Getting dirty - Engine and Transmission

I have been staring at the engine and transmission/ transfer long enough.  I swear I built the engine stand the way I did because I must have known that it would sit, beckoning me, for so long.  It would have been heartless to leave this mighty old sole under a tarp in the back yard, I think.  It was time to pay some attention to her and her mate!

I have received the head back from the rebuilder, and it looks great.  The block is so jealous, but understands my budget constraints.  The rocker assembly got a dunk in solvent and after drying gets a spray of oil.  It's ready to go.

Until I receive my 46mm impact socket needed for the crank harmonic balancer/pulley, I can't look at the timing gears and replace the front seal, so today I removed the pilot bearing from the crankshaft.  Slide hammer and a full taps and out it popped.

Now, time to face down the transmission demons.  Here is a pic of the pair on the bellhousing before removal.

Now on the bench.  Two angles.

There is a lot to this project, and the first step is to separate the transfer case and transmission.  This requires removing the five attaching bolts.  Two of these are inside, under one of the covers (seen in the first picture below where the date is shown).  Unfortunately, I was so involved in the process that I never thought to take photos of the operation.  But here are a few of the postmortem.  Note the cover removed, then the main drive gear, which slides over the output shaft of the tranny, sitting on the bench.  Also note the front drive output shaft on the transfer (aluminum) which is hidden behind the transmission in all but the picture showing the pair mounted to the bellhousing (above).  You WeatherFlow fans might notice that my shop doubles as a home office ;-)

The following pics are of the output shaft of the transmission.  There is some deformation in the splines that could be a problem.  Grrrrr.

On the output of the transfer is the drive gear for the speedo.  This is a tricky little bastard as they are no longer available in varying pitches, but oddly the driven gears are.  Hmmm... Now there is some literature which says some driven gears work OK with the stock transfer and some others don't.  And since I am going with 33" tires, I'd really like the speedo to read close to actual if possible.  But, since the literature is mostly anecdotal, this experiment might be tedious and/or expensive (parts often come from dubious sources that don't give refunds).  Based on the evidence I bought a 16-tooth gear that should work, and I'll be mating the two to make sure... IF I can find it!  (I have over 50 boxes of parts and hardware, some marked, most not)

Stay tuned!  Next time, new seals, gaskets and drop the oil pan.