legacycentral bbs

So yesterday I finally broke down and spent the day working on trying to fix the bad bearing sound I've been hearing in my drivetrain/clutch. Replaced the TO, the old one had just a tad play in but not much. I also replaced my clutch since the one in there had radial play in the plastic piece that holds the female splined 'socket?'. The rest of the clutch was in good condition though. The pressure plate was also in pretty good condition with even wear on the fingers and none that were broken/cracked/bent. There was some discoloration, looked to be due to heat, on the clutch disc surface so I went ahead and swapped the pressure plate too. When I had the clutch off I checked the pinion bearing in the crank just to be sure and it felt just fine, nice and snug.

However, the input shaft of the tranny had between 1/32 - 1/16" of radial play. It'd wiggle pretty easy by shaking it with your fingers. But since there wasn't anything I could do about that I put everything back together. Once I got everything hooked back up I started the car and sure enough, the sound was still there. Slightly less loud though only very slightly. I figure having the other clutch in there with the solid center piece is helping hold it better but it's definately on it's way out .


So how long can I let this go before it upsets my engine bearings and clutch system? I pressume it'll eventually lead to something broken but what's going to go first?

What price range should I be expecting for a decent 4.11 NA 5sp?


Thanks guys.

It shouldn't lead to engine or clutch damage.

It will probably hurt the transmission at some point. Drive it until it gets REALLY bad, then look into replacement.

Thanks Phil. I was hoping you'd comment.