T-14 Transmission rebuild

I just finished the entire rebuild of my T-14A transmission and Dana 18 transfer case this last weekend. Thought I would take a minute to elaborate on the tranny in hopes that someone can use the info to prevent the frustrations that I encountered while disassembling and reassembling the T-14 transmission. First make sure you have the FSM (Factory Service Manual)…it’s a must have for any serious jeep owner/mechanic. Second, this process makes the assumption that you will be rebuilding the ENTIRE transmission and hence thoroughly flushing and cleaning all parts, gears, and the case.



The manual refers to a W-329 puller used to remove the front and rear ball bearings. I do not have this tool but believe it to utilize the snap ring groove on the bearings as the anchor for pulling. I could have machined one but hardly think it worth the effort. The way the transmission is built you have to remove the input shaft bearing before you can raise the main drive gear high enough to clear the countershaft gear and remove from the front of the transmission case. The other issue is the rear mainshaft bearing. It has to be removed to allow removal of the mainshaft assembly forward out the top of the case. Since I did not have factory tool # W-329, I had to improvise. The first issue is a pc of cake….just drive out the countershaft and let the countershaft gear settle into the bottom of the case. Plenty of clearance to now slide the front main drivegear shaft straight out the front of the case. You now have access to drive the bearing from the shaft on the bench. The rear bearing was not quite so easy. I noticed the bearing (probably OEM) had the loading notches in both races.

These notches were used at assembly to build the bearings. I used my die grinder with a ¼” ball carbide burr(safety glasses please!) and opened the inner race notch a few thousandths which allowed the individual balls to be removed with needle nose pliers. After removal of the balls, the mainshaft gear assembly can easily be withdrawn forward out the top of the case. To remove the remaining inner race from the shaft. I used heat from my torch played lightly on the race with the shaft held upside-down in the vice. The bearing race dropped off from gravity alone.
On reassembly, MAKE SURE you have the second-third synchronizer assembly on the mainshaft gear assembly before replacing the rear ball bearing! You can NOT get it in after the rear mainshaft bearing is in place. Since I did not have factory tool W-334 THRUST YOKE, I again needed to improvise. I was able to quite easily load both the front and rear main bearings by lightly heating (no color change please) just the inner race bore with my #0 torch tip(probably no more than 400 degrees). This allowed enough expansion to QUICKLY slide and seat the bearing onto the shaft and into the case bore. If you heat the entire bearing you expand the outer race as well and would not be able to get it into the case bore. I had the case on the bench with the rear facing up and a shim under the front of the mainshaft gear assembly. Make sure that you leave the outer bearing snap rings off when you install these bearings so that you fully seat the bearing on the shaft. The snap rings only set the bearing seating depths in the case bores. Hope this helps!