Suzuki SJ User Manual

Rebuilding your Transmission

If you still have transmission in your Samurai,
chances are very good that it makes a little noise in
at least one of the forward gears... You have a few
choices. You can try and find a dealer money. Our
kit was purchased from Petroworks.

Everything starts with simply draining the oil. Check
the oil as it comes out for metal shavings or flakes.
Large metal chunks could be a bad thing depending
on where they came from. If the shifter locator pin
has broken off in the past it will eventually end up
down here in the bottom of the case. If it got
wedged in the gearing on the way down, then you

may have more to replace than you planned on.

Next it's time to go inside to check out the condition
of the components. To do that you can start at the
back and remove all the bolts holding the tail
housing to the main section. Don't forget to remove
the reverse shift rim bolt. You can see the arrow
pointing at it in the photo on the left. When you
remove it you will notice that it looks pretty

unique... Don't lose it, we will talk more about this later.

Separate the tail shaft housing (extension case)
from the main section and turn it up on end. Here
you see the tail shaft seal. You should take this
time to replace it and then clean out the case. Then
set it aside for later.

Next we go to the front of the transmission and remove
the clutch release bearing. Now you can see the 8
bolts that hold the input shaft bearing retainer in place.
You will also note that even when the bolts have been
removed, it is very difficult to remove the retainer.

There are three small bolt holes that look unused,
these will help. Use 3 conventional 6mm bolts to 'pop'
the retainer from its home.

Here is the input shaft seal. It is the other seal that
needs to be replaced during a rebuild. Replace it and
then set it aside and turn your attention back to the
case.

Next we remove all the bolts holding the upper and
lower cases together.

Removing the upper case reveals the main shaft
assembly. This can now be lifted easily from the case
and set aside for now.

Back at the lower case, you can easily remove the
reverse gear shaft and idler gear. Set it aside. Next
we turn our attention to the countershaft.

Using a bearing puller, remove the countershaft
rear bearing. This is the first of three bearings you
will replace on the countershaft.

Being careful not to damage the gear teeth, remove
the countershaft 5th gear and the countershaft
reverse gear. They both just slide off of the
countershaft.

Now we go to the opposite end of the countershaft
and remove the c-clip from the end of the
countershaft, and the large c-clip that surrounds the
countershaft front bearing.

The factory service manual says to press out the countershaft using a
hydraulic press. I accomplished the same thing using a brass drift and a
small sledge hammer. Do not use the hammer by itself, you WILL
damage the countershaft and you run the risk of cracking the case if you
miss...