I just wanted to take a minute and comment on our most recent issue with our 2007 Jeep Patriot 5 spd 4wd.
Our transmission has had a whine for our entire ownership (bought at 125k miles, now has 175k miles).
But a few weeks ago, I got into the jeep and cranked it up and there was a definite bearing noise.
The noise was when the clutch was released. In neutral, foot off the clutch, bearing noise. In first gear, foot off the clutch, bearing noise.
When the clutch pedal was depressed, the noise went away.
(so when transmission was disconnected, there was no noise. when foot released clutch, and transmission was connected to engine, even in neutral, there was a noise)
this indicated to me that was the rear input shaft bearing. from reading posts on this site, it seemed I could change these bearings without removing the tranny.
which was good. cuz i have pulled this tranny twice. once to change the slave cylinder (and did entire clutch while i had it out) and once to change the o-rings between the transfer case and transmission because they started leaking (should have changed them when i did the clutch, i guess).
i removed the drivers wheel to expose the tranny. the small plate covers the input shaft bearings, rear. a couple of the bolts are difficult to get out because the inner fender metal is inthe way, but it does come out.
the difficult part was deciding how to pull the bearings. i rented pilot bearing removal tools from autozone and advance, but neither of them fit inside these bearings.
so i took advice from someone on this forum, and made my own pullers. i destroyed the plastic part of the bearing, and the metal ball bearing retainer. this allowed me to move the balls around and make room for my home-made puller
i took a standard hex bolt and ground the head down in one direction so that it would fit inside the bearing. then i ground it down in the other direction so that i could insert it into the bearing and then turn it 90 degrees to "lock it into place". i made two so that i could put one on each side of the bearing.
the first one fit snug. the second one was a little loose. then i found a small piece of steel (actually part of a window regulator from an old car i had laying around). I drilled three holes in it. one on each side for my two ground down bolts and one hole in the middle for a slide hammer.
so i put the ground down bolt heads into the first bearing, and turned it 90 degrees to lock it into place. then i put the second one in on the opposite side of the bearing. the threaded end was sticking out. i slid the steel piece over these two bolts, and threaded it on with two nuts (one on each bolt). then i threaded the slide hammer on. a few pulls on the slide hammer and the bearing popped out.
the second bearing was more difficult to remove (the one on the right, or the one towards the rear of the car). once it was out, that shaft was very loose, hanging free. so i thought maybe that bearing held more load.
both bearings were destroyed in the process of removing them this way. so i was unable to see if they made noise or seemed worn out. in fact, i doubted that they were the problem because they looked fine.
the two new bearings were easy to install. i used a large socket and a ball peen hammer. i dipped them in tranny fluid as a lube and they tapped right in. super easy. i re-installed the cover plate with some sealant. it took all of my restraint to wait 24 hours for the RTV to dry before refilling the tranny..
the next day i topped off the tranny fluid, put the drivers tire back on, and test drove the jeep.
to my surprise, the noise was gone. i really thought the tranny was crap this time and would need rebuilt, but apparently not. so its back to its old self. shifts fine, no noise in neutral. still whines in gear at speed.
so the input shaft bearings can be done with the tranny in the jeep (at least on my 4x4 manual tranny 2007 patriot). the two bearings are the same part number. i paid about 70 bucks a piece for them, shipped. that and a tube of RTV (black silicone, oil proof) and the job was done.
i used a battery powered angle grinder to grind down the bolt heads. i got lucky and had a couple of bolts and matching nuts in my shed, and an old window regulator to use to connect them. the slide hammer came from autozone, along with a pilot bearing puller attachment that didn't fit. but the slide hammer worked with my home-made bolt puller.
sorry i don't have pictures. the other fellow took some pictures of the bolts he ground down, and i copied that idea (search this forum). i am posting my success because i found mixed results when i searched. i figured one more positive result might encourage someone to try this. i spent more time waiting on parts than actually working on the jeep. it worked out surprisingly well.
$140 and a tube of RTV ($7?) is pretty cheap to have the jeep back on the road again. i really would like to replace it with a newer and lower mileage car, but the wife loves her mini SUV that is a stick shift. its so hard to find manual tranny vehicles in the second hand market, and we are trying to avoid a new car purchase at the moment.
i also learned through this repair research that the patriot tranny was adapted from the dodge neon? well, that would explain the fact that all of my complaints about our Patriot are tranny related.
good luck out there. you can do it!
Our transmission has had a whine for our entire ownership (bought at 125k miles, now has 175k miles).
But a few weeks ago, I got into the jeep and cranked it up and there was a definite bearing noise.
The noise was when the clutch was released. In neutral, foot off the clutch, bearing noise. In first gear, foot off the clutch, bearing noise.
When the clutch pedal was depressed, the noise went away.
(so when transmission was disconnected, there was no noise. when foot released clutch, and transmission was connected to engine, even in neutral, there was a noise)
this indicated to me that was the rear input shaft bearing. from reading posts on this site, it seemed I could change these bearings without removing the tranny.
which was good. cuz i have pulled this tranny twice. once to change the slave cylinder (and did entire clutch while i had it out) and once to change the o-rings between the transfer case and transmission because they started leaking (should have changed them when i did the clutch, i guess).
i removed the drivers wheel to expose the tranny. the small plate covers the input shaft bearings, rear. a couple of the bolts are difficult to get out because the inner fender metal is inthe way, but it does come out.
the difficult part was deciding how to pull the bearings. i rented pilot bearing removal tools from autozone and advance, but neither of them fit inside these bearings.
so i took advice from someone on this forum, and made my own pullers. i destroyed the plastic part of the bearing, and the metal ball bearing retainer. this allowed me to move the balls around and make room for my home-made puller
i took a standard hex bolt and ground the head down in one direction so that it would fit inside the bearing. then i ground it down in the other direction so that i could insert it into the bearing and then turn it 90 degrees to "lock it into place". i made two so that i could put one on each side of the bearing.
the first one fit snug. the second one was a little loose. then i found a small piece of steel (actually part of a window regulator from an old car i had laying around). I drilled three holes in it. one on each side for my two ground down bolts and one hole in the middle for a slide hammer.
so i put the ground down bolt heads into the first bearing, and turned it 90 degrees to lock it into place. then i put the second one in on the opposite side of the bearing. the threaded end was sticking out. i slid the steel piece over these two bolts, and threaded it on with two nuts (one on each bolt). then i threaded the slide hammer on. a few pulls on the slide hammer and the bearing popped out.
the second bearing was more difficult to remove (the one on the right, or the one towards the rear of the car). once it was out, that shaft was very loose, hanging free. so i thought maybe that bearing held more load.
both bearings were destroyed in the process of removing them this way. so i was unable to see if they made noise or seemed worn out. in fact, i doubted that they were the problem because they looked fine.
the two new bearings were easy to install. i used a large socket and a ball peen hammer. i dipped them in tranny fluid as a lube and they tapped right in. super easy. i re-installed the cover plate with some sealant. it took all of my restraint to wait 24 hours for the RTV to dry before refilling the tranny..
the next day i topped off the tranny fluid, put the drivers tire back on, and test drove the jeep.
to my surprise, the noise was gone. i really thought the tranny was crap this time and would need rebuilt, but apparently not. so its back to its old self. shifts fine, no noise in neutral. still whines in gear at speed.
so the input shaft bearings can be done with the tranny in the jeep (at least on my 4x4 manual tranny 2007 patriot). the two bearings are the same part number. i paid about 70 bucks a piece for them, shipped. that and a tube of RTV (black silicone, oil proof) and the job was done.
i used a battery powered angle grinder to grind down the bolt heads. i got lucky and had a couple of bolts and matching nuts in my shed, and an old window regulator to use to connect them. the slide hammer came from autozone, along with a pilot bearing puller attachment that didn't fit. but the slide hammer worked with my home-made bolt puller.
sorry i don't have pictures. the other fellow took some pictures of the bolts he ground down, and i copied that idea (search this forum). i am posting my success because i found mixed results when i searched. i figured one more positive result might encourage someone to try this. i spent more time waiting on parts than actually working on the jeep. it worked out surprisingly well.
$140 and a tube of RTV ($7?) is pretty cheap to have the jeep back on the road again. i really would like to replace it with a newer and lower mileage car, but the wife loves her mini SUV that is a stick shift. its so hard to find manual tranny vehicles in the second hand market, and we are trying to avoid a new car purchase at the moment.
i also learned through this repair research that the patriot tranny was adapted from the dodge neon? well, that would explain the fact that all of my complaints about our Patriot are tranny related.
good luck out there. you can do it!
