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Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:42 pm

I put together this guide not to replace the Bentley, but to show a few tips on what I discovered as I rebuilt my 1973 Squareback automatic. No special tools are required, but some small picks, a slide hammer and a couple of C-clamps made the job easier.

The first sign of trouble was when the Trans would leave a good size fluid spot on the drive way. The fluid would only appear after the car had sat for at least an hour. I was lazy, so I kept on adding fluid until one day about 20 miles from home, I lost 3rd gear. I nursed it home on slow side streets then grabbed the Bentley. Started trouble shooting and discovered that I had lost the Direct / Reverse clutch. I installed an auto from a T4 in it to get me going, but it has issues too. So now that I am off work (College Instructor), I decided to rebuild the original. I picked up a master rebuild kit from Rockauto and prepared to get to work.

NOTE – before you do a job like this, make sure that you have plenty of clean storage containers to hold the different parts and nuts and bolts. DO NOT throw all of you nuts and bolts together, keep them in separate containers (Pan, Valve Body, Oil Pump, etc.)

Before the tear down I knew that I would need a good way to hold the unit, so I threw together a holding fixture for one of my engine stands.

You don’t have to have one this complicated, but being able to rotate the Trans on two Axis’s really makes life easier. So first the complete transmission was placed on the stand and I drained both the transmission and the differential overnight.

I also got the clutch packs from the rebuild kit and let them soak in Trans fluid. The manual says to soak the clutches at least one hour, but my experience with wet clutches has found that the longer you soak the plates the better.

The next morning I separated the Trans from the diff and began to rebuild the Trans section.

I found that it is easier to start from the bottom first. I removed the pan so I could start on the valve body and servos. You can see what a burnt clutch leaves behind.

This is a messy job, this is how much fluid was still in the case after draining overnight, Notice the color (Burnt Clutch)

I was a little confused with the Bentley talking about the screws and bolts on the valve body. What I found is that you DO NOT want to take out any Phillip screws, just the bolts. Take out the 14 bolts and the whole valve body unit will come free from the Trans. (Note – The 1st gear servo will pop out of its hole when you remove the valve body, keep an eye on it)

Set the valve body unit on the table, and then remove the Phillip screws. The Phillip screws are what hold the three sections together. Once the screws are out, slowly separate the three sections. Have some small containers to hold the screws and springs (pill containers). Pull out the balls and screws and put into containers and label the containers.

You can see that the clutch material gets everywhere.

Remove the 2nd gear servo and the accumulator and place into boxes. Keep parts organized by their relationship to one another

Now that the lower half is disassembled, I want to clean it and get ready for assembly. I just used standard paint thinner and “CLEAN” washing containers ($ store). Clean the cleanest parts first, in this case the valves themselves. I could not see any traces of clutch material in the valves, so fresh paint thinner and a new white bucket let me clean the valves without adding any gunk or residue. By using a white bucket, I could see how much foreign material was coming out of the valves. Blow dry with compressed air (Gently) and check the valves for movement. Clean the rest of the parts and put in clean boxes. Don’t be skimpy on the paint thinner, change often and dispose of in an “eco-friendly” manner.

I noticed that the repair kit came with several similar, yet different gaskets. So, before I disassembled the main body, I matched up the correct gasket and made a note on it so I would know which one to use and how it would fit.

Now it’s time to pull the main components out of the case. The bearing flange is held on by one screw only. Remove the screw and it is ready to come out. The Bentley said it requires a slide hammer, but mine came out without one

Next, loosen both brake bands completely and remove the wedge for the 1st gear brake band (Pliers) and remove the band. I skipped this step and made a mess out of the one-way clutch. Note – Remove all components by grasping on the outside only. I used my thumbs to grab the inner ring of the clutch, causing the rollers and springs to fall out (they don’t fly out).

Next pull out the planetary gear set. Notice the roller from the one-way clutch

Pull out the rest of the components as per the Bentley, and place on a clean surface. Keep all brass thrust washers and the clutch bands with their respective parts so you remember how they go back in.

The hardest part to remove was the direct/reverse clutch. It tended to get hung up on the oil pump sealing rings. To get it out, I turned the stand so that the Trans opening was facing down and between gravity and wiggling I got it out.

Oil pump and sealing rings

The next step was to rebuild the clutches. Only the direct/reverse clutch was bad, but since the kit included both clutches, I replaced both of them. Here the Bentley was confusing. It said that the direct/reverse clutch should be put in a press to disassemble. However, it did not show a picture of the tool. To disassemble this clutch, you have to compress 18 small springs, AND take out a C-clip. I was scratching my head when I decided to check just how stiff the springs were. The spring pressure was pretty light so I used this method to compress the direct/reverse clutch.

A FEW WORDS OF CAUTION HEAR. If you do not have soft jaws for your vice, make some wood or plastic cushions. You do not want to mar or burr the clutch basket. Also, even though the springs are not under a lot of tension, you should always have eye and/or face protection (Face Shield)

Once the c-clip was removed, the clutch was pulled apart to reveal the burnt clutch plates. Notice on the left plate, the waffle pattern is gone. Both plates are like this, plus they are cupped from heat.

Make sure that you clean out the little check ball on the direct/reverse clutch. The Bentley mentioned it for the forward clutch, but not the direct/reverse clutch. I sprayed carb cleaner though it until I could hear the ball rattle. I then reassembled the clutch with the new piston seals and discs. Remember to lube the new seals and to apply plenty of Trans fluid to any metal part that a seal will touch.

I then rebuilt the forward clutch. This went very easy and the Bentley described the process well. Note – I did discover that it took quite a lot of down force to install the clutch pistons, with the new seals. You have to be patient, but a twisting, rocking, downwards motion will get the pistons in. Remember, a lot of Trans fluid for lube and NO HAMMERS.

Inspect the brake bands. The 2nd gear brake band (by pump) had a very thin coating on it, almost like Teflon. The 1st gear band is segmented and the friction material is much thicker. Look for any missing friction material or chunking.

Now everything should have been cleaned and inspected and the assembly can begin.

Clean enough to eat off of.

To start the assembly of the transmission, YOU HAVE to assemble the servos, accumulator and valve assembly first. The reason for this is that the brake bands attach to the servos. Without the servos in place, the brake bands cannot be centered. At this point I have assembled the three pieces of the valve body together using the Phillip screws.

Using plenty of Trans fluid, assemble the 2nd gear band piston and cover. This one was rather difficult because it is spring loaded. You have to keep the cover down, and then install the C-clip. This is what I finally ended up using to hold the cover down.

Install the accumulator and the 1st gear piston. The first gear piston will not stay down in the case, so just center it the best that you can. Install the valve body assembly and tighten the screw as per the Bentley. As you tighten the valve body, insure that the 1st gear piston is pushed into its hole evenly. Also insure that the gear selection lever is engaged into the selector piston on the valve body

I then rotated the Trans body upward. This way gravity will help all of the pieces assemble themselves.

Install the oil pump and using the long oil pump rod, make sure that the oil pump turns smoothly in a clockwise direction.
As you begin to install the clutches and other components into the main body of the transmission, you need to insure that the brass thrust washers stay in place.

The Bentley said to use grease. However, I do not like the idea of grease blobs going through the valve body. So instead, I used Lucas Assembly Lube. It is like a 200wt gear oil. Since you already have these components laid out. Lift off each thrust washer. Clean the back of it and the mating surface of each part with Carb cleaner. Apply the assembly lube to the washer and press it back on to its corresponding part. Do one at a time so that you do not mix up the parts.

Follow the Bentley on the assembly order and insure that each part engages the previous part as required.

The last little trick involves mounting the bearing flange and the gasket. Previously, I marked the correct gasket so that I would know its orientation for assembly. However, due to the gasket shape and the number of holes in it, it was rather difficult to get lined up. There are 6 holes total that must be lined up for the gasket to be installed correctly. Four of the holes mount the differential and two of the holes provide Tran’s fluid to the governor. To make sure that all of the holes were aligned, and that the gasket was installed correctly, I used six 8mm bolts. Each of the bolts was placed into a hole through the bearing flange and gasket. A slight tap seated the bearing flange and the 6mm screw held everything lined up perfectly.

The next step is to change all of the seals in the differential section. There are six in all. There are the two output shaft seals for the stub shafts. The torque converter seal. The Governor seal and O-ring and two Pinion seals. You can change five of the seals from the outside, but to change one of the pinion seals, complete disassembly of the differential is required. I did not keep a step by step account of this procedure. The Bentley did a very good job of explaining how to do it. If you do open up the differential and have not worked on one before, read the section a few times first. Make sure you understand what the term backlash means and how to check. Just a couple of tips. I found that it took a slide hammer to remove the governor seal. The Bentley said a drift could be used if the differential were taken apart. However, I found that this was not the case (at least for mine). Also, the outer pinion seal (the one on the transmission side) can be a little tricky.

The Bentley stresses that this is a critical seal, it is also the one that Ray Greenwood recommends changing at 50k. I would recommend installing this seal last after everything is assembled. I had installed it with the differential apart. However, when I installed the differential carrier, the shaft caught on the lip of the seal and ruined it (glad I had an extra). Therefore, I recommend that the seal be installed with the differential assembled. Lubricate the seal lip with Hypoid gear oil and twist it on to the shaft, then drive it flush with the plate. Note – There is no stop or shoulder for this seal, so make sure that you do not drive it past flush.

Now you just have to mate the differential to the transmission. Change out the large O-ring and install the paper gasket. If the parts do not want to seat, rotate the stub shafts to align the pinion splines to the bearing flange.

I hope that this will help someone out. As we all know, finding parts for Type 3s and someone to work on them is getting harder and harder. My real fear is that those of us with automatics will be the first ones to really suffer. Since we are in the minority, the parts for the autos will probably disappear first. In fact, Rockauto no longer carries all of the parts that they had when I ordered these kits. Also, few transmission shops have ever worked on the T3 before. I was quoted $1000 at one shop to do what it took me 2 days to do. So I wrote up my rebuild to encourage others to do it themselves. I believe that if you feel comfortable rebuilding a motor, you can rebuild your automatic as well. The best part is that no special tools are required.

Good Luck – multi69s – AKA – David Riley

P.S Thanks Ray for you advice.

Wed Jun 13, 2012 12:49 am

this should be a sticky, I wish you had posted this 6 months ago when I did mine :lol:

Moderator note:
It's in the Type 3 FAQ

Wed Jun 13, 2012 1:14 am

Yeh mate well done ..... this is top notch !!!! :!:

Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:41 am

Thanks for this man! I was quoted $1500!

Wed Jun 13, 2012 8:46 am

excellent write up :D

Wed Jun 13, 2012 8:57 am

How much does the master kit cost and where did you get it from?

Wed Jun 13, 2012 9:18 am

T3man wrote: How much does the master kit cost and where did you get it from?

from above - Rock Auto (rockauto.com) and the master kit is no longer listed

Wed Jun 13, 2012 9:29 am

www.bulkpart.com has the 003 AT kit listed under VOLKSWAGON.

Wed Jun 13, 2012 10:11 am

Here is the link for bulk auto
http://www.bulkpart.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=2&Category_Code=VW-003

Here is the link for Rock Auto(look for Volkswagon)
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php

I bought 2 of the rebuild kits from Rockauto less then a year ago and now they don;t have them, but they do dtill have some parts that bulk auto doesn't carry.

Wed Jun 13, 2012 11:48 am

Very nice writeup. The seals between the diff and the trans body are very important: my diff started to whine about a month after rebuild because the seal either failed or was not replaced and the ATF leaked into the differential contaminating the oil and wiping the gears out.

Fri Jun 15, 2012 2:19 pm

This is one of the best tech topics I've seen on here in a while. Thank you.

Tue Jun 19, 2012 7:04 am

I'll be using this for when I rebuild my trans

Dave

Sun Jun 24, 2012 3:30 am

one thing many people overlook is to check the breathers, there's two, one for the auto part and one for the ring & pinion, in my case (pun intended) they were both totally plugged with dirt, which I suspect might have contributed to make the seals fail!

Sun Feb 17, 2013 8:00 am

I am trying to locate a rebuild kit for a type3 automatic. It has been a little frustrating trying to find one. Can anyone tell me where or who has one?

Thanks for any & all info.
Martin

Sun Feb 17, 2013 10:44 am

Here you go.

http://www.bulkpart.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=2&Category_Code=VW-003

I would get the master kit

Fri May 31, 2013 9:28 pm

The only thing I would add is that there are 4 seals in the diff that should be replaced at the same time. And here is a pic of my gasket kit.

Sat Jun 01, 2013 10:48 am

I did mention it,

"The next step is to change all of the seals in the differential section. There are six in all. There are the two output shaft seals for the stub shafts. The torque converter seal. The Governor seal and O-ring and two Pinion seals. You can change five of the seals from the outside, but to change one of the pinion seals, complete disassembly of the differential is required."

I just didn't show a blow by blow on how to do it.

Sun Jun 23, 2013 9:42 am

Great thread ! thanks for posting !

Mon Jun 24, 2013 5:34 am

do any of y'all know if this Type 3 auto is the same as one in a 73 bus? I have been seeking some gaskets but no luck
BTW... great write up thank you

Mon Jun 24, 2013 5:39 am

I believe it is the same 003.