terrible moan???
 

You know when you are backing up at a good speed and you hear a really bad moan seeming to come from the tranny? Well, I have that same noise now when I am in 1st and 2nd but not in 3rd. Any ideas why it wasn't there and now it is? I mean it's almost louder than my exhaust with my Flowmasters at a good idle. It's really comparable to a 4x4 truck in 4 low.

are you sure its not the rear end?

Well, I was thinking it was the tranny but now that you say that, I know my fluid is low in the rear end. I will check that tonight. Thanks Boo-yaa.

does it only happen at a certain speed? could be ujoints. does it do it in neutral going at the speed it happens?

Could easily be the center (carrier) bearing on your driveshaft, if your truck is a long bed.

It's a short bed and no, it stops when I put the clutch in. I topped off the rear end last night just to make sure. Drove it this morning and the moan is still there but it has quieted down a bit.

Could be the input bearing on the tranny, or the bearing in the back of the input shaft (internal to the tranny).

In all gears (including neutral) except high gear, the input shaft is turning at a different speed than the mainshaft. The mainshaft pilots in this bearing. If the internal bearing in the rear of the input shaft is bad, you would have noise because of the difference in speed of the two shafts.

Throwout Bearing

1963/86 Ford Type 3.03 3 Speed Manual all Syncromesh Transmission...Bearings:

One ball bearing on the input shaft, another on the output shaft.

15 needle bearings on the input shaft (internal), 50 needle bearings on the counter shaft: 25 on one end, 25 on t'other end.

my 77 chevy done the same thing, one day on the way home, i got half way up the mountin and lost 2nd gear.. which were i live, is really really bad. especially sence this was a granny gear 1st transmission.

NumberDummy, if the release bearing is bad, the noise should start when the clutch is depressed, not when it is released.

With the clutch depressed, the bearing spins. When it's released, there is no contact with the pressure plate, so it stops spinning.

The pilot bearing does roughly the same thing. When the clutch is depressed, the bearing will spin if the transmission input shaft and crankshaft are turning at different speeds. When the clutch is released, the clutch and pressure plate act as a single unit, and therefore, the transmission input shaft spins at the same speed as the crank.

Very likely it's the 15 needle bearings inside the rear of the input shaft. If it were the countershaft bearings, it would make noise at all times when the truck is moving. Same thing for the front (input shaft) bearing and the rear (output shaft) bearing.

The only bearing that doesn't spin all of the time during motion would be the 15 needles in the rear of the input shaft. As long as the transmission is in high gear, the input and output shafts are turning at the same speed.

It's doing it worse now.... took about an hour drive this past weekend and it moaned the whole way there. How hard is this bearing to replace?

It's not too hard if you've ever built a transmission.

If you're going to replace the needles, I would go ahead and do a full overhaul. If you've got one bearing going bad, there are probably others in the same condition.

If it's doing it all the time now, and not just in the lower gears, I would park the truck immediately and get it fixed before it causes additional damage.

Crap! And you're talkin (typing) to a guy with NO tranny experience! Is this a pretty common thing to happen? Because I have ran across a few used ones but obviously don't want to get one and find out it's in the same condition at mine.

What about possible swap outs? What trannys go behind these FE's? And honestly, I wouldn't be too broken hearted to go with an automatic.

are you sure the dog is not tied to the truck?

If it was, I am sure it fell off in the last five years.

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