Relocation of 3Spd Auto box breather!

[RockhamptonTJ]

The 3sp TF auto box as used in many jeeps has a design fault which makes it prone to water damage. I found this out the hard way. by geting stuck in a small creek, the torque converter acts like a big paddle wheel, the bell housing floods and the breather is located inside the bell housing, a small hole just up and to the left of the input shaft.

You can see the breather hole right in the centre of the picture next to the bolt behind the torque converter. See pic.

Water in the gearbox disolves the surfaces on the gearbox internals, bands/frictions etc and means major costly repairs, which i had to under take as a result of my dunking.

[RockhamptonTJ]

So while the gear box was out being rebuilt I thought it important to relocate the breather so it wont happen again.

FYI: The parts I ordered to rebuild the box were Heavy Duty kevlar surfaced. It's expensive but the toughest I could get. And while at it i ordered a paper style gasket for the pan rather than the original cork. You can tighten the bolts with paper gaskets more that with cork creating a much better seal.

The original breather hole was tapped, and a short bolt was inserted with a little RTV to stop and leakage there. see pic.

This is the finished box showing the blocked original breather.

[RockhamptonTJ]

Then an area was found to insert a new breather.

Behind the gearbox in the spacer section that sits between the box and the T/Case look to be the best place as it was away from the main box internals, yet shared the same air pocket as the main gear box.

So a hole was drilled and tapped and a brass elbow was attached so that some 8mm air line can be run from this up into the engine bay. And finally a paper fuel filter will go on the end to stop anything, dust, insects etc from getting inside the breather tube.

[RockhamptonTJ]

And finally the totally rebuilt and upgraded box waiting to go back under the TJ. I will be using a semi synthetic AT Fluid as I just can't justify the extra $ for fully syntheic, and this is what is recomended for the kevlar parts I used inside.

One important thing I almost forgot is to flush out the cooling pipes that run from the box into the radiator with a good solvent, these tubes still contained old AT Fluid and was contaminated with water and sand.

[MattW]

Hey mate. After reading these posts i reckon you should submit this to JAA. Include the pics as well. There would probably be quite a few people out there who don t realise how vulnerable the auto box is to water.

[Anonymous]

Got a contact?

[MattW]

You can contact Michael at michael@jeepaction.com.au or if this doesnt work let me know and i will give you another address.