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First trans rebuild questions

yubh8tn

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 21, 2019
Messages
223
Location
coeur d alene, idaho
I have two broken GVR4 trans. One broke a while ago shifting hard into 3rd gear. Got stuck in 3rd gear. Newer trans broke after spinning all four wheels on an ice patch in 1st gear. I drove it to a parking spot after spinning it and a couple hours later when I tried to drive away it wouldn't leave first. I can physically move the shifter around but even neutral doesn't exist. Shifter cables arent broken and are still connected so I'm assuming both of those breaks were shift forks, hopefully not the same one. I have absolutely no money but I have lots of time and I am very determined to get my car working for more than a week at a time. Both transmissions lasted me a week of driving (not a week of time, a week's worth of driving). I'm tired of my shitty car not working after putting hundreds of hours and 15,000 dollars into it. The second, newer, transmission is supposedly a low mileage rebuild. So that whole speech was just to ask this: should I replace the broken parts in the newer trans with the parts from the older trans? And if I do, how realistic is doing that? Is that something I could figure out with a lot of free time but no money? And if I do combine them into one transmission, how do I not break it again? I know driving easy on it will make it last but I don't know how to do that. What is driving easy vs driving hard? Then what else should I look out for? I heard things like clutch alignment and shifter cables/bushings can cause a lot of durability problems if not done correctly. What should I do? Help :(
 

gvr4ever

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 6, 2002
Messages
6,191
Location
central Indiana
I'm not a transmission guy and can't offer rebuild advise, but the drivetrain doesn't like high RPM clutch dumps, no lift power shifting, forced fast gear changes. Not sure what you are doing. If this sounds you, it might be worth going auto.
 
Joined
May 14, 2017
Messages
16
Location
In The Woods, AZ
It is almost impossible to diag a trans with the symptoms you're describing without taking it apart and inspecting it.
By driving the car with a busted trans there's a high possibility that you only made things worse (speaking from experience) i broke 3rd gear in my old talon, at first i thought it was an axle, I drove the car for about a block and realised it wasn't an axle, when i took it apart i found out that i fucked the 4 spider center diff drive gear, the front diff drive gear and damaged several other parts just in that little time.

There's a wm33 transmission PDF manual on the internet somewhere (I have a copy and i'll try and post it for you, if i can find it) or you can still buy a full Galant factory service manual set on ebay for around $65 which will have details on how to rebuild the transmission (the Factory service manuals are FAR superior to the Climer and Chilton manuals and are worth every penny)

Unfortunately if you making power over 400hp+ 350tq+ at the wheels these transmissions don't last too long, esp. if you drive the sh*t out of it, they're the achilles heel within the platform. (the trans in my talon was built by jacks and lasted approx 30k miles of hard driving and racing).
The syncro-mesh style transmission options out there from (Jacks and TMZ) are slightly better than a bone stock trans, but even those options will still break eventually.

That being said, if you're looking for a trans with the reliability to handle you driving habits. your options are a "dog box" or swapping in an automatic trans, which you'll still need to have built to last.
 
Joined
May 14, 2017
Messages
16
Location
In The Woods, AZ
@yubh8tn
Attached are the w5m33 manual (first attachment) w5m33 training manual (second attachment) all the information you'll ever need. (hopefully you're able to DL them)
If you still can figure it out how to rebuild the trans after reading the "manual tranny repair school" attachment, you should stop what you're doing and send it off for someone else to rebuild.

While you're in there I'd also like to recommend that you either install a 4 spider in the center diff. or weld it. The center diff is a major weak spot in the trans and will fail even under stock HP.
Most people weld the center diff and eliminate the viscous coupling unit because its super cheap to do so, the downside to this is it adds strain to the transfer case / center shaft and jerkiness under some driving conditions.

I ran the jacks center diff in my talon and it worked well, but since they machine down the original cross shaft it has the tendency to "gull" the cross shaft / gears.
the jacks center diff is still worth it in my option over leaving it stock or welding it.

The other two center diff. options that won't cause gulling can be found at tmz performance and white shead performance those are both in the $1000.00 range.

Good luck!
 

Attachments

  • Trans manual.PDF
    6 MB · Views: 7
  • ManualTrannyRepairSchool.pdf
    2.8 MB · Views: 10

yubh8tn

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 21, 2019
Messages
223
Location
coeur d alene, idaho
@yubh8tn
Attached are the w5m33 manual (first attachment) w5m33 training manual (second attachment) all the information you'll ever need. (hopefully you're able to DL them)
If you still can figure it out how to rebuild the trans after reading the "manual tranny repair school" attachment, you should stop what you're doing and send it off for someone else to rebuild.

While you're in there I'd also like to recommend that you either install a 4 spider in the center diff. or weld it. The center diff is a major weak spot in the trans and will fail even under stock HP.
Most people weld the center diff and eliminate the viscous coupling unit because its super cheap to do so, the downside to this is it adds strain to the transfer case / center shaft and jerkiness under some driving conditions.

I ran the jacks center diff in my talon and it worked well, but since they machine down the original cross shaft it has the tendency to "gull" the cross shaft / gears.
the jacks center diff is still worth it in my option over leaving it stock or welding it.

The other two center diff. options that won't cause gulling can be found at tmz performance and white shead performance those are both in the $1000.00 range.

Good luck!
Thanks for the info, especially the training manual, that'll come in very handy.
 
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