01E Rebuild

[cschuster]

I finally found the time to rebuild my 6 speed that has been grinding into 3rd and feeling rough going into 1/2 when cold. Was debating between Advance Automotion and the JHM kit for parts. Ended up going AA - thanks to Scott for answering my questions.

Pulling the trans was a real pain in the ass with a few tricky bolts costing some time. If I had to do it again, I would pull the engine. Rebuilding was way more fun. I ran into 2 other issues that stopped me from reinstalling over the weekend. So, here we go.

Before starting, we had to do a timing belt on my friends B7 2.0T. After that warm up, we were ready to tackle my car.


First step is pulling the axles. These are triple square bolts. Rotate axle to get them all. Also remove heat shields. I will not be putting the top heat shield bolts back in.


Undo exhaust clamps. Make sure you have new ones (thanks for the tip, SJorge). Mine came right off with an electric impact. Undo a few bolts in the back and the exhaust can be pulled back out of the way.


Remove driveshaft heat shield.


Remove allen bolts.


Remove center bearing support bolts.


Push drive shaft to rear to disconnect it. I zip tied it to the heat shield to keep it out of the way. Put gloves over both ends to keep the grease in.


Next up is the trans cross member. Support engine from the top. Place jack under trans. Remove these bolts, then the 2 ones in the center mount.



The cross member should now be free. I slid it back and out through the rear, using the room created by pulling the exhaust back. You can also remove the down pipes first, but I wanted to avoid that if possible due to corrosion and those top bolts. This is where I ran into problem #1. The flex connector separated from the pipe, so the back half just came off. Good news is that this confirmed where my exhaust chirping was coming from.


Remove these exhaust supports from trans.


I may be skipping a few things, but now you should be ready to remove the trans bolts. There are 9 bolts in the 01E/3.0 variant. I got the easy ones out first. At this point, we used a floor jack to support at the center diff.


Then came the bottom ones. These took some time. Lower subframe a bit (engine is already supported) and use a smallish extension.


Now all that's left is the 2 top bolts. We also struggled with the right one - it was a bastard. Make sure the trans jack is in place before removing the last bolt.


Extension used to remove the bastard. I don't think I will be putting that one back in.


Disconnect the speed sensor, which is bolted to both the trans and engine on the driver side. Remove it and set out of the way. Now you can pull the trans back to clear the pressure plate, and lower 2 inches to access other connectors, linkage and slave. Remove/disconnect all. This is where problem #2 came into play. The slave cylinder boot was in rough shape and tore upon removal. Shit.


Remove trans from under car. Give your helper the highest of fives and have a few beers.

[cschuster]

That sucked, now here's the fun part. I was too focused on the rebuild and forgot to take more pictures. Here's a rough outline of the process. If you are doing this, buy the JHM video!! I cannot stress enough how much easier this was to understand. We mostly watched the video and followed along while matching the steps with the manual. Overall it took us about 8 hours of actual work to finish.

EDIT:

Tools needed (once transmission is out):
-JHM Video
-T45
-27mm or 1-1/16'' socket
-Triple square socket set
-Calipers to check shim specs and seal depths
-3/8'' and 1/2'' torque wrenches
-Breaker bar
-C-clip pliers (longer the better, they need to open about 1'')
-Snap ring pliers (longer the better, they need to open about 1'')
-Steering wheel puller
-Seal puller/driver
-Press with a few feet of working space. 12 ton Harbor Freight worked fine for me.
-Bearing separator with press
-6'' piece of 1.5'' schedule 40 pipe.
-8'' 2 jaw puller
-Small file to smooth out any worn/damaged teeth
-Most likely a new slave cylinder

Parts cost: $750 to $850. Depends on what kit you get.
Rebuild time: 8-12 hours

Unbolt T45's (same size for all bolts) on center diff housing. The housing pulls up with a little help from a screwdriver. Pull center diff out. Remove magnets and oil collector. Remove both selector detents (27mm socket). Remove selector shaft cover and pull out selector shaft. Use a screwdriver to engage 2 gears at once to lock trans in place.


Now that the trans is locked, remove the triple square bolt from the input shaft. Its the top bolt in picture. This ones on tight, so have your helper hold on.


Use steering wheel puller to press off housing.

Tap casing and pull up to release guide pins. Here are 5th and 6th gears. Sorry for the bad picture.


Use a jaw puller to remove the 5/6th gears. There are some clips, shims, and spacers involved throughout. Mark them and keep them in order. You need a good pair of circlip and retaining ring pliers for this. Make sure they are long and open more than an inch. Also be careful with the needle bearings that come out with some of the gears. 6th gear is now off. Be sure to inspect all gear and collar surfaces for wear. If a gear is grinding, you may see marred tips on the teeth where the gear/collar comes together.


Shift collar and fork gets removed. The rest of the detents also get removed. Then the gearbox is pulled.


Remove shift rods and now the input shaft with the 3/4 collar comes out. You can also see 1st, 2nd, and reverse gear.


Reverse comes out. Here's what the assembly looks like.


Spring and the shaft the reverse synchro/gear slides on.


1/2 is all that's left in there now.


Press the shaft out.


1/2 collar and 3/4 gears. You can see the old brass synchro peeking out of the collar.


Use bearing separator to press off the top taper bearing.


Hub gets pressed off, then the old synchros/spring can be swapped. Here is the new updated 1/2 collar with a new updated synchro in place below it.


Heat taper bearing to 100C. We put it in boiling water for 20min. Then press it back on. With 1/2 gears completed, the shaft goes back into the housing. Install reverse gear assy.


My shit 3/8'' torque wrench broke this bolt, which was supposed to be at 18 ft-lbs. I should've known better and done it by hand. Got the bolt out without any damage, but I was puckered throughout the process. A trip to the hardware store was needed to get a new bolt and some washers. We put some lock tite on the new bolt and tested it. It works just like it did before.


Whoops, thought I had more pictures. All that was left was to press out the hub on 3/4, then R&R the synchro's and springs. Luckily my 3rd gear looked ok. The tips weren't as sharp as the other collars, but they were still pointed. Press some more stuff back together, install some seals, fill 'er up, and done!


The input shaft spins and you can engage the gears to test. This is where the fun stops. We couldn't go any further with the messed up slave and downpipe. I took the pipe off and brought it into Monroe, but the guy didn't put the new flex in the spot I specified. Ended up paying $100 for a new flex that doesn't fit back in. I ordered a metal slave, but am still working on a downpipe fix. That's all for now.

[SJorge3442]

I completely forgot to text you back to see how things were going. Glad to see the trans out of the car. Its funny, I struggled with those bottom bolts, but you struggled with the top bolts. I guess it just depends on everyones forte. That length of extensions that you showed was about the same as mine. Theres always the opportunity to not replace all of the bolts on the bellhousing. Hell, Mustang guys use like 4 out of 9 bolts to keep their transmissions in and some of those guys are pulling 600+ HP. I think you'll be fine with 1 missing one. I kept the three bottom allen heads out when I reinstalled.

[jayiszraw]

I been contemplating rebuilding mine. Question, if one doesnt have ready access to a press are there alternative s or should i just have a shop rebuild mine?

[SJorge3442]

What out for those metal slaves. I couldn't get the hard line to seat when I did my clutch job. Others have had the same issues. FWIW, Pepboys stocks the LuK plastic (OEM) slave.

[cschuster]

I been contemplating rebuilding mine. Question, if one doesnt have ready access to a press are there alternative s or should i just have a shop rebuild mine?

Don't do it without the press. I used a $120 Harbor Freight 12 ton H style press and had no trouble. You will also need a 1.5'' pipe for some of the operations. I can get back later with the exact ID if needed. With the video, simply swapping the 1/2 collar and installing new synchros is pretty easy.

[cschuster]

some say he did this on the side of the road

Please let me know final cost all said and done.

Surprised you didn't do other stuff while in there. Such as radial shaft oil seal(s), plastic linkage ball, axle rebuilds, clean heat-shields, etc. - Did you use anything on the exhaust aside from new clamps? An exhaust shop recommended I clean off rust w/ sand-paper and put exhaust putty/paste to help seal. I have new clamps but they still leak.

Wonder how 01E (02-03 3L) compares to 02X (04 and up A4). Although 01E type boxes were used in many previous-gen Audis too, unlike 02X.
Mec (had the latter, in his B7) claimed to have spent $700-$1200 on rebuild tools alone IIRC, not including parts...Seems you got it done with a bit of
-elbow grease
-Stella (how much is required?)
-press (I have one, if anyone needs)
-bearing separator



I expect it to break every time, w/ new plastic part handy. So there's absolutely no metal slaves that'd work: Porsche, B5 Audi - nothing?
Anyone know if USP SS slave-line is worth it?

I have the linkage rebuild, and thought it was as easy as just swapping them. Turns out you need to pull the whole thing out and hammer some tabs that lock it in. Axles are fine, no need to replace. The input shaft seal was replaced, but I left the diff ones alone because they looked fine. Those can be changed easily in the car anyways. I only got clamps.

ECS confirmed that the metal Febi slave I got was right for my VIN, so here's to hoping. I will check the lines and push rod length before installing. Also, SJorge said the one he got that didn't work looked completely different.

As for parts, I'm probably in for about $850, not including a new slave or getting the downpipe welded. I didn't have to buy any tools besides a $6 pipe. The "special" tools that not everyone may have are a good trans jack, press, bearing separator, circlip pliers, seal/race puller and driver, steering wheel puller (for pullling a case off), and a jaw puller. I could see someone spending maybe $500ish on those tools. At that point, buying a rebuilt trans is another $400-600 from AA, so there's that to consider. We went through a 12 pack of Stella on the trans removal, and a bottle of bourbon on the rebuild - call that a "miscellaneous shop supplies fee".

[Nollywood]

Awesome stuff. Great too that you tackled this yourself.

One thing I noticed was the absense of an oil cooler on your 01E. Does it have an integral oil pump in the tail, just lacking the cooler? Or it does NOT have an integral oil pump?

[old guy]

Outstanding documentation! Why don't you send a PM to kristokes (forum moderator) and request that he move this to the DIY section. You can then clean it up a little to just include all the pertinent rebuild info. It will be a great resource for others.

[Steve Bassen]

Awesome stuff. Great too that you tackled this yourself.

One thing I noticed was the absense of an oil cooler on your 01E. Does it have an integral oil pump in the tail, just lacking the cooler? Or it does NOT have an integral oil pump?

Last I'd heard, the only 01E's that have an oil cooler/pump are the Allroad version...

[jonan]

awesome, now to source an 01E and other required parts to replace my 5 speed transmission...tots doing this after i piece together my GTRS kit and get that running...

[imnuts]

I would love to do this and get the taller 6th gear to put back in so I wouldn't be riding at nearly 3k RPMs on the highway.

Sent from my Nexus 6

[19jdog]

Nice work!

Man if ever do this I will be getting a much lower 6th gear. My 6th gear s4 transmission with the 3.0 is too hi! IMO its much easier to pull the motor with transmission, than pulling it from underneath.

[cschuster]

I would love to do this and get the taller 6th gear to put back in so I wouldn't be riding at nearly 3k RPMs on the highway.

Sent from my Nexus 6

Yea, thought about that, but the cost of the gear would buy me gas for a whole year. The TDI gear is what you want though. Changing gears also means looking at and possibly re-shimming to meet factory spec.

[Scotty@Advanced]

Last I'd heard, the only 01E's that have an oil cooler/pump are the Allroad version...

Allroad, RS4, S8,S6,RS2, certain A8's, Euro S4's S6 plus, W8 passat

[Steve Bassen]

Allroad, RS4, S8,S6,RS2, certain A8's, Euro S4's S6 plus, W8 passat

Ah, good to know...

[Audi body]

some say he did this on the side of the road

Please let me know final cost all said and done.

Surprised you didn't do other stuff while in there. Such as radial shaft oil seal(s), plastic linkage ball, axle rebuilds, clean heat-shields, etc. - Did you use anything on the exhaust aside from new clamps? An exhaust shop recommended I clean off rust w/ sand-paper and put exhaust putty/paste to help seal. I have new clamps but they still leak.

Wonder how 01E (02-03 3L) compares to 02X (04 and up A4). Although 01E type boxes were used in many previous-gen Audis too, unlike 02X.
Mec (had the latter, in his B7) claimed to have spent $700-$1200 on rebuild tools alone IIRC, not including parts...Seems you got it done with a bit of
-elbow grease
-Stella (how much is required?)
-press (I have one, if anyone needs)
-bearing separator



I expect it to break every time, w/ new plastic part handy. So there's absolutely no metal slaves that'd work: Porsche, B5 Audi - nothing?
Anyone know if USP SS slave-line is worth it?

I found a great way for the metal slave to work. I was stuck at a autozone and couldn't get home. So I checked around and found away. Remove the quick disconnect attachment at the metal slave and use a break line and the hard line on the existing line with a compression fitting. Works like a charm.

[Audi 4 Life]

Great Job!! Excellent documentation!

[cschuster]

I found a great way for the metal slave to work. I was stuck at a autozone and couldn't get home. So I checked around and found away. Remove the quick disconnect attachment at the metal slave and use a break line and the hard line on the existing line with a compression fitting. Works like a charm.

Y'all got me nervous that my slave won't fit now. I have a hard time believing ECS would match this part to my VIN, only to have the hard line not fit. Has anyone used THIS one before?

[SJorge3442]

Y'all got me nervous that my slave won't fit now. I have a hard time believing ECS would match this part to my VIN, only to have the hard line not fit. Has anyone used THIS one before?

Like I said, the Autozone one doesn't resemble the one you have. I think you're gonna be alright.

[Antfarm85]

Did you use any special tools to get the tail housing off once you took out the triple square bowlts in the back fof the torson housing

[cschuster]

Did you use any special tools to get the tail housing off once you took out the triple square bowlts in the back fof the torson housing

I used a steering wheel puller and the trans bolts. It didn't fit exactly, but it was close enough to get it off.

[cschuster]

Outstanding documentation! Why don't you send a PM to kristokes (forum moderator) and request that he move this to the DIY section. You can then clean it up a little to just include all the pertinent rebuild info. It will be a great resource for others.

I skipped over too much stuff for a complete DIY, especially the small things. The JHM video is 26 bucks and covers everything except shim specs. Anyone serious enough to rebuild should just get that. This thread will just be a reference for what you're getting yourself into. I'll edit with tools, cost, and time details though.

[cschuster]

Finished today, metal slave bled fine. There may be a little air so hopefully that will work itself out in a few days. All the gears were beautiful and the fluid will be changed again in 1000 miles.





Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[cschuster]

any reason to not do bearings?

If your trans is not making noise, then your bearings are fine. A second reason not to do this is that anytime you replace a gear or bearing on the shaft, the new one will not be the same size down to the .001''. You may have to re-shim everything to meet factory spec. I don't know a whole lot about this, as I did not do it. Maybe Scott will give a more detailed response.

[Scotty@Advanced]

any reason to not do bearings?

It is a great idea however consider these:

That bearing kit won't work for starters.
Installing a pinion bearing is not just a remove and replace operation. Your more apt to screw it all up if it's not set correctly which is not a DIY operation unless you have the proper tooling.

[cschuster]

Replaced the input shaft seal. Found the inner lip rolled over in 3 places. Got the new one right. 7 hours of work for a $10 part. Lesson learned - both the JHM video and service manual do not mention how easy it is to mess up that seal!

[Scotty@Advanced]

Installing the input shaft seal is the last thing we do prior to testing. It's nearly impossible to install the mainshaft without destroying the seal.

[cschuster]

Installing the input shaft seal is the last thing we do prior to testing. It's nearly impossible to install the mainshaft without destroying the seal.

Found that out firsthand. The JHM video showed them installing the seal first, then guiding the input shaft carefully through it. If that's how they do it, they must take extra steps to ensure the seal is on right. Sucked to have to replace it, but whatever, its done now and shifting beautifully with no leaks. 1-2 is so much smoother now.

By the way, is there a break in period on these rebuilds? When should the fluid be checked/changed?

[cschuster]

Forgot to upload a picture. I did the clutch/flywheel at the same time as the input shaft seal. Here is an OEM clutch/pressure plate/DMF after 160k