3 Speed Saginaw leaking like a sieve at linkage connection

[Yamariv]

So was doing a little transmission maintenance today and drained my fluid only to realize I didn't have the correct GL4 Gear Oil. So while the tranny sits empty, this would be a good time to try and seal up some leaks.

So both of my linkage entry points are leaking, one is really bad as you can see in the pic. I pulled off the linkage in hopes to find an O ring or something I could easily replace but nothing was obvious.

How do I stop these leaks at the linkage, please tell me I can fix them without taking the tranny apart?

[70STOVEBOLT]

There should be a shift shaft seal on each one of those. They drive into the shifter cover. I may have a pair if you need them

[67 twins]

Just an FYI in case you are unaware. Do NOT use a fluid that says GL4/GL5 which is most of them. The additives in GL5 will destroy the syncros. To avoid this the lubricant companies have come out with what they call manual transmission fluid. Look it up.

[Yamariv]

Originally Posted by 70STOVEBOLT

There should be a shift shaft seal on each one of those. They drive into the shifter cover. I may have a pair if you need them

Does it look like I'm missing them or are they behind that somewhere? Hopefully they are easy to replace :S

That would be awesome, should I send you a PM? Im gonna need to fix all the leaks cause I want to keep the tranny, it works great mechanically!

[Yamariv]

Originally Posted by 67 twins

Just an FYI in case you are unaware. Do NOT use a fluid that says GL4/GL5 which is most of them. The additives in GL5 will destroy the syncros. To avoid this the lubricant companies have come out with what they call manual transmission fluid. Look it up.

I have some nice Redline MT90 GL4 which is safe for the brass synchros on the way. I realized the non synthetic stuff I had which I thought was ok was GL5 only rated

[geezer#99]

IIRC you need to remove the side cover and slide the shift forks out of the cover to easily remove the seals. Then clean it up, put the forks back in, install the cover and install the seals.
Likely far easier to just clean everything and put in new gear oil.

[67 twins]

Originally Posted by Yamariv

I have some nice Redline MT90 GL4 which is safe for the brass synchros on the way. I realized the non synthetic stuff I had which I thought was ok was GL5 only rated

Good deal

[Yamariv]

Originally Posted by 70STOVEBOLT

There should be a shift shaft seal on each one of those. They drive into the shifter cover. I may have a pair if you need them

So I've been doing a bit of research and it looks like there may be only one metal/rubber shaft seal that goes into the one Ive cleaned off in the pic. The rebuild kits seem to only have the one seal with the metal ring and rubber inside. Is it possible the other shift shaft just has an O ring from the inside.

So on the shift linkage we can see, looks like the meal/rubber shaft seal is totally missing right? Looks like this one can be pounded in from the outside? (fingers crossed)

[MikeB]

Originally Posted by Yamariv

So on the shift linkage we can see, looks like the meal/rubber shaft seal is totally missing right? Looks like this one can be pounded in from the outside? (fingers crossed)

I'm not sure you can do the work without removing the cover. It's certainly not rocket science. Just be sure to line up the shift forks with the slider gears when you re-install the cover. Very easy to do. If you have the seals, I'd bet a trans repair shop would do it for $50-$100.

I just looked at photos of seal kits. You may be right about one of the seals being an o-ring. If that's the case, you would need to pull out the shift fork to replace the o-ring. You may want to google "Saginaw 3 speed rebuild" to find a YouTube video.

[Yamariv]

Originally Posted by MikeB

I'm not sure you can do the work without removing the cover. It's certainly not rocket science. Just be sure to line up the shift forks with the slider gears when you re-install the cover. Very easy to do. If you have the seals, I'd bet a trans repair shop would do it for $50-$100.

I just looked at photos of seal kits. You may be right about one of the seals being an o-ring. If that's the case, you would need to pull out the shift fork to replace the o-ring. You may want to google "Saginaw 3 speed rebuild" to find a YouTube video.

Ugh, pulling off that cover scares me a bit lol. I'm sure it's easy once you see how its done but I couldn't find any videos that show how to yet

In the videos I did find, looks like one of the shafts only has an inner O ring for a seal and the other shaft has the hard seal.

I ran around this morning to transmission and parts stores and got me a new speedo bullit with seals and that metal donut seal for the shaft I needed.. Woohoo!
Since the metal/rubber donut seal is the one that was spewing the most oil I'm gonna pop that one in, along with a new speedo bullit and hope the other shaft isn't leaking. If it is, I'll have to muster the courage to take off the cover down the road. I think with this metal shaft seal installed, it should stop the worst leak which was actually dripping on the floor. I don't understand how the PO just left it uninstalled/missing..