5th gear snap ring (Not popout problem)

[Thomas Reynolds]

Larry wrote:

> No it is not! You should be able to see both ends of the clip *easily*
> in that picture.

> Thomas, take a picture from above the shaft for us. And both sides
> of the clip, show both ends.

While I didn't have a chance to take any pics today I uploaded a few more
that I took yesterday. Here is a pic that shows both ends:
http://bellsouthpwp.net/f/t/fthomasr/5th/MVC-645F.JPG

>Presuming that Thomas didn't start to remove the snap ring and then
>stopped partway, the snap ring is out of its groove in the input shaft!

Correct presumption. Those pics were all taken seconds after the cover was
carefully removed, prior to touching *anything*. In fact I had 'jammed' the
tranny in that 'notch' I described prior to removing it from the car, in
hopes of 'catching' the problem in the act.

>Has this tranny been taken apart in the past?

No as Eric stated it has not. Ordered the car new. I'm easy on a tranny,
never burning out or even attempting to pop the clutch between shifts to
catch a wheel. Even with the turbo, I roll off from a start, never popping
the clutch. Wheelspin comes later as a result of another thing... :)

>Looks like the input shaft has wear from the clip
>being shoved up.

My father and I are quite amazed that half actually stayed on the shaft as
it had nothing to keep it there.

>I'll wager that it was simply a re-assembly screw-up in the past,
>no big mystery. No other explanation really for the snap ring being
>out of the groove.

After discovering immediately afterwords that others had this problem, I
really think it is a Nissan engineering issue. If my failure was the only
ever known, isolated from anything even remotely common, then I would still
say that it was a fluke weak snap ring or an assembly SNAFU.

>That snap ring was pushed along the shaft,
>into the bearing, where it stopped moving. Engine running, the input
>shaft was spinning, scoring the shaft with the ring, which at that
>time was pinned between the stopper and the bearing. Depending on
>the damage to the input shaft, actually, I'd be suspicious of that too.

Yes I see that now. I agree. I will need to see how far that shaft goes into
that bearing, to see if the active part of the 'race' is damaged. It appears
that you can press that race off the shaft and install a new one. Take a
look at the pic of your 5th again.

>I bet that it broke after being
>trapped between the stopper and the bearing, though. I still would
>wager on assembly error.

Ah so you mean you believe it popped out of the groove long ago unbroken and
under stress of pressure and friction and heat it tore it in two.
Hrrmrmrmm....... Interesting.

Thing is, car has 60k on it, since about 20k miles I have always had a very
very slight grind going into 5th about 10-15% of the time...(might I add
that I noticed this the first time I drove it with MT90 as well)

Thomas
'97 200SX SE-R
F-Max Stage II Turbo
Albany, GA