainshaft that the shift fork slides over). These dogs should havenice teeth on them (what you can see anyway). They should not be severly discolored from the synchronisers.
Basically you are looking for anything that looks chewed up. T19 is a tuff trans
Ken

 

[Diesel JD]

Okay..the biggest problem I have so far is that pin that Calvin mentioned that centers the shift ball is missing! I need to be sure it isn't hiding in the trans somewhere before I run it as obviously this will do severe damage if it gets caught up in the gears. What's the best way to look for it? I think the PO probably just lost it when he pulled it out of his truck and its just gone, but do I want to take that chance after doing all the work for a swap? No, not unless I must; do I want to completely disassemble the tranny just for that pin..again no...not unless I must. So can I use a magnet inserted in the PTOs or might I damage something? Any other ideas..help.

 

[NJKen]

Now you have to pull the PTO cover. In all reality, the pin is most likely just lost. You can sweep a magnet through the trans without hurting anything. For a more thoroug inspection, pull the entire top of the case off. I dont recomend doing that unless you have some experience with manual trans rebuilding. You will have to line up the shift forks and dog clutches to get it back together. You will also loose the nylon shift fork pads when they all fall in the trans and they can be a pain in the butt to get back together rite.
Pull the PTO cover and take a look around.
Ken

 

[Diesel JD]

Ken I inserted a magnet in the control housing, but since I have zero experience with manual transmissions I hesitate to pull it off. I didn't pick up the pin or see any sign of it. Hopefully the pin will fall out of the PTO area or drain plug or it is plain lost. Once I get a new pin, do I just slide the shift lever in there with it or is there some special procedure for getting everything lined up? As things stand now, I am pretty sure the trans is in neutral...it has the shift lever and collar on, I will take the PTO covers off to check for any foreign objects, especially that pin, and beyond that, I guess I will just button it up and call it good. Where could the pin go other than drop to the bottom of the trans or be in the control housing?

 

[zigg]

As things stand now, I am pretty sure the trans is in neutral...it has the shift lever and collar on, I will take the PTO covers off to check for any foreign objects, especially that pin, and beyond that, I guess I will just button it up and call it good. Where could the pin go other than drop to the bottom of the trans or be in the control housing?

JD

If you look closely, you'll see that the pin we're talkin' about comes out after the collar is lifted off the shift lever, and it goes into the side of the top cover on the trans to stop the shift lever from rotating. So, it shouldn't be in the trans since the big ball on the bottom of the shift lever covers up the top of the trans.

Having said that though, anything's possible. So, pull off the plug from the bottom of the trans first. It is usually magnetic. It might be there. Next, pull the PTO covers, and you should have quite a bit of room to see into the trans, and sweep the bottom with a magnet on a stick or something similar, and shine a light in there and inspect. If you can't find it, then it isn't likely to be just sitting in some corner anywhere, and the P/O probably just overlooked puttin' it back in. If it was caught up in the mechanism, you most likely would feel it grinding or jammin when you tried to turn the tranny over.

Last, the trans is in neutral if you rotate the input shaft and can hold the output shaft from turning. If the output shaft turns, then it's in one of the gears.

The T-19 is very strong, but actually quite simple inside. I rebuilt my own a few years back having absolutely no experience, and it wasn't too hard at all.

Zigg

 

[Diesel JD]

Thanks Don for the words of encouragement. I'll do that. Assuming this pin is missing, I'll need to replace it. What should I ask for at the hardware store? Thanks,
JD