Hans Gruber DIY IMS bearing replacement +other stuff

[geekdaddy]

Spent considerable time cleaning up the trans, rear of engine, and started working on the exhaust. Getting ready to pull the IMS. I ended up selecting the EPS roller bearing solution and purchased it from Vertex. I asked if they would also loan me the tools (normally $75 to rent) and they said yes!

To clean the transmission and rear of engine, I stuffed rags into the intake areas (on the engine), used the degreaser that's "plastic/rubber friendly" used a stiff plastic brush on the heavy areas, and then power washed with a lower intensity electric washer. Bell housing looks much better now!

Cleaned below and behind the engine. Actually power-washed from inside the garage and squeegeed all the crud off the floor. Wiped everything down and put a fan on it overnight. Rear of engine is much better now for working on the IMS/RMS. Here is a pic of the EPS bearing kit and removal tools I received.


I used the tool to lock the crankshaft at TDC via the aux belt pulley. Then popped the camshaft covers to inspect them and locked one set of them down. Mine is a 5 chain motor so I understand it's only necessary to lock one of the cams. This one is to the left of the flywheel.


Making progress on the midpipes. The nuts and bolts could possibly have been reused but had a fair amt of rust so I pressed out the bolts with a rented (for freeeee) tie rod press and will replace them with new HW. Have since removed the O2 sensors since (duh) it's a lot easier to work on the pipes and less likely to damage the sensors while cleaning. On the stainless exhaust parts, mine had only minor corrosion and crud so I used a magnesium wheel cleaner that has degreaser and some mild acid. Seems to be working well.

[geekdaddy]

Today was the big day. Pulled the IMS. Now that the cams were locked I removed the crank tensioner and the cylinder 4-6 tensioner on the right-hand side. Here's the crank tensioner coming out:


I bagged and labeled the tensioners since they are not interchangeable. Actually, I bag and EVERYTHING since it can be difficult to recall later during reassembly. I removed the three bolts and retaining nut on the flange and removed the flange. Mine had the old, single-o-ring seal on the flange but as stated earlier it had performed well with no leaking. I screwed the threaded rod onto the bearing shaft, placed the press over it, threaded the nut, and oiled the nut. You can see the tool setup here:


Several of the IMS removal instructions refer-to a C-clip that retains the bearing. But mine is a '99 with double-row bearing (expected for this vintage and verified by the shallow dish on the outside of the bearing flange seen above). A 13 mm wrench holds the end of the tool shaft, and a 24mm wrench turns the nut clockwise to pull the bearing out. It initially took a fair amount of force to turn the wrench and did my best to twist without torquing too hard in one direction. Keeping the ends of the wrenches in a similar position for the hard work (e.g. one at "4pm" and the other at "3pm") helped. Not sure that was necessary but wanted to pull things out straight. Once it started to move, it was much easier to extract. It came right out along with oil that filled over 1/3 of the inner IMS shaft! The pic below was caught after the initial flow cam out:


Removed the bearing, tapped out the shaft, and yep, it was in perfect condition. Tight, smooth, no play, no sludge or bearing particle wear around the seals. This bearing was held in place by a small wire/clip which fits into a slot on the bearing housing. When the bearing was installed, the clip expanded into a slot in the engine case -- and also gave-way during the extraction as I think it's designed to do. My vehicle was low mileage (42K) with double-row bearing but also 21+ years old and often sat unused for long periods of time. The vehicle condition was good and seemed not to be abused, but I didn't have full service records so no idea how well they changed the oil or how they drove it. Upon inspection, seems it could have likely functioned for many more miles. But glad I pulled it. The new EPS open roller bearing will have an oil feed and with no seals the IMS will drain instead of remaining filled with oil. And the clutch, flywheel, and input shaft clearly needed attention so no regrets.