Transmission sleeve lubricating holes question

As per photo, the bearing sleeve on left had been drilled 4X by factory. The one on the right, is from a latter transmission, same location, same purpose. Would it be advisable to drill replacement sleeve? If yes, how is this performed in order not to leave burrs?
A touch up with a fine abrasive stone?
This, for an "L" series transmission rebuild.

The previous "Dino butcher" had left out a 4mm spacer, that resulted in a few gears that pounded their respective ends shut, preventing the removal of the caged bearings. Fortunately that issue has been solved with a lot of patience and time.

Even though it looks very straightforward, if you have any tricks or caveats beyond the factory manual, I am all ears...

Thank you. Regards, Alberto
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first take a file to test for hardness. If a file will not scratch the surface, it is probably too hard to drill. It may not need a hole to be lubricated, but first things first.

clay

 

Clay, absolutely right. ROCK HARD. Nothing will go in , not even my best Chinese drill bits...;-)

Bottom line, as an "L" tranny is different from the next two versions, and it has lube holes on the shaft, it stands to reason (mine), that it will shoot oil through the sleeves and lube the needle bearing cages. If I were in the USA, it would not be an issue, as there are plenty of places that can drill holes through even harder surfaces, but here we are sort of limited.
I just realized, looking at the diagrams of an L. versus an M., the L. has an oil pump that pressurizes the transmission, thus I am mostly certain that the holes will have to be drilled into the new sleeves (used) that I cannibalized from that later transmission, without pressure lubrication. So now the question really boils down to be, how to drill the sleeves.

Please let me know what you think.

Regards, Alberto

 

Another peculiarity about these transmissions, is that on the primary shaft they are drilled at 12 o'clock and four o' clock, specifically, every 22.5 deg. on the female splines, whereas on the secondary shaft, they are drilled at 12 o'clock and six o'clock. All five L. sleeves have four holes drilled in the four cardinal points, on the male splines, yet on the primary shaft only one hole is usable for oil feed.
If very careless, and install the sleeve on the secondary shaft without looking, you have a 50-50 chance of coinciding the holes, whereas on the primary shaft, you always get it right 100% of the time.
I am unsure what the purpose or the rationale behind this.

Now, I am faced with the situation of whether I should have the holes drilled in the sleeves, as per the shafts, or the same useless fashion that it was done at the factory, as in one case only one hole lubricates and in the other, two.

There are only two scenarios, but neither makes sense to me.

On the one shaft they are trying to keep pressure higher, thus having only one functional hole and on the other, two functional holes as not so high pressure???

The other, is that the guys that were putting the sleeves on the primary shaft were not very adept, and it was a foolproof system as they could not make mistakes.

The guys for the secondary shaft however, were more mechanically inclined as on the 50-50 train of thought, thus more the thinking types.

Or whatever...

Regards, Alberto

 

They do not need lubrication. The hole is not necessary and probably does not match up with any oil supply anyway. Think 2 stroke motorcycle, the needle bearing in the small end of the rod is lubricated by oil you mix in the fuel. Install and forget.

clay

 

Clay, I think your points are valid, yet, why do you think Ferrari:

1. Provided a transmission oil pump
2. Drilled holes in the shafts that feed through the sleeves and to the needle bearings.
3. Drilled the sleeves
4. Deleted the oil pump in subsequent models

You would guarantee a transmission rebuild without the holes?

I am drilling the holes, but not 4 in each sleeve as 3 are redundant, but I am drilling nonetheless.

I don't want warranty problems with myself as a customer...;-)
Regards, Alberto

 

Typically in the pressure fed Ferrari transmissions either the shaft or the inner diameter of the sleeve has a groove that allows oil flow without the holes being lined up. Also typically the trans was assembled by one guy so your theory is interesting but probably not valid.

On many of the transmissions the gear bushing/bearing assemblies are so shrouded by thrust washers, shift slider hubs etc that oil supply to the gear bearings is not sufficient without the pressure system. I would find a way to get the sleeve holes made by some method.

 

The sleeve on the left does appear to have a "witness mark" where the oil groove was located that lines up with the hole.

Probably the best way to make a hole would be EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining) or a laser but I have no idea where to send you in El Salvador.

 

The other guy was just giving advice...;-)

Brian, how many holes would you then drill?
Two holes as per that specific position on the shaft , even though only one is truly functional, or just one hole?
Thank you,
Regards, Alberto

 

Tim, I will post photos as it will be clearer.
Amazingly, it seems there is an outfit here that has some resources and say they can do it. They have an old one to experiment with. We'll see...
Regards, Alberto

 

I would copy the original.

 

Can't cost that much to mail it to the US.

 

How much does it cost, if something is lost?

 

The original sleeve has four holes, the shaft, two. You would really drill holes that don't serve any purpose?

Regards, Alberto

 

I wouldn't and neither would Ferrari. If they had no purpose they wouldn't be there.

 

One or two holes that line up with the groove would probably do it but if you have the setup to do it might as well make it like the original piece. Be sure there's no burr on the inside when you're done.

 

roller bearings do not need pressure lubrication. I don't know of any non high performance trans with pressure lubrication. Trans are fed oil by splssh lubrication and some one would have to show me a dino trans a pressure fed tarns oil pump. The oil pump usually, in trans apps, is to supply splash lube to higher parts of the trans to assure some lube gets into the needed places. My trans was apart, #1582, and there was no pump.

some times bearings come w/oil holes for other apps and the supply is usually from a well to trap oil above the bearing and allowed to leak to the rollers by grasvity. If you have ever seen the inside of a running trans and watched the violent thrashing of oil inside you wouldn't have concern.

Again, two stroke weed wacker with roller needle bearing in small end of rod turning some 1000 rpm with only the oil in the fuel mixture to lube it.

 

If there's an oil passage that feeds the bearing and the original bearing had holes, it certainly wouldn't hurt to duplicate it again.

A small-end bearing on a $60 weed-whacker isn't exactly like the gearbox of a $100K+ Ferrari now is it?

 

It sure is, Show me a trans shaft turning 6000 rpm, or look at your pilot bearing with no lubrication turning at crank shaft speed, when you out in the clutch and rev your engine up to impress the neighbors, in a much more hostile situation.
And, the weed wacker is 2000 technology versus our dino's 1960 tech.

 

Apples and oranges to the extreme.

 

Oil pump in tranny cover, drilled shaft from L with solid shaft from M.
Regards, Alberto
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Both shafts, drilled for sleeves. Sleeves with four holes.
Do the math, only one hole is in line.
Regards, Alberto
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I have never taken a transmission apart, so please forgive my ignorance if I am completely wrong, but I am assuming that those sleeves have to move slightly back and forth on the shaft as the different gears are engaged.
If that is the case, the explanation seems obvious to me: Those holes are drilled intentionally so that they will not match, because they were probably designed to lubricate the splines rather than the roller bearings. That is the place where you really would need a pressurized oil film, where metal slides against metal. With the holes not lining up, the oil is forced along the splines.

My two cents worth. Anyway, interesting thread, interesting photos.

Lars

 

Good thinking, that makes sense to me

 

They do not move. They are clamped in place.