Mystery Part Identified!!!!

[CROM]

The part I had previously posted that happened to fall into the bell housing has been identified as an alignment pin between the transmission and the bell housing. This verifies what I felt it most likely was to begin with. Thanks to all who helped me out. I did not install a new clutch. I inspected everything and saw no damage and don't feel that this pin needed to be there for proper function. Unless someone else would like to correct me? I did pull the tranny etc... and it was very easy, honestly we did it all (pulled the tranny and put it back in and the rest of the car back together) in under 2 hours, but of course we did not do the clutch. I can do a short writeup with pictures if you guys would like. Here is the existing counterpart to the mystery part. The third picture shows where the mystery part came from. Unfortunately the local Dodge dealer didnt get me my driveshaft loops, so I can't get the car back on the road till Tuesday at the earliest. Can't wait to be driving, best time of the year too!

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[snakebitdave]

I may be wrong but I think the pins give you precise alignment whereas without them instatlled there are clearances between the bellhousing bolts and their holes which in turn would give you mis-alignment between the crank and trans input shaft.

 

[Mopar Steve]

The alignment dowels mostly aid in alignment during installation. The bolts fit closely enough through the housing that with only one pin missing the install would be close enough.

 

[Supercharged Vipermad]

It is odd, though, that it would

1) come out at all, and

2) end up INSIDE the bell housing.

I'm not Joe Mechanic....but I never would have guessed that was possible (though it DID look like that part when you first posted).

Good job!

 

[hemibeep]

Stumped.

Maybe it was never really in to begin with, fell out during install, then layed around in flywheel cover until he heard it.

 

[Mr Hemi Head]

Crom what did you save by diagnosing this yourself?

The piece of mind and learning experience are priceless.

The mystery, where was the pin hiding before the scraping sound and how long was it there?

 

[CROM]

Well, the hole that the pin "fits" into on the bell housing is straight through, meaning it could push through the alignment hole and plop right down into the clutch area. Honestly it is a poor design if you ask me. The bell housing "hole" where the pin aligns into should be blocked and not straight through like it is. Chalk it up to poor installation from the factory and a bad design to begin with. It wiggled through and was not properly installed, that is the only explination. From the sounds I heard, this pin just decided to fall through the hole into the bell housing. There is nowhere this pin could have been hiding out. At the first rough road this thing would have plopped down from any hiding place in the housing.

Also, those pins are only guides, I honestly don't believe they provide any functionality beyond that. They have nothing to do with the clearances of the bolts and are meant to allow the transmission to seat firmly against the bell housing.

Well, thats over with. Now I feel bad for taking it apart, but oh well, better safe than sorry and it was pretty simple to do (a lot easier than some other stuff I've done on cars). If anyone needs help taking off the tranny, I'd be happy to help. Hopefully I can tear up the streets this upcoming weekend!

See ya at the Chik Filet Friday shows Hemi!

 

[kcobean]

Glad the mystery is solved CROM. Mr. Hemi Head is right, the pride and knowledge you gain from from working on your own car is awesome. See you at CFA!

 

[CROM]

For the record 8 (EIGHT) Bolts hold the transmission to the bell housing, and one of them is quite sneaky.

Note: I wish someone would have typed that in a post sometime in the past 4 years so I wouldn't have been frustrated for about 20 minutes today.

It is nice that I got to do this and didn't pay someone 150 an hour labor. Honestly, I really hate working on cars, but my father and I are very good at it.

 

[JUCD VPR]

I was right
glad you found out what it was!

 

[Vic]

Glad your problem worked out!

Say, how do you get good at something that you hate?

"Busman's holiday"?

 

[Fast Viper Dan]

Well, I’m not a certified Tec here but machining is what I do. Those pins do play a vary important roll. They do align the crank centerline with the transmission input shaft centerline. The transmission input shaft will find the input shaft bearing that is installed in the end of the crank but the dowel pins are what center every thing up. With out the pin or pins (two) there is a good chance there will be a side load on the input shaft bearing and it will fail.
I hope you put in place.?

 

[joe117]

"the dowel pins are what center every thing up. With out the pin or pins (two) there is a good chance there will be a side load on the input shaft bearing and it will fail."

That's what I think.
The pin isn't there just to aid in getting it lined up while you screw in the bolts.

 

[ROCKET62]

Good news about it only being the alignment pin. I am kinda shocked that you went thru all of the disassembly and did not just replace the clutch while you were there?

 

[CROM]

I didn't put the new clutch in because the car only has 9000 miles on it and if I sell it down the road I would rather not have to tell someone the clutch has been replaced.

 

[PowerKraus]

Crom,

Your offer to <<do a short writeup with pictures if you guys would like>> would be greatly appreciated. So if you have time, I certainly would like a quick write-up or 'bullet points' with photos for R&R of the tranny.

I recently completed my install of a TNT Nitrous system and know it is only a matter of time, a short matter of time, before I'll need to replace the clutch.

Any help or pointers would be great !

Thanks !

 

[CROM]

I'll try to get something together in the next week or two. If you need any assistance before that please let me know. The whole procedure is very straight forward. If you do not have a shop manual for your car, I suggest you purchase one before attempting this. I tried to take as many pictures as possible, but I often times got caught "in the heat of battle" and forgot to take pics. But I got 95% of the crucial steps photographed.