Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) Thump! ... Nothing.

[TyThompson]

Well, as the title suuggests, I have a problem with my truck.

I was heading out to go camping in southern Utah for memorial day... just some camping gear in the bed, 35 gal. fuel tank, and tool box, nothing major. I had stopped, and was just getting on the road, accelerating up a very slight incline, maybe 3%, with about 20 psi boost, I think I was in third gear, when all of the sudden there's an extra "thump" and the truck stops accelerating, luckily I had enough momentum to coast up to a turn off, to get off the highway. I tried putting it in gear nothing happens, absolutely nothing. "Park" still works. There were no grinding or scraping or any sounds like that when it happens, but I took the little dust cover off the trans, the TC turns just fine and everything. Engine starts fine, and runs with no bad sounds coming from the trans. And this all happened about 200 miles from home, so a friend came with his CTD and towed me home today. (Weighed 18,980 pounds total. )



So anyways, I'm guessing it's my input shaft, (or intermediate?) but I'm baffled that it would break when I wasn't towing and without much of a load on. I'm gonna yank the trans maybe tomorrow.

Where is a good place to get another input shaft? Also how about a rebuild manual?



Thanks for the help.

 

[bmoeller]

ATS would be the closest place to get a shaft, if that is the problem. Otherwise, I know Goerends keeps shafts on hand. OEM or billet.

Does it move in reverse at all? If it does, it could be the forward clutch pack took a crap on you, or maybe a band.

 

[rsaderlund]

That's how mine broke. Just gentle acceleration on the highway and snap. Nothing! Now nothing but billet will do.

 

[TyThompson]

Well, thanks for the replies, I removed the transmission this morning, and it looks like the shaft didn't break. Where it splines in to that first clutch pack housing, the splines in the housing are wiped out. The splines on the shaft still look good. You can also see a crack in the housing, it looks like what happened is the housing started to crack, which allowed the splines to spread, and thus allowed them to be stripped off.

Does anyone know if an updated all-steel housing is available, instead of the stock cast iron? (looks like) Anywhere that sells just parts like that reasonable?

Also, as a side question, the trans was rebuilt about 4 years ago, (before I bought the truck) and the TC is a big bright red one? Does anyone have any guesses if it's aftermarket?



Thanks for the help.