Saw a drip coming from the right axle seal, grabbed the axle and shook it up and down..discovered what I believe is excessive play. I’m assuming the output bearing is bad, but I don’t have a lot of experience with this transmission. Am I lookin at a rebuild, or is this normal for these? It’s not making any noise, yet.

A little bit of play is to be expected. (Nobody, to my knowledge, has ever specified *how much*, but a little...)
What you don't want to see, when you shake it up and down, is up and down movement of the axle on the other side. If that's the case, then your bearings are worn.

Good to know, thanks for the tip. I’ll have to crawl back under there and see what happens. Has anyone used those stabilizing bearings from the Fiero store?

I used these on my Getrag. Did this several years and several thousand miles ago, so far all is good.

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/140014.html

Thank you, I’ve never seen those...but I also didn’t know that some wobble is normal. I’m really curious about those Fiero Store support bearings. Looks like a simple (But expensive) solution.

When I purchased my 88 GT 5 speed two years ago, the driver's side seal leaked while driving. The previous owner said he had the seal replaced twice, but it did not stop the leak.

See Rodney Dickman's article describing how to check for wear of the differential output bearings: http://my.execpc.com/~rodney1/getraginfo.htm

After I bought the car, I checked the differential play by rocking the CV tripod housing on the driver's side, and sure enough there was a decent amount of movement of the passenger side tripod housing. There was a bit of "hum" while driving in 2nd and 3rd gears, but not overly excessive.

Heeding Rodney's advice, I ended up dropping the cradle and sending the transmission in for a partial rebuild. Luckily, my guy was able to find a full bearing kit for the 282. When I went to pick it up, he said the output bearings fell apart as soon as he cracked open the case.

My car only has 47k miles, so think Rodney's assessment of the 282's weaknesses is on point.

JP

quote Originally posted by donuteater306: Thank you, I’ve never seen those...but I also didn’t know that some wobble is normal. I’m really curious about those Fiero Store support bearings. Looks like a simple (But expensive) solution.

My thoughts are that the Fiero Store support bearings look like the needle bearing runs directly on the axle shaft surface which was was not intended to use as a bearing surface. The GM support bearing kits have a sleeve that goes over the axle shaft that is a bearing surface which should be better.
The GM bearings show up on ebay in the $30 to $50 range but take a bit of effort to make them work. Part numbers to search are 8643931 or K75125.

Good catch Larry. I wonder if anyone has had issued with them.

Great info. Jonny, thanks you guys for your help. I really appreciate your experience.

[This message has been edited by donuteater306 (edited 10-07-2020).]

My car is a Series III 3800 swap, I have several thousand miles on the GM axle stabilizers and no leaks.

Silly question. Do I need one or two of those kits?

One kit per side. It takes a little modification to use them. I show what I did in this thread.


https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/140014.html

Thank you, I’ve never seen those...but I also didn’t know that some wobble is normal. I’m really curious about those Fiero Store support bearings. Looks like a simple (But expensive) solution.

The bolt holes in my Getrag did not have any bolts in them, I don;t remember what size I used.

I had to grind two areas on the driver side bearing carrier to clear two raised tabs on the transmission. They are the areas outlined in red.

Both kits arrived. Looks like for the driver's side, you welded two brackets together?

I did use both brackets welded together on the drivers side to make a more rigid retainer for the stabilizer.