BJ8 Transmission Oil Capacity

[AUSMHLY]

I've always put 3.5 qts of 30w ND oil in my BJ8 transmission, which I believe is the correct amount.

I've had problems with 2nd gear, and decided to rebuild the transmission. Once opened, I found the Laygear's 2nd gear had pitting on every tooth. 2nd gear didn't have any coating on hub. Time for a rebuild.
I'm learning how to rebuild this and found I needed to replaced almost every part. Selector shafts were bent, forks were worn as were all the baulk rings. Replacing the 1/2 hub fixed getting into 2nd. Replaced 3/4 hub, easy smooth shifting now. New AHS remanufactured one piece Laygear plus new layshaft and cage bearings.

On the bench it shifts fine.
During the rebuild the tranny is dry. I didn't take the OD apart. I have it face down in a pan for weeks and no oil drips out anymore.
Once the trany is in the car, it only takes 3 qts for the dipstick to show full.

Cars on jacks, start the car, smooth shifting, 2,3,4 gears sound about right. After 1 minute of shifting, I check the dipstick, the oil is light green, which I assume is air. Why is that? OD works fine, with 500psi. An hour later I'll take the car around the block. Under load shifting is easy, smooth, however 2,3,4 gears are loud, 2nd is loudest and even louder on deceleration. The next day I'll check the level, no air, it shows full. Drive around the block, gears are loud.

In order to install the new AHS laygear, I needed to sand the front thrust washer to .0645, the rear sanded to .0740. This was to get the gears on the mainshaft to line up with the gears on the laygear. End result was 0.012 endfloat.

I now doing a trial fit with a rebuilt laygear with the welded 1st gear. It also needs front .0645, rear .0740. The thinest front thrust washer from AHS is .0790, the thinest rear is .0800. It seems strange that I have to sand the thrust washer to get both laygears in. The original laygear that I took out, I don't know what sizes the trust washer were. When I try it now, the thrust washer are thicker, so it seems Laygears are not uniform.

Are the gears loud because of 3 qts vs 3 1/2?
Are the gears loud because of the laygear?
Why is 2nd gear loudest especially when deceleration?
I though the gears may be loud because there's only 3 quarts, but the dipstick show full. Dipstick wasn't changed.

Because the OD works, I'll assume there's enough oil in both he tranny and OD.
I'm at a loss of only 3 qts. I added 1/2 quart, drove it around the block, gears are still loud, dipstick showed past full. I removed enough oil to bring it to full, which was 1/2 qt.

I've removed this transmission 7 times now replacing parts and every time it only takes 3 qts. Every time, I had the OD sitting in a pan till no oil drips out. I feel like I'm in a twilight zone episode.

Thoughts? (not about being in the twilight zone, lol)

 

[John Turney]

You have 1/2 qt. of oil remaining in the OD that doesn't drip out. If you were to disassemble the OD (DON'T DO IT!), you would find that extra 1/2 qt.

Do you have the tunnel on when doing test drives?