3sgte S54 Diff/Axle free play, vid Options

[lagos]

I've been hearing some clunking/thumping noises that happen only on deceleration while the car is in gear. I noticed that there seems to be some freeplay in my passengers side axle/diff. Can someone verify for me if their s54 has the same free play and makes the same clicking sound when you push up/down on the axle or the diff inside?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHrM0HpqNpA

[presure2]

sorry art, i didnt get out to the garage last night, ill get out there for sure today and get back to you.

::edit::
i definetly dont have that axle play like you have in that vid.
ill check the diff later.

[x_itchy_b_x]

never had play like that.

[95st-celica]

yea art you have way to much play...your axle is really movin....i'll go out and check my trans today and let ya know

[BBoYRuGGeD]

i had the celi up on the lift just a few days ago...didnt notice any play like that

-bboy

[lagos]

Could one of you guys try to make a similar vid for me? Id like to see how it should be.

[Batman722]

the next time I'm at Manny's I'll check the trannys there, maybe tonight...looks to me like a bearing in there bad.

[presure2]

its definetly much tighter art.
i was out there this AM checking it.
there is very little play in the diff. (maybe 1/8th" tops)

[lagos]

its definetly much tighter art.
i was out there this AM checking it.
there is very little play in the diff. (maybe 1/8th" tops)

Hmm.. and here I was hoping you would say you had zero.
I really need to get under another celica and compare for myself.

I put the car back together, and I'll probably take it to a tranny shop to see what their opinion is, and how much it would cost if I just brought the trans to them.

[Culpable04]

there is a place ~ 10 miles from me, they rebuild any tranny for 249.99

I know your policy about driving more than 3 miles away from home, but it's an option.

[presure2]

I know your policy about driving more than 3 miles away from home, but it's an option.

[lagos]

there is a place ~ 10 miles from me, they rebuild any tranny for 249.99

I know your policy about driving more than 3 miles away from home, but it's an option.

This is funny on two counts.
1. manny said you were the man when it comes to finding good deals anywhere.
2. wtf? dont you live by shannon? Ive been there!!!


Anyway, I put the car back together and went for a ride. Trans shifts nice and smooth. Nothing bad seems to have happened from me loosing close to all my tranny oil, so thats good.
However, when I first engage the clutch, I can hear like a chirping 'metal on metal sound coming from the clutch/trans (noticed it a few weeks ago, but forgot about it). I wonder if there is something else going on here.
One thing that I learned over the years, is to never jump to conclusions about a problem.

This post has been edited by lagos: Apr 12, 2009 - 5:51 PM

[Culpable04]

I know you've been here,, it was just a joke


if you're intentions are to get the tranny rebuilt, that's the place to go unless you find something cheaper, if you need a new tranny we can source one as well.

s54 or e153 ( non LSD, I'm not that good ) lol

[lagos]

I know you've been here,, it was just a joke


if you're intentions are to get the tranny rebuilt, that's the place to go unless you find something cheaper, if you need a new tranny we can source one as well.

s54 or e153 ( non LSD, I'm not that good ) lol

Yeah, I'm going to shop around and see what it would cost to replace the trans bearing. I also have a buddy who owns a shop, so I can see if thats something he can give me a hand with.
I would rather rebuild it then to buy a used trans, because buying anything used is always a gamble.

If it costs too much to rebuild, then im going to start looking around for a new trans. I'll probably have to go with another s54, as my budget is limited, to say the least. I dont have the grand it would cost to buy an e153, clutch, axles..etc..

[lagos]

So I went over to 95st-celica's house today and helped him put in his drivers side axle so that I could compare the freeplay with mine. Christ... mine is definitely shot! His axle had almost zero feeplay while mine just flops around. Its safe to say that is the source of the noise I'm hearing.

So anyone have a cheap s54 in good shape?

[95st-celica]

lol...clunk clunk clunk....mines tight like a tiger!

glad we found the culprit though

anyway...an s54 would be shaweet

i have an AWD 185 trans art...i think its time for AWD...muhahahha

This post has been edited by 95st-celica: Apr 17, 2009 - 8:10 PM

[presure2]

So I went over to 95st-celica's house today and helped him put in his drivers side axle so that I could compare the freeplay with mine. Christ... mine is definitely shot! His axle had almost zero feeplay while mine just flops around. Its safe to say that is the source of the noise I'm hearing.

So anyone have a cheap s54 in good shape?

i do, but you aint drivin up here for it!

[lagos]

So I went over to 95st-celica's house today and helped him put in his drivers side axle so that I could compare the freeplay with mine. Christ... mine is definitely shot! His axle had almost zero feeplay while mine just flops around. Its safe to say that is the source of the noise I'm hearing.

So anyone have a cheap s54 in good shape?

i do, but you aint drivin up here for it!

Hmmm... you got me there!
Im going to get my grades up so that I can transfer to MIT. Then this type of stuff wont be a problem.

[lagos]

Can someone clear me up on the e153...
Has the axle spacer issue ever been fully resolved? It seems like ever car has its own issues with finding the right spacer that works, right?
Besides that, I would need:
rear st205 mount
st205 shifter cables
...and what else?

I'm trying to fix this issue as cheaply as possible, but I started thinking that if I crack the trans open, and decide I want to buy a new clutch, then I would consider going all out on the e153 as long as I can get one for around 300bucks.

This post has been edited by lagos: Apr 18, 2009 - 9:41 AM

[presure2]

Can someone clear me up on the e153...
Has the axle spacer issue ever been fully resolved? It seems like ever car has its own issues with finding the right spacer that works, right?
Besides that, I would need:
rear st205 mount
st205 shifter cables
...and what else?

I'm trying to fix this issue as cheaply as possible, but I started thinking that if I crack the trans open, and decide I want to buy a new clutch, then I would consider going all out on the e153 as long as I can get one for around 300bucks.

art, it totally depends on the tranny and axles you get.

jim ran both non lsd es300 tranny, and the lsd tranny with mr2 inners and alltrac outters with no spacers.

dustin has a newer camry or solara trans with alltrac outters and mr2 inners, and had to use spacers on both axles.

if you get a fwd e153, your parts list is good, if you get a rwd one, you need fwd shifter arms to convert it to fwd.
i would try to get the inners from whatever tranny you were to get.
IIRC jim paid 300 for the es300tranny stevenson got for him.

[lagos]

Hmm, what year and model solara or camry used the e153 (sorry, i haven been keeping up on this issue at all).

[Culpable04]

all manual tranny V6 camrys and solaras have e153, also Lexus ES300, If I know you are driving up here to pick it up, I can soruce you one easily I mean, I got jim's in like what !? 30 mins ? lol

so let me know IF you are willing to drive up here and I'll help you find one.

[lagos]

Yeah, I looked on car-parts.com, and there seems to be a lot of them in the area for around 300 bucks. Its almost easier to get then another s54.
Didn't the camry also come with a 5sfe and s54 in certain years/trims?

I guess the hard part would be to source everything else. Im trying to get all of this done by mid may or so, and it seems like locating parts, and lack of money would hold me back from doing the conversion. It would be nice to have longer gearing though.

This post has been edited by lagos: Apr 18, 2009 - 12:15 PM

[Culpable04]

yes the camry also came with s54/5sfe combo, the e153 from a FWD car is still viable, " IF " we can find the tranny still in the car, we could get it along with axles. the hard thing to find would be the ST205 cables and the ST205 rear mount, and I have both , those are for my set-up but since mine will not be done anytime soon, I wouldn't mind letting them go to you if you were to go with a e153.


so think about what exactly you want to go with, I'm sure you can find a decent deal closer to you as well, but if you were to need help finding anything, I have more than 15 yards within 15 minutes drive from me

This post has been edited by Culpable04: Apr 18, 2009 - 7:10 PM

[lagos]

Hmmm

[Batman722]

I used a 2000 Solara e153 w/51K miles on it and after reading the jgreening "short axle" thread and talking to Corey I decided to use spacers just in case. Other people have not used spacers and have had no issues but I didn't want to take any chances.

I used IIRC 91 MR2 inners (with the MR2 axle carrier) and all-trac outers.
The spacers were easy to make, I just used spare parts from the left over axles and brought them to a local machine shop ($15 each).
I did have one issue though, this pic



the top is the MR2 axle and the bottom is s54. The groove where the snap ring is on the 2 axle needed to be in the same spot as the s54. So I brought them over to the machine shop and I had two options, either make a new snap ring groove closer to the end of the axle or shave the end off a bit. I wanted to make sure the axle sat snug inside the tranny so I had the top shaved down.

This is IMO because I'm using old axles with a newer tranny. If you use a 2 tranny then you wouldn't have that issue, everything would fit fine but you would have a 15 year old high mileage tranny.

I have had no tranny or axle problems problems.
If you want any details about the spacers or anything, just let me know.

[lagos]

Alright, that clears things up for me.
I have some thinking to do, and some deep analysis of my none existent budget to see if this is even possible.

I think what I'm going to do is take my motor out, and get the trans off. Then if the clutch is in good shape and I can keep it, I'll probably just go for an s54 to make things cheap. But if the clutch looks like it might be a good idea to change, I'll consider the e153 since that would just be a few misc parts away.

One thing that kind of turns me off from the e153 is the fact that if you ever have to replace the axle, for some reason, you'll be stuck doing your own rebuild. I had to replace my axles a few times over the years, and I really liked how I can just run to carquest or nappa, and come home with a fresh rebuild ready to go in.

[pittfirefighter]

One thing that kind of turns me off from the e153 is the fact that if you ever have to replace the axle, for some reason, you'll be stuck doing your own rebuild. I had to replace my axles a few times over the years, and I really liked how I can just run to carquest or nappa, and come home with a fresh rebuild ready to go in.

i am a little bit lost on this.. i haven't read the entire post but why wouldn't you be able to do this?? i used st185 axles on my CAMRY e153 (there are a lot of differences between the camry and mr2 e153's.... i don't know if you guys touched on this at all)... when i broke mine just went and picked up a new axle from advanced auto...

EDIT: after thinking for another min... its because mine has the MR2 LSD huh??

This post has been edited by pittfirefighter: Apr 20, 2009 - 2:37 AM

[lagos]

One thing that kind of turns me off from the e153 is the fact that if you ever have to replace the axle, for some reason, you'll be stuck doing your own rebuild. I had to replace my axles a few times over the years, and I really liked how I can just run to carquest or nappa, and come home with a fresh rebuild ready to go in.

i am a little bit lost on this.. i haven't read the entire post but why wouldn't you be able to do this?? i used st185 axles on my CAMRY e153 (there are a lot of differences between the camry and mr2 e153's.... i don't know if you guys touched on this at all)... when i broke mine just went and picked up a new axle from advanced auto...

EDIT: after thinking for another min... its because mine has the MR2 LSD huh??

You still have to make your own hybrid axle, with mixed and matched inners/outers and a spacer.
If camry axles just work out of the box, then I think that would be news to the entire community.

This post has been edited by lagos: Apr 20, 2009 - 6:27 AM