Another input shaft bearing question!
 

So, per my previous posts, & all of your combined great advice, I'm pretty sure I have a bad input shaft bearing in my 4x4. I just bought this truck about 3 weeks ago, & the previous owner disclosed the noise to me, & I got a dirt cheap deal on it. It hasn't gotten any worse since I bought it, & it shifts/ otherwise drives great. What now? I want to just keep driving it 'till after I get my tax rebate check. So what would happen if I just let it be?

worst case scenario i would think it would destroy the input shaft and/or the transmission case. when the bearing wiped out.

The bearing is maybe a $30 part, and the input shaft seal $10. The work itself is easy to do.

Is it possible to have just those parts replaced? Or does doing so necessitate an entire rebuild? Some tranny places I talked to said they can't just do this- "You need either a new tranny or a complete rebuild" Are they just trying to rip me off? Or is this true?

what did I tell you when I met you in person and crawled under your truck?

You can change the bearing and seal by themselves, dont even have to change your clutch if it's good. It just depends on how far you want to go with it while you already have the tranny on the ground.

Shops are always out to 'get your money'. I dont believe that word you used is YT appropriate, or socially appropriate.

another worst case you would have to replace those parts and possibly the input shaft itself. Not sure on a price on that. It's a little pricey at the stealership.

Sorry authority- excuse my foul mouth. Just kinda frustrated at this situation. I trust your expertise- It's just that I don't have the skill to do this myself, & of course the shops will try to get as much as they can. So I'm kinda stuck. Again, I would be okay with you fixing it- but now I don't even have a garage to do it in (My dad started a remodel on the house that will probably last 2 months- & the garage is full of cabinets, lumber, flooring- everyone's cars are outside!)

You have the skill to do this yourself dude !

I'm no more skilled than you are really. It just takes common sense when you're going through the steps.

I know how to turn a wrench and so do you. I've owned 84 different vehicles and each time had to learn how those make/models do their steps/repairs.

You know how I learned those? Crawled under the vehicle and started turning. I've never damaged a vehicle so bad I couldn't fix it. Just make sure you download and print the FSM. Go have kinko's make a booklet for you. Makes it a lot easier. You could do this work by yourself in 2 days if you wanted.

Ive been doing an engine rebuild in my makeshift driveway where I rent at. Half the truck in on pavement and the front half is on gravel. :eeek:

I think if yur gonna wheel your truck, it's time to start learning how to do the work yourself. Could get expensive to have someone else fix the stuff and you could be using that money for upgrades and/or admission to yur local off-road parks.

Invest in a service manual or do a search on here and download one.

I'll see if I can muster up the courage to mess with it this weekend!

Like I told you before, if you have a question. Ask me and i'll take a peek.

I parked my truck in storage until December and I can get full doors. It's freezing out there, even with 2 jackets and heater on.

So I won't be wheeling on weekends until than. If you need help just pm me .. i'm on here quite often as you can tell.

I'll definitely let you know!

One more dumb question guys: If I put in thicker gear oil (80w140?) Will that at least reduce the current damage being done untill I finally do fix it? I'm assuming the input shaft bearing is lubed by the MTF right?

Anyone? Is this a good idea or bad for the tranny?

heavier gear oil or synthetic change will not reduce the damage, if its already rattling around in there, its gonna rattle regardless.

Ok. I mean is there anything I could put in there to at least minimize the damage 'till I fix it? And exactly what kind of "damage" is going on in there- like what's the worst thing that could happen? Could it just shred the tranny? Or would it just stop going into gear before it got to that point? or would something just break to where there's no power going to the tranny any more? I'm just trying to guage exactly how urgent this is, or if I can put it off for a while?

Depending on what the bearing looks like and how wore it is it may have already destroyed the input shaft and mangled the bearing journal on the case. I wouldn't even drive this thing till you got it fixed, otherwise if it aint broke yet it will be. once a bearing starts to go there is nothing you can do to "bandaid" fix it. That wobble depending on how bad can also wear out a clutch as well. PObbily when it goes it can take out a pilot bearing on the crank. But I'm not positive on that.

I would treat this as I would a rod knock inside a motor. If you plan on replacing a crank and putting in new rods then drive it till it blows up. If not then don't drive it till you can get the bearings and do the job right. Lucas, straight 30 oil, motor honey and such will not make a rod bearing knock go away nor give extra protection. The bearing is making noise because its either completely gone, or wore to the point its clearances are causing the shaft to wobble which puts even more force on the bearings causing the wear to accelerate. Once the bearing wipes out then there will be large chunks of metal flying around from the bearing and maybe even the journals where they shouldn't be and mess up other stuff.

I've seen too many people "bandaid" fix stuff and then complain they don't have the money to do the job after the "bandaid" fix fails.

I don't mean to be nosy but how much did you pay for this truck?

$2,000

If you can't afford to fix it or you don't know how to just drive it until it goes then buy a used tranny off craigslist or wherever and swap it in. A used transmission for these trucks can be had for around $250 or maybe less from what I see around here in the ads.
It sounds like you are kind of obsessing over it, just relax and drive it till it dies or fix it now if you have the capability.

Swapping in a used tranny is a pretty straight forward and relatively easy job.

These transmissions are really durable, I had fifth gear go out on my 86 a few years back and I just drove for like 2-3 months till it wouldn't go into any gear at all.

Good Luck

I am having the same issue with a noisy input shaft bearing in my G54, I just ordered the bearing from marlin crawler for $30 and will be installing it as soon as it arrives. My truck isn't done yet so I have not driven it with the noisy bearing

Anyway what I was told was that the Input bearing is a sealed bearing so it never gets any more lubrication than what was in the bearing from the factory, so a thicker oil or additive will not get into the bearing to help lubricate it since it is a sealed bearing.