Topic: L45 noise in 1,2,3 but not 4th

[Osage1978]

1982 L45 making a growling noise in 1st, 2nd & 3rd but goes away completely in 4th gear. What's the cause & any idea how long I've got?


 I'm hunting a L50 or L52 and not interested in a "w" trans swap. I'm completely happy with the L45 aside from the growling so second question how likely is it that I can pull the L45 and refresh it if I can't find a replacement and keep on running another 200,000 . This little truck just hauls wood & hunting dogs no rock crawling or hard core wheeling

[Slabzilla]

Sounds like an input bearing.  You're running on the counter shaft on the other gears but locked straight through in 4th.   

[emsvitil]

And maybe a few other bearings.


Take the shift boots off so you can see the tranny and then listen.................


Not that hard to refresh the bearings and synchros.

Marlin has a L45 rebuild kit.

[Osage1978 [OP]]

Thanks guys I really appreciate your input. I'm a complete novice to working on manual transmissions , always had gm automatics . I've bought Marlins 1,600 lb non ceramic clutch kit and figured I'd kill 2 birds with one stone and fix my transmission while in there.

[E120ER]

I bought a junkyard L52 transmission and used tv's Marlin rebuild kit. I have never rebuilt a manual transmission before, so it was a bit intimidating at first.  The only tool you really need is a press and I bought a cheap one from Harbor Freight. I used the FSM and took my time and the rebuild was a complete success.  So I'm on the look out for another L52 to rebuild to have as a spare.