Tapered bearings have to have preload, ball and cage have a free play spec IIRC. All shafts have to have preload (unless noted), otherwise when things warm up .... they may not have the designed pressure acting on them and therefore may have free play. See where this is going? Free play bad except where ball and cages are concerned, within reason.
I gave my trans to a shop just for this reason, along with a sheet of intended bearing preload and free play I was looking for based upon the transmission preload sheet (HP/torque rating chart) that was listed on the site years ago.
I use an AWD ball and cage setup in my FWD trans, thus the need for free play.
Here is what was posted here as a cross post from what Tim Zimmer had on another forum years ago.
Quote:
The following is for W5M33 AWD 5-speed DSM transmissions:
Ok, stock specs are:
The Preload Setting is listed in SAE (inches):
Input Shaft --> 0.000" - 0.002" ENDPLAY
Intermediate Shaft --> 0.003" - 0.005" PRELOAD
Center Differential --> 0.003" - 0.005" PRELOAD
Output Shaft --> 0.003" - 0.005" PRELOAD
Front Differential --> 0.002" - .0067" ENDPLAY
These are what I normally use:
Stock/Street Transmissions with less than 400TQ at the crank:
Input Shaft --> 0.004" - 0.007" PRELOAD
Intermediate Shaft --> 0.005" - 0.007" PRELOAD
Center Differential --> 0.005" - 0.007" PRELOAD
Output Shaft --> 0.003" - 0.005" PRELOAD
Front Differential --> 0.002" - .0067" ENDPLAY
Street/Strip Transmissions with less than 600TQ at the crank:
Input Shaft --> 0.005" - 0.007" PRELOAD
Intermediate Shaft --> 0.007" - 0.009" PRELOAD
Center Differential --> 0.005" - 0.007" PRELOAD
Output Shaft --> 0.003" - 0.005" PRELOAD
Front Differential --> 0.002" - .0067" ENDPLAY
All out RACE Transmissions that are Rebuilt/Inspected regularly with more than 600TQ at the crank:
Input Shaft --> 0.007" PRELOAD
Intermediate Shaft --> 0.008" - 0.010" PRELOAD
Center Differential --> 0.005" - 0.007" PRELOAD
Output Shaft --> 0.004" - 0.006" PRELOAD
Front Differential --> 0.002" - .0067" ENDPLAY
For Extremely HIGH HP/TQ transmissions (As in ~900-1000+TQ at the crank):
Input Shaft --> 0.007" PRELOAD
Intermediate Shaft --> 0.010" - 0.012" PRELOAD
Center Differential --> 0.005" - 0.007" PRELOAD
Output Shaft --> 0.004" - 0.006" PRELOAD
Front Differential --> 0.002" - .0067" ENDPLAY
These figures are normally what I use, unless a customer has a specific number they want to run for shims.
As well, each transmission rebuilder will shim differently, or not even reshim whatsoever (reusing stock shims). Most transmission rebuilders will not tell you these numbers whatsoever, as this is what makes their transmissions shift like butter with all the other mods that they do to the shift rails, hub and sliders, gears, linkage, etc.
I would recommend using a quality Micrometer that is accurate to 0.0001", and I normally do two or three seperate solder-tests per bearing race and then take the average of each test to see if there is anything out of the ordinary, and then I select the shim by adding the preload figure listed above to the solder average thickness, or subtract the endplay figure listed above from the solder average thickness.
If you need the part number for a shim, feel free to PM me, or reference a factory service manual for all the part numbers of shims for each transmission model.
