Bought a TH-350 rear seal - what's the sleeve that came in the package?

Hey guys, today I bought a new rear seal for my TH-350 transmission.
It is a Timken p/n 5200. The package contained the usual seal, but
also had a metallic sleeve inside made by Clevite. It is silver in
color on the outside and copper in color on the inside. The inside
also has a spiral pattern cut into it and dimples.

At first I thought it was a sleeve to refresh the surface of the
driveshaft yoke that the seal rides on, but the sleeve does not fit in
the seal hole (too big). It does slip easily over the driveshaft yoke.

The sleeve is about 1.5-inches in length, and I can't imagine what to
do with it. Any ideas?

It is the tailshaft housing bushing. You have one just like it in your
transmission right now that the driveshaft fits into. If this bushing
shows wear or the shaft has excessive play when rocked up and down then
you should remove and replace the bushing. There are specific tools to
do this easily and without damaging the transmission housing or new
bushing. Makeshift methods work as well but only if you are careful
and know what you are doing.

Toyota MDT in MO

"Miki" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hey guys, today I bought a new rear seal for my TH-350 transmission.
> It is a Timken p/n 5200. The package contained the usual seal, but
> also had a metallic sleeve inside made by Clevite. It is silver in
> color on the outside and copper in color on the inside. The inside
> also has a spiral pattern cut into it and dimples.
>
> At first I thought it was a sleeve to refresh the surface of the
> driveshaft yoke that the seal rides on, but the sleeve does not fit in
> the seal hole (too big). It does slip easily over the driveshaft yoke.
>
> The sleeve is about 1.5-inches in length, and I can't imagine what to
> do with it. Any ideas?
>

The reason they give you the tail shaft bushing is that 80% of the time
that's what causes the seal to leak. It should be replaced.

Brian

That's the bushing (bearing) that the driveshaft yoke rides on. It
presses into the tailshaft housing of the transmission before the seal
goes on. You might have to remove the transmission tail housing to knock
out the old bushing, so I probably wouldn't replace it if there isn't
excessive side-play in the driveshaft yoke when it is slipped into the
existing bushing and over the splined tail-shaft.

Miki wrote:

> Hey guys, today I bought a new rear seal for my TH-350 transmission.
> It is a Timken p/n 5200. The package contained the usual seal, but
> also had a metallic sleeve inside made by Clevite. It is silver in
> color on the outside and copper in color on the inside. The inside
> also has a spiral pattern cut into it and dimples.
>
> At first I thought it was a sleeve to refresh the surface of the
> driveshaft yoke that the seal rides on, but the sleeve does not fit in
> the seal hole (too big). It does slip easily over the driveshaft yoke.
>
> The sleeve is about 1.5-inches in length, and I can't imagine what to
> do with it. Any ideas?
>

Gentleman, thank you all for the replies. As soon as I read them, I
instantly knew what to do! The yoke did have quite a bit of slop in
it, and I suspect if I simply changed the seal, it would have started
leaking again.

So I removed the speedo cable, removed the four bolts holding on the
tailshaft housing, banged out the old bearing and banged in the new
bearing. The whole job (including putting it back together) was less
than an hour. And FINALLY solved my leak. The seal I was replacing
was new and already leaked. I thought I had a defect.

A vibration had been sneaking up on me, and I never really noticed it
until putting in the new parts. The car (or rather, van) feels brand
new.