NP205 rebuild from a 78' K30 w/Th 350

[mac907]

Well I was able to hammer flat 4 of shims and reassemble being super careful. While searching online for shims I came across a np205 idler assembly tool which I was kinda able to mimic with a deep 1" SAE socket. You assemble the shims and everything with the socket in the core and the as you slide the idler shaft in the tool/socket slides out. 1" was a bit loose, but worked. A 1 1/16" socket would probably be perfect if I had one.

I don't have a socket big enough yet to get a torque reading on the idle shaft either, but I was able to use my hand wrench to tighten the shaft until there was no play. The first time I tightened it I torqued it down enough to where the gears barely spun. Then I backed the nut off a little to a point where I have no play, but the gears spin freely. My fear is that I don't think I'm torquing the nut down enough to be in the 90-120lb spec. Is this indicative that I need more shims, or maybe tightening nut down is just a heck of a lot easier than removing it?

Also, I can't remember if the shaft is supposed to be so recessed in.

 

[sweetk30]

got to spin gears after tourqe and have little to no end play of gear on shaft in case.

also shaft does go in the case a bit . was prob covered in sludge when you removed it before and didn't notice it .

 

[mac907]

If it ain't one thing it's another...

I was able to find the race and bearing locally. Removal of the old race was easy, and installation of the me bearing was no problem either. I crammed a shop towel inside the bag that the bearing came in and packed into the center of the assembled bearing to prevent any needle bearings from falling out during install.

As easy as that all went I had a huge "shoulda' done that moment" when installing the needle bearings that go underneath the washer & snap ring in the center of the rear outpu shaft. It turns out that the 18 loose needle bearings that I found floating around in the t-case were for the inside of the race only since they didn't even make it 3/4 of the way around the interior of the shaft core before I used them all up, and the ended up being about 1/8" too short as well. What's worse is the guy at the parts store showed me the larger needle bearings and asked if I needed them... Shoulda' got them as spares... Oh well, I'll have to wait until I get back into town on Monday now