t-5 rebuild. self or not
 

I have a t-5z that needs rebuilt. THe only problem is that it wont stay in second gear and sometimes grinds slightly into 5th. Sounds to me like a synchro-only problem what do you think? With the costs of a a shops rebuild it almost sounds better to buy a new one, neither of which I want to spend the money on though. If i was to spend that much money again then I would rather have it be tward a tremec but I dont want to do that yet either. It seems the best decision to tackle the tranny myself. Who has done this before? WHat are some of the things I may need as far as tools?

I consider myself fairly well mechanically inclined. Ive swapped out the aod for the 5-speed myself also replaced heads etc.

In my time, I have rebuilt 2 engines and 1 AOD in my basement and installed my own gears, so I consider myself to be a decently "seasoned" verteran of mechanical affairs and I found the T-5 rebuild to be extremely difficult. The case is dominated by snaprings and each set of gears on the cluster needs to have a certaibn preload. Compared to this, the AOD rebuild was a cakewalk. It's not difficult but it requires a few relatively special tools (snapring plyers are an absolute must) and lots of precision work otherwise you end up with something that shifts exactly as bad or worse than before the rebuild. Get a "professionally rebuilt" one. The parts yard near here sells them for about 800 bucks which totally beats the 2200 aamco want to charge for a rebuild of a t-5

It is actually not that bad to rebuild yourself. If it won't stay in second gear, the 1-2-R slider may have all the clutch teeth torn up. Taking off snap rings is easy if you have snap-ring pliers! Some of the gears on the main shaft may need to be pressed off, but any automotive machine shop could do that fast and easy. If you get the T-5 manual (and I have also heard that the Hanlon rebuild video really helps), you'll find it easier than you think. Just get the case open to see what you might need to replace and stay organized with all the small parts. Mine has shifted fantastic since I rebuilt it!

I replaced my 2nd gear synchro several years back and didn't find it to be overly difficult. I did have the help of my step-dad though, who is very good with all things mechanical. As said before, you'll need snap ring pliers and a shop to press some of the gears off. A good manual will show how everything kind of goes together. Just make sure and to keep tack of the order that everything slides off the shafts and things shouldn't be too bad.

Also, I can't remember where it was exactly, but somewhere there is a little steel ball that is loaded by a spring. Like I said, I don't remember where it went, but when I disassmebled that part, that ball went flying across the garage and took forever to find. Maybe the manual shows where that is.....it has been a few years since I was in the inside of one.

Some may say it is more difficult than I thought it was, but mine has shifted fine every since. Maybe I just got lucky?