'34 Pickup Front Wheel Bearings- Technical

[Mart]

I agree, that is probably a shift lever alignment dowel.

It is not part of the shaft you pictured. The dowel may have been lost years ago and has been in the bottom of the trans. Remove the trans cover, take the shifter tower off and have a real good look inside with a flashlight. Drain the oil so you can inspect all the gears properly.

If all looks good it is probably ok.

The input and output bearings are ball bearings, so that is not a roller out of a bearing.

Have you stripped and inspected your front wheel bearings?

What, do you think went "snap"?

Maybe that piece got picked up and flung around.

Mart.

[JSeery]

The pin, bearing, whatever, looks to have a lot of pitting. I would be concerned about that as well. Has the transmission had water in it? What is the cause of the pitting?

[phartman]

Originally Posted by Mart

I agree, that is probably a shift lever alignment dowel.

What, do you think went "snap"?

Maybe that piece got picked up and flung around.

Mart.

Mart, that is an interesting theory. Maybe what I heard was the pin falling out and kicking around inside the gearbox.

The gear roar I hear is far worse in the winter, almost inaudible in summer; and the warmer the weather, the less the noise. In winter, the noise is greatest when the fluids are cold, but taper off as the transmission heats up. I am following the Ford Service Manual recommendation on transmission fluid- the heavy weight (straight 145 is the heaviest I could source) as long as temperatures are above 32 degrees. That change additionally helped the noise.

I will pull the top cover off the transmission and have a look around. Thanks for the help here.

Oh, and the wheel bearings seem fine. They have less than 5,000 miles on them. The pulsing I felt is unrelated to the front wheels.

[phartman]

Originally Posted by JSeery

The pin, bearing, whatever, looks to have a lot of pitting. I would be concerned about that as well. Has the transmission had water in it? What is the cause of the pitting?

The transmission has never had water in it that I am aware, but we live in a humid environment. It might have sat for long periods of time somewhere during its life when it was not used or lubed.

Not much way of knowing, but pulling the shift cover off and looking around inside the case might reveal all kinds of other issues. We'll just have to see.

[Mart]

I will mention something that happened to me. My roadster had a terrible vibration/noise that was road speed related. I ruled out everything on the motor/input side of the gearbox side of things and was preparing to pull the motor and gearbox and tear down the gearbox. I was on a test drive trying to locate the noise, and when it kicked in I was reaching for the ignition switch to kill the motor so I could rule that out, and accidentally touched the dash near the speedo. The speedo was vibrating at the exact frequency of the horrible noise.

I disconnected the speedo cable and hey presto the noise stopped immediately. The speedo must have a dry bearing or something, I have never taken it out to investigate.

It's a thousand to one chance that this is the problem in your case, but an easy one to check and rule out.

Mart.

[phartman]

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Originally Posted by Mart

The speedo was vibrating at the exact frequency of the horrible noise.

I disconnected the speedo cable and hey presto the noise stopped immediately. The speedo must have a dry bearing or something, I have never taken it out to investigate.

Mart.

Mart, every winter on the very coldest days I experience this very vibration you mention. It sounds like marbles rolling around in the gearbox. You'd think the mainshaft from the transmission is coming up through the floorboard at any moment. Yes, we've identified that sound and realize it comes from the cable.

Weird. I never would have guessed anybody would believe me if I had mentioned thinking the speedo cable was the culprit. Thanks for restoring my confidence.

This other noise is new. It has something to do with a gear in the box- I'll figure it out. Thank you for all your guidance here.

Pete

[RalphM]

If you do end up pulling the transmission for repair, or not, be a good idea to get Mac Van Pelts early Ford transmission book. It has a wealth of information on these transmissions.