speaking of muncie

[don izzo]

I see a groove all the way around the left side of the countershaft gear nearest to the front of the trans. It is located about 1/8-3/16ths of an inch towards the rear. Looks like it is machined in. Has anyone seen this before or is my countershaft gear bad?

Don

[William C.]

Re: speaking of muncie

In the gear teeth, on on the section connecting the gears?

[Joel A.]

Re: speaking of muncie

Sounds like an "ID" groove to me. Used to quickly ID the cluster gear.

[don izzo]

Re: speaking of muncie

joel if you look at the cluster gear the groove which looks to be machined into the gear is located on the extreme left side about 3/16" in from the edge. I haven't seen any of the replacement counter gears with this groove. Could this be an original with the ID groove you described? The gears appear to be in good shap otherwise.

Don

[Joel A.]

Re: speaking of muncie

Don, when you say the groove is to the extreme left, do you mean at the end of the cluster gear looking at it from the side, with the large diameter gear(input) on the right, and the small diameter gear(1st) on the left? The ID groove would have been machined in the outer portion of the gear teeth, and could be anywhere across the gear. Most aftermarket/replacement gears do not use the groove method of ID'ing the part. A lot of the aftermarket gears will have a part # stamped, or etched into them. What you have may very well be an original type cluster, possibly a service gear. Hard to say. The groove will not effect the operation of the part, tho.

[don izzo]

Re: speaking of muncie

yes that is correct the groove is in the large gear to the right side of the counter gear cluster. So you are saying that original gears did appear with this grove machined in as a form of ID'ing the cluster?

[Joel A.]

Re: speaking of muncie

Yup...as far as I can remember, all of the "virgin" units I've built have had some sort of ID groove. There are some suppliers I deal with that will ax if there are any grooves, and if so, how many. That's one way that they can ID the correct replacement.
It is possible that some older replacement parts would have an ID groove...it would depend on who manufactured it. It's like the ID groove(s) in the input shaft, denoting M20/21/22 ratios. It just made it easier to ID the parts, without having to count the teeth. A lot of replacement inputs do not have the groove(s).

[don izzo]

Re: speaking of muncie

Thanks Joel the info you provided is a great help!

Don