Transmission Whine



7/13/06
Transmission Whine

transmission

Even though I still have the grille to polish, I decided to take a look at my transmission. I’ve put about 1000 miles on the drive train of my car, and a whine emanating from the transmission has steadily increased the more I drive the car. I suspected a bearing in the gearbox, and in discussions with Francois about my transmission and looking back at my restoration journal, I realized we had forgotten to replace the rearmost bearing on the tail shaft of the transmission. Although new bearings have been known to fail out of the box, the chances were high that this overlooked bearing was the culprit.

I wanted to see if it was at all possible to replace this bearing without removing the whole transmission from the car, so the only way was to take the interior out of the 330 America to have a look. With the drive shaft and rubber doughnut removed, things looked promising. It looked like I could remove the bolts that hold the tail section to the overdrive and there would be enough room to slide this section back to remove from the transmission. I took this opportunity to turn the transmission by hand, and I could actually feel resistance in the transmission with every 5 degrees of movement. There was definitely something wrong.

I called Francois to consult the expert on these matters, and discussed a plan of attack. I explained that it was difficult for me to feel if it was actually the rearmost bearing, but I was sure I could feel something wrong with a bearing inside the transmission. The decision we had to make was whether to try and remove the tail housing, or just pull the whole transmission so a clear assessment could be made on a workbench. Francois warned that pulling the rear section would not be difficult, but getting the assembly back together could be harder with dire consequences to the overdrive if things were not right.

Thinking it over, I decided to fix this bearing the RIGHT way, so I’ll pull the transmission. Unfortunately, that means it has to be wrestled out from inside the passenger compartment. Francois thinks I can do this by myself, but I’ll feel more comfortable with some help. The irony is although I could ask 20 people I know on the Internet to help work on my Ferrari, I can’t think of anyone close enough to Claverack, NY for it to be convenient. Would anyone be interested in lending a hand? I am offering lunch and beer to anyone feeling strong! E-mail me!

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