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Transmission Leak....

m-35tom

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slipping the clutch is a sure way to get hot spots on the flywheel and have a grabbing clutch. not good advise. if your trans is below the filler plug, it may have been full before and not now. regardless of some thinking it should be 1" below the plug, it should not. if spicer wanted it that level they would have put the plug lower. these transmissions were used in many civilian vehicles for 20 years and mil vehicles for almost 60 years now. with no leaks. if you have a leak, you have something wrong, such as the gasket for the front bearing retainer missing or the retainer damaged from a bad front bearing. there are 2 gaskets on front of the trans. the trans holds 5 qts, i ran one of my test trans with 7 qts of 30wt engine oil and no sign of a leak as the level was still below front bearing.
 

agood1

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Location
Woodstock, Ga
slipping the clutch is a sure way to get hot spots on the flywheel and have a grabbing clutch. not good advise. if your trans is below the filler plug, it may have been full before and not now. regardless of some thinking it should be 1" below the plug, it should not. if spicer wanted it that level they would have put the plug lower. these transmissions were used in many civilian vehicles for 20 years and mil vehicles for almost 60 years now. with no leaks. if you have a leak, you have something wrong, such as the gasket for the front bearing retainer missing or the retainer damaged from a bad front bearing. there are 2 gaskets on front of the trans. the trans holds 5 qts, i ran one of my test trans with 7 qts of 30wt engine oil and no sign of a leak as the level was still below front bearing.

Ok, so why did it not leak on a trip 2 weeks ago? And why doesn't it leak now sitting at idle?
 

stumps

Active member
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Maryland
slipping the clutch is a sure way to get hot spots on the flywheel and have a grabbing clutch. not good advise. if your trans is below the filler plug, it may have been full before and not now. regardless of some thinking it should be 1" below the plug, it should not. if spicer wanted it that level they would have put the plug lower. these transmissions were used in many civilian vehicles for 20 years and mil vehicles for almost 60 years now. with no leaks. if you have a leak, you have something wrong, such as the gasket for the front bearing retainer missing or the retainer damaged from a bad front bearing. there are 2 gaskets on front of the trans. the trans holds 5 qts, i ran one of my test trans with 7 qts of 30wt engine oil and no sign of a leak as the level was still below front bearing.
The military made a universal rule that on the deuce, the differentials, transfer case, and transmission should be filled to your first knuckle, or 1 inch low.

There are several issues of PS magazine that make this recommendation, and it should be in the latest LO manual for the deuce.

It has been generally observed that if you fill the transmission so that it drools out the plug (eg. full), it will wet the clutch, and make a mess on the cab floor when it gets hot.

-Chuck
 

m-35tom

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eldersburg maryland
It has been generally observed that if you fill the transmission so that it drools out the plug (eg. full), it will wet the clutch, and make a mess on the cab floor when it gets hot.

-Chuck[/quote]

of all the people i know, with vast experiance, have ever had this problem. and the people who have this problem, have another problem to start with.
i bet no one can actually show me a trans that leaks oil without something wrong elsewhere.
 

agood1

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This really makes no sense when you think about it...

If you overfill it and the oil gets hot and expands, where would it come out? I would think it would come out the vent on the top of the transmission, not somewhere inside the bell housing.
 

badgmc56

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I have filled all my diffs and the trans to the bottom of the fill hole and have no leaks at all so the 1 inch theory is toast. m-35tom is absolutely correct in his post. If the trans manufacturer wanted less fluid in it, they would have put the fill plug lower. It would not be the first time the military was wrong in its information. If you tranny leaks, you have another problem.
 

m-35tom

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agood1,
there is no seal on the input shaft. the oil level is so much lower than the shaft and there is a close tolerance reverse thread to keep the oil in the trans in the odd event it ever gets this far. does oil expand as it gets hot?? the deuce trans typically runs at 150°F. i doubt it expands enough to notice.
 

agood1

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Location
Woodstock, Ga
OK, so where is the leak coming from? If there are no seals to leak....the only option is a crack? If the case is cracked, is seems it would leak all the time.
 

73m819

Rock = older than dirt , GA. MAFIA , Dirty
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i may of missed it, if i did I'm sorry, did you pull the drain plug on the bottom and see what came out, water, metal, oil, or what,, a bad bearing will cause it to get hot, water will do the same, you cant really start talking about leaking and why or where till you know whats IN the trans. just because you have oil at the fill hole, DOES NOT mean it is FULLl of oil
 
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stumps

Active member
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38
Location
Maryland
This really makes no sense when you think about it...

If you overfill it and the oil gets hot and expands, where would it come out? I would think it would come out the vent on the top of the transmission, not somewhere inside the bell housing.
I think their idea is to keep the oil off of the seals as much as possible. One way to do that is to make sure that the oil level doesn't reach the seal to any great degree even when hot and foamed up.

Whatever the reason, 1/2 inch down (first knuckle) is their recommendation.

Obviously, they also recommend seal replacement when ever a leak or seepage causes problems.

-Chuck
 

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agood1

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Woodstock, Ga
OK, I drained the oil this weekend....I could not really tell if it had water in it....I think it may have gotten water in it during my fording, but after the long drive home, most of it got cooked out.....
Now it has fresh oil in it and is definitely not overfilled. So as soon as we get some decent weather, I'm gonna take her for a long run and see what happens....keeping my fingers crossed.
 

mckeeranger

Member
779
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18
Location
Eastern Kentucky
Having the same leaky transmission problem.

I'm having the dreaded transmission oil leak through the bell housing problem. I know I have the right oil, I know it's 1 inch below the plug, and it's leaking upon shut down.

It started when I began to take longer trips. When I got confident with it's running gear and started the trips I mentioned in the "just driving around" thread, it started the leaking. When it's warm and idling, it drips at about 30 second intervals. When it's warm, it drops about 4 oz around 30-40 seconds after shut down.

I was on a steep grade about 15 miles out a couple of days ago, and the clutch slipped. Later it slipped again when shifting into 5th. As long as I baby it, it seems OK, except for the leak.

Again; right oil, right level, does not leak when parked cold, drips when running warm, and pours about 4 oz. right after warm shut down.

What should be my next move? (going to search in TM now)
 
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