We just got done, well almost with rebuilding the Zf-5 in the 97 F-Superduty. For those considering same I thought I would share a few things I learned along the way.
1. A man must know his limitations but there is nothing to shy away from here for the mechanically inclined and if you download the manual, it's on this forum and several other places on the net if your search. Dissasembly is not overly complicated but you will save yourself a whole bunch of head scratching and possible damage by going step by step easily followed in the manual.
2. The $230 Kits from the seller on Ebay contain the exact same bearings and seals (almost ) as OEM. The sycro rings are not OEM but I could not discern any difference in quality.
3. You cant do it without screwing things up unless you have at least the following tools
A. Pretty decent set of pullers in your shop. You need a large 3 jaw, like around 12' long jaws, a couple smaller pullers, large and smaller bearing separators. HF is plenty good enough quality.
B. A propane or MAP torch
C. Large snap ring pliers
D. A large vise on a sturdy bench, or other means to hold the main shaft during disassembly and assembly.
4. You need none of the special tools listed IF you have a decent helper during reassembly to hold things together. You can use the large three jaw to pull the sycro collars without the special tool if you warm them with the propane torch so they come off the shaft easily. The torch will also warm one inner big inner bearing race that has to come off. Just be careful how much you warm things, it doesn't take much and blue parts equals junk parts.
5. When you lift the case off the rear housing take the phone out of your pocket and take a close up picture of how the shifter rails and shafts go together.
6, Unless you have a photographic memory, use a sheet of cardboard about 4x6 and lay the parts on it as you disassemble the main shaft. Draw a line around each one and number it 1- Dont play with the parts at this point, dont flip them over, just lay them down orientated as you removed them. This sure saves a LOT of time when you go back together!
7. There are some variations in the input shaft seals in the later OBS trucks. Pre 96 shouldnt have any worries. Make damn well sure that all the seals you remove are the same as the ones in the kit if you have a 97! My freshly rebuilt trans had to come back out when it puked all the oil out the input shaft housing due to wrong seal for my application. Didnt do it idling in the shop, waited until road test. Soaked my clutch too, Grrrr Grrrr

To the plus side electric fuel ROCKS!!!! The differences in how the truck idles and runs are night and day.

Butch

 

Great post Butch, thanks.

 

Great info Butch. Reps sent

 

Very nice, and to anyone who is interested, I have the dealer ZF-5 service tools....long story, but I would consider renting or selling them if anyone needs them. It includes the pieces needed to install and remove the bearings (supposedly).

 

very good confidence building post. as i've posted elsewhere, i'm hoping to avoid a rebuild of my used zf5 that's going in, but if the the seals turn out to be junk - its been sitting dry for a while now - or if the synchros are totally shot, i'll be attempting the rebuild myself...

...in which case, i may well be requesting to borrow your kit, Nate! (this project will obviously take priority far above my F250 generator truck project :-) )

finally - on a related note does anyone have a recommendation for a good way to spin the input shaft of a transmission (fairly fast) while its on the shop floor? i spun the input shaft by hand and went through all the gears checking for slop and broken teeth before buying it, but i'd like to fill it with cheap trans fluid, spin it for a while in each gear at a few hundred rpm, check for seal leaks, then drain it to flush it out real good before installing it in my truck.

i'd just hook it up to an electric motor, or maybe even my tractor PTO, but i don't have a drill chuck big enough to grab the shaft and i don't want to bugger the splines on the input shaft. i figure using/disassembling/cutting up a blown out dual mass flywheel might be my best bet. anyone out there have one they'd like to donate (i'll pay shipping) before i go asking around at local mechanics?

 

X2 on praising Butch's post and thread. :)

I'm wondering what all I guy can do through the PTO holes?
You think he could put a feeler gauge under a synchro ring or two?
{edit} Naw, the sleeve is in the way. :/

Anyway, it really ain't that big of a deal to put it in and take it out IMO.
Knew mine needed synchro rings so I slapped 'em in and test drove it. ;)
Use an engine hoist and guide pins and you can have it in and out by
yourself, lickity split.

-------------------------------

The ZF manual that's floating around is from the ZF website itself and
is a really-sorry job of scanning IMO. :/

I didn't scan the whole thing but you can find the URL of my scans by
Googling "07-03c-45.jpg". I don't want to post it on FTE. :/ YMMV on
trusting the owners of this site. ;)

That's also the page that has the wrong picture on it. :)
Yep, the mistake was carried on into Ford's Shop Manuals.

Butch's step number six is overstated IMO, YMMV on that one too? LOL :)
This tinkering-fool's favorite ZF picture...


And my least favorite ZF picture, because the fun's over... :/


Butch's step "R" {sic ;}...
I made a ZF stand from an old 5 lug air-cooled VW wheel. xD
And a main shaft stand by drilling a 15/16" hole in a block of wood...

^that's a 8# single jack layin' there, ZF gears are bigger than a T18's. ;)

Alvin in AZ

 

Fixed now

Step 6 Son's laughed too, I will get them back some day,,, if I an remember.

New clutch disk came in this AM. Guy at the counter said, ya realy oughta get rid of the needle pilot bearing before it siezes and screws up your input shaft. Good ones are Kelvar and $80 We is sticking with needles.

 

Sealed ball bearings! :)

Put a little dab of red or blue wheel bearing grease behind it and don't look back.
{edit} Oops, don't use blue-grease it's aluminum based.

Guy at Centerforce told me over the phone for me not to use the Kevlar out here
where it's dusty.

Figure out what size you need, the i.d. is 17mm on all of 'em I know about.

351w = 6003 (o.d. = 35mm)
360FE = 6303 (o.d. = 47mm)

Too bad Ford didn't just make the newer/smaller stuff fit 6203 bearings, they're
the cheapest because it's the most used ball bearing in the world! :)

6203 (o.d. = 40mm)

The bronze/iron oil-lite bearings really suck IMO and IME...
http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/fe390crank.jpg

Alvin in AZ

 

any of you tranny experts out there know the input spline shaft specs off-hand? i.e. shaft OK and number of splines? like i said, i'm hoping to spin my input shaft with my tractor pto to give it a run-through and seal check before installing it, hooking up to the spine shaft is my hurdle.

since my last post above, i found these: McMaster-Carr. so for under $40 i may be able to avoid having to extract the female to the spline shaft from an old DMF. however, knowing that these tranny's are german, i figured they may not be SAE standard splines.

if anyone can chime in on the size for a ZF5, you'd be saving me a trip down to the barn in the rain tonight. Thanks!

 

Rock Auto says (I was looking at the clutch) that the shaft is 1.25" and has 10 splines. It looks like none of those couplers are going to work.

Just my $.02 but I don't see it being worth the trouble to be able to spin it before you put it in the truck. If you're that worried about it just replace the input and output seals. They're cheaper than the coupling you're looking at anyway. I doubt you will be able to tell a whole lot anyway without putting a load on the transmission.

 

good point - i'm just trying to avoid putting the tranny in, just to take it right back out again for something i could have determined easily ahead of time.

are the seals just standard ford parts? i'm quite leary of bad seals after my tractor blew an axle seal last year and dumped 3 gallons of hydraulic oil on my barn floor one night. i didnt see it and slipped and fell right on my *** like in a cartoon one morning. actually, it was a busted bearing in that case that pushed the seal out, but same end result.

the input and output bearing shafts on my tranny are solid as rocks, though, so i'm not too concerned about busted seals - more just from sitting dry than anything else...

 

That's the bigger input shaft size for like diesels tho, the smaller ones
are 1+1/16" with the same 10 splines for like the 300i6, 351w and 360FE.
I have no idea what he's working with tho! :/

Not sure about the 460, but Gary Lewis' threads on the subject will have
those specs and then some! LOL :) Him and ever'one else makes fun of
his 8 page threads, half the time monologues (which is usually the part
part IMO;).

x2 and not just because I wouldn't bother but because I don't think it's
going to tell you anything worth while. I say, slap it in and go for a spin. ;)
If you're close by I'll help you.

If some thing's wrong, chances are it's some thing besides the ZF. ;)

The ZF's seals are standard metric seals you can get anywhere, BTW.
I can tell you the sizes -if- your ZF bolts to a 300i6/351w in 2wd or 4wd.

Alvin in AZ

 

Your post popped up while I was composing my windyazed post. LOL :)

You've answered your question already IMO. :)

I can't remember, either of the seals able to be changed from the outside?
The seals are not special. :) They are standard easy-to-get metric seals.

---------------

The threads for the rear rubber mount are standard 1/2"-13 threads. :)
The yoke-nut on mine was 36mm (~1+7/16") outside.
The backup light switch was the same part as on my '75 T18.
(and the speedometer driven gear is too)

Alvin in AZ

 

well, eastern PA is just about as far from the Gadsden Purchase as you can get in the lower 48, but thanks for the offer.

as for the engine its bolting to - its a 96 powerstroke diesel, so i guess it is the 1.25" shaft. but as seems to be the concensus, i'll just slap it in and take her for a ride.

as for the seals, from the manual, it looks like they go on from the outside, but getting a bad one out without opening the case looks to be impossible/un-fun.

 

Nice job.
Ill throw this up it may help someone.
Zf5 s47
http://www.thedieselstop.com/faq/949...e=stjs73br.htm