rideabmx

I've got a fluid leak from the cluck release fork in the bellhousing of an 86 22r pickup with 200k mies. I'm pretty sure it's tranny fluid but for some reason I've having a hard time telling possibly because I just changed the oil (I'm comparing with new motor oil and gear oil and its not obvious)...?
I just rebuilt this engine in April, so it's probably not the rear main seal, and I didn't bother with replacing the front bearing/seals in the tranny when I had the engine out. Those are literally the only things I could have replaced but didn't!!!

That said, when I drop the tranny, what's worth replacing? Front tranny bearing and some sort of seal, I imagine, but is there anything else. Clutch pressure plate now that I've got oil flying around in there? Also help with knowing where to find these tranny parts online would be VERY helpful. I live in extreme rural Utah where the nearest parts store is 2.5 hours each way so I want to make sure I have every single part I'll need before progressing (one forgotten part is $30 in next-day shipping and a few more days of downtime).

Thanks in advance!!!

abecedarian

hypoid gear oil has a noticable 'sulphurous' like smell. Fly wheel and pressure plate should be fine, just spray them off with brake parts cleaner. However, it's the clutch plate / friction disc that will soak up the oil and most likely will need replaced.
If the input shaft bearings are fine, all you'll need is the front input shaft seal for the transmission and maybe the clutch disc / friction plate.
Don't quote me though. I loath dealing with transmission problems.

rideabmx

All I have is 80/90 gear oil to compare the smell, so that would explain it. Not entirely familiar with hypoid gear oil (yet, that is!). I'll seek that and smell it tomorrow. I suppose then that if this leaking fluid lacks any noteworthy smell that is must be engine oil and not tranny fluid.

This would mean rear main seal and only rear main seal, right? What would be the odds of getting a leak in a 6-month-old rear main seal? That seems odd. I was pretty freakin' meticulous; not even the oil pan has a leak yet!

Regardless, the tranny must be dropped for the fix and I'm definitely not going to forego replacing those tranny seals and bearings this time. Any recommendations for a good online retailer for those parts?

Thanks as always, couldn't do this stuff without you all!!!

89silverpu

Make sure it's not the back of the valve cover leaking. I thought my transmission was leaking so I replaced the output seal in the transmission and found that I had a bigger leak coming from above the transmission. It it was coming out from the clutch release fork opening as well.

rideabmx

Thanks for the tip on the valve cover, I will certainly check that out! What PITA!

I know that I have had a pretty massive oil leak from the oil filter--turns out it was the wrong filter for the truck. Changed that last night. Maybe that has been somehow getting onto the clutch fork? I can see the separate leaks though, at least they look very separate.

My manual tranny most likely has 75W90 gear oil, not hypoid. Is there a good way to tell the difference between 75W90 gear oil and motor oil? The stuff coming off the cluck fork looks pretty black...

coryc85

Your 75w90 is hypoid oil. Open up a bottle of gear oil and smell it, it is VERY distinctive. You might also be losing brake fluid out of the clutch slave cylinder. I'd check that your clutch master is full, clean the area really well, then operate the clutch a bunch of times and see if it's wet, if so, easy fix. Also check the valve cover where 89silverpu mentioned, that one has bitten me a couple of times.

One other thing, most likely if your tranny input seal is leaking, seems to me it would be leaking out of that drip hole at the bottom of the bellhousing and not so much at the clutch fork, not saying it's not possible, just easier for the oil to run downhill.

Matt16

Hypoid gear (tranny oil, diff) smells like fart if you'll pardon the crudity. The most sulfurous fart you ever had the misfortune of smelling. Its gage-inducing sometimes.

sh0kk86

fwiw, i have an 86 22r, 190k+ miles.

i pulled my tranny to do a clutch(replaced rear main at same time.)

even after i was having the same leak you were.

dropped the tranny again, to replace the trans input seal.

it still leaks, im thinking its the input shaft being worn, or a bad bearing.

and i still drive on it since its my dd. ive already ruined a brand new mc clutch, and recently as im driving and letting off the gas i can hear the clutch plates.
i wish i had the money upfront to of done a engine/tranny swap instead of rebuilding my motor, then having to deal with this problem.

lesson: deal with it sooner rather than later

toyoda

Anyone have the part numbers for the input shaft seal and input shaft bearing on the transmission?