I spent 3 hours Saturday trying to get the shim measurements right after an overhaul of my 5sp gearbox. We had the right plates and a handful of depth measuring gadgets. I (and about everyone else there) kept getting different measurements. The box would get closed up, and be too tight. Then, do it again and the output shaft shim (which is visible before the seal goes on) would be loose. One guy had been at it for 4 hours by that time. I finally gave up and had to get home. I think using those indicators takes more skill than most of us at the tech day possessed. Today, I tried a method I'd read about. Place little pieces of hollow-core solder so the ends sit across the outer races. Heat the cover and install and torque. Then take the cover back off. Measure the squashed solder, subtract 0.05mm, and you have your shim specs. It worked perfect, and took 15 minutes instead of the tedious afternoon of ultimate failure. Plus you don't need a $70 flat plate and a $100 indicator. Or much skill.
Also...here's why you don't use the kick starter on a '74 90/6... Those gear nubs are almost completely worn through.
Being mathematically challenged, my first reaction when numbers are involved is to panic :eek1. Is the .05mm a tolerance or...?
Correct! The thickness of the solder is the exact distance between the bearings and case. The .05mm (.002") is the clearance needed.
Hmmmm. That's pretty slick. I've never rebuilt a trans before, at least not on an airhead, but now I kind of want to just try that trick. Cool.
And...I bet this would work on a crankshaft. Place the solder, torque up the flywheel (with the old bolts). Remove flywheel, measure solder, install proper thrust washer/shim and install flywheel with new bolts.
I advise people to do that with pistons and valves all the time and I had never thought about doing it in the tranny. I work on them semi-regularly. I might try that next time. I always look up the specs but I think they go to zero. For my own nit picky self, I think they shift better shimmed to the bare minimum. IMO, with all the right stuff and a lot of experience the measurements are still a bit of a guess for measuring the bearing height. I measure them from the inside race but you are never quite sure if the gauge isn't rocking. Flywheels? I will probably stick with a dial indicator but you could do it that way. It's real accurate and a real time saver with pistons. If everything is right you don't even have to take it back apart! I do it all through the spark plug hole. I think it's a much more solid measurement than clay.
So this will give you a clearance of .002" at 'room temperature'. Has anyone ever reckoned that clearance at operating temperature? That is, at the temperature of the gearbox while running, the steel gearshaft will heat up and expand in length, the aluminum case will will heat up and expand in length, and the delta-length will be more fo the aluminum than for the steel (different "coefficient of expansion" of the metals, about 3x more for the aluminum than the steel). For example, the .002" cold clearance may be ~.009" hot. Just curious. Been meaning to do the same figurin' for the crankshaft endplay. But if some (other) techno-geek has beat me to it, I'm no glory-hog...
Yes...and I know exactly who.... The engineers at BMW that decided that 0.05mm was the right number. They get paid to think about such things.
Nah, I suspect that the old guys who designed the tranny retired and came back to the office for a visit, found out what the whippersnappers had done with the circlip and screamed "vat vur you tinkink???" and got it put back in.
While there is a long trail of tears around no-circlip problems, I've yet to come across an archive of owners complaining that the 0.05mm axial play clearance of the gearbox shafts is causing people's RTW trips to come to a halt. Perhaps maybe they got that one right. Besides, given the shim sizes they made available (when they were all available), the 0.05mm figure obviously has some play in it as well. A little more; a little less. Probably OK. I'm shooting for a fit in the 0.05mm to 0.10mm range since shims are not available in an infinity of sizes.
Where did they say that? Everywhere I have looked they said 0 - .1mm. You can usually get it a lot closer to zero if you stack shims. That is if you want to.
I don't remember that one. Never seen it mentioned in other manuals. I wonder what their reasoning was? I know from experience that less works just fine on the later PFA gearsets. I wish I could read that one. Somebody around here knows how to look them up. I believe trannys are in group 23?
Well I'd just like to say that I tried this solder trick for measuring the end play and it worked perfectly. I just wish that I was smart enough to have thought of it myself. I'm glad I stumbled on this thread. Thanks.
