3550 tremec leaking bad, please help

thunder1 · #1 (**permalink**) 04-06-2005, 05:29 PM

Hi
My 3550 tremec is leaking out the tail housing seal,at least that were i think its leakin . I pulled the drive shaft and replaced the seal, but its still leaking bad. When i drove it for 10 min and came back the underside was covered in oil. how much play should the driveshaft going into the tail housing have it move up and down my guess about .020 to .030 any ideas.
I would like it for the hot rod power tour in june but my work away form home give me only a week after work to fix.
any help would be a big help
Thanks Ed

JayBar · #2 (**permalink**) 04-07-2005, 06:57 PM

Ed,
I had a similar problem with my T-5. Replaced the seal and it got worse. Problem was in the yoke of the driveshaft.
There is a piece inside like a freeze plug that leaked becasue of peasure of the output shaft of the transmission because my drive shaft was just a "tad" to long. Reg had is shortened and now all is well.

Bruce Edwards · #3 (**permalink**) 04-07-2005, 07:03 PM

Other thing to check is the tailshaft bushing.

Rogers · #4 (**permalink**) 04-09-2005, 06:57 AM

Driveshaft alignment will play a big role in wearing out that tailshaft bushing....even though you have u-joints on both ends that short driveshaft has got to be darn near straight-on. I had to grind the aluminum tabs off the side of the tremec so it could be re-located....also had to re-drill the transmission cross brace. I can bet you this is your problem....thrust bushing. I put 3 rear seals before I found this.

thunder1 · #5 (**permalink**) 04-12-2005, 07:30 PM

thanks for the info:
Pull the trans out and takeing it to power by ford in orlando.
the tail shaft bushing has a lot of play in it. i still believe that no oil was getting back to the yoke. because when I broke a u-joint and pull it out it was bule from the heat and was also hard to pull out. Frank replace the driveshaft because the u-joint was to small and replace the driveshaft he was a big help. let all you know how it come out.
ED

Bruce Edwards · #6 (**permalink**) 04-12-2005, 08:14 PM

Ed,

If the yoke showed signs of being burned it was more likely due to a bushing being installed wrong. If it gets off center and causes a bind it will burn the yoke no matter how much oil it gets.
Did you replace the yoke when you redid the driveshaft? If you did, and you should have, you should have also changed the tailshaft bushing at that time.
If you are going to be in Orlando I invite you to stop by my place and check out our demo car with the 4.6 Supercharger and the 289 FIA ERA car we are building.