mule transmission dissection

Fellow club member Jim C brought his mule over to my shop to check out the awful growl in the transmission. Here are a few pictures of the "event". After closing the valves on the engine, we stood the beast up to work on it. With the drive shaft out, we found excessive play on the output shaft. Upon further investigation, we found 2 of the 4 studs holding the seal retainer that also asts as a pre load on the bearing stripped out. This caused the bearing failure shown in the picture with the cover off. There was also damage done to the syncronzer and wear on the teeth of the rest of the gears.

UPDATE: the syncronizer shown in the third picture has 3 small shift plates, all 3 were gone and we only found one in the transmission case. Half of the bearing for the output shaft in picture #2 was gone and if youlook closely you will see 4 of the roller bearings and the worn retainer around the shaft. the rest of the roller bearings were ground up by the spinning transmission.

Looks like someone had already been in there, too.

Like the gantry method. Sure is easier to work on these than Deuces, eh?

I will have to do some tranny work to mine at some point in the future.

Funny you posted this! I just walked over to the garage across the road to see if they would work my father in laws mule. he bought it from mules of america for $$$$$$$ and it went about 5 mles or less before the transmission went out.
I was looking at one of my mule manuals, and needed a break, so I went to this forum to see your post first!
One of the few, Frank USMC RET

Clinto, what is your mule transmissin doing wrong?
beating a dead mule in 3D

Nick, that appears to be an A5, would it happen to be a Brunswick by any chance? Serial number??

Charlie, this mule is an orifinal 274 that has been coverted from a 4 cylinder engine to a 2 cylinder engine thus an A4. The transmission is the original style that requires a spacer to mount the electric starter. it also has spacer blocks under the bed supports to raise the bed to accomidate the additional height of a 2 cylinder engine.

Well, duh! I see the rear bellcrank now! I should have looked at the photos closer!

nickd said:

Clinto, what is your mule transmissin doing wrong?
beating a dead mule in 3D

Click to expand...

Second gear is occasionally a little difficult. The new clutch cleared it up but occasionally it still wants to grind a little bit.

Continued work on the transmission yesterday, since the case was damaged and needs to be replaced I removed the rear axle before the hospital stay. Yesterday I separated the the axles and rear 4ws bell crank from the old transmission case. The donor transmission case was supplied by the owner and needed studs and most of the hardware transferred from the old case to the new one. New seals were installed and the salvaged innards will be transferred possibly today.

I worked on the mule yesterday. I dropped the driveshaft to investigate a leak around the output shaft. I found something clogged the drain hole behind the output shaft housing. I drained the tranny and found pcs of a shift plate came out with the oil. I'm assuming it's the one from inside the syncronizer. I don't know how many I have left it there. I'm gonna replace the fluids and run it until I get all the parts together from Bill Watson.

I need that set up, but I've got the mule completely apart so I 'll just stand the axle up on end.

If you have found any of the three shift plates in the bottom of your transmission, you may have a problem with extra clearance in the input shaft stack-up. Some mule transmissions have too much clearance between the input shaft and the synchronizer hub and it's possible to actually force the hub apart during 1st-to-2nd gear shifts and let the shift plates drop out. It is necessary to install shims behind the bearing at the rear of the shaft.
It also requires some special tools to be able to determine the amount of extra clearance and the amount of shims that need to be installed.

Bill and I have discussed this problem and I've shared my repair procedures with Nick D. I plan to post an article on it on the G503 when I get time.

BTY, the engine must be removed as the main gear shaft has to be driven out from the bellhousing side of the transmission.

omg there's that meny gears in the tranaxle?? lol i just let my friend do all the work he was in the military he worked on the mules

If you want to speak with a true Guru, Call Bill Watson@ 336-697-4020 He has never not known an answer to any question, no matter how small of an issuue it was. Great Guy!!! John