I am doing a bunch (3) of LSD installs and syncro replacements, so I thought I would take some pictures.... The tranny is regarded by some to be a "black box" that you do not service, just take to someone else, but that is not true..... (unless it is an automatic, there truly is voodoo inside them)

Installing an LSD into a car is a big deal! It is so far inside the transmission that it requires complete disassembly of the trans.... and that means removing the trans from the car, etc. Plan on it costing as much in labor as a clutch job, plus 4 hours or so for the presswork and trans dis-and-reassembly. Most car repair shops will not tackle changing a differential in a FWD car, (the MR2 is a FWD engine-trans layout..) and all the better that you do not let them try! Leave this to the shops that are confident in what they are doing! My guess on labor for a MR2 turbo is about $1000.

Most of the aftermarket LSD's like KAAZ, Cusco, and the TRD use some of the stock parts for the factory LSD, such as the 16 differential bolts, speedo drive gear and snap ring. I will give you these part numbers later on. There are a lot of other parts you will need, such as bearings, seal kit, trans case sealant, etc. Even more stuff if you want to do the syncros... (do them!) There are also some special tools you need, although you can get away without some of them...

This picture set assumes that you have the tranny on the floor in front of you, and it is drained of oil. This particular trans is from a 2002 Solara V6, but is functionally identical to the MR2 turbo trans.

Start by taking all the brackets and things off the outside of the trans. You do not have to take all of it off, but it helps. It can get in your way as you are rolling it around on the floor. Take off the clutch hydraulics, shift fork, TO bearing, bellcrank lever, shift cable brackets, etc...


Take off the end mount bracket and make yourself familiar with where everything goes. Get a box of baggies and get in the habit of putting things in them when you take it apart. For brackets, I put the bolts in a bag and then thread the corner of the bag through a hole in the bracket. It just helps to keep it all together. If you are lucky enough to have all the required parts together to be able to do it in one session, you are in good shape. Otherwise, you may be a few days in between taking it apart and putting it back together...... You can forget a lot in a few days!

OK, now it is go time! This trans is NOT from an MR2, so you will have to remove the shift rod from the other side of the trans, but it is easy to see what needs to be done once it is in front of you. The Turbo and SC trans shift rod has a cross-bolt that has to be tapped out so that the rod end slides off....
Take out this thing on the top, it retains the shift rod. It is 24MM usually......


Take this cover off. This will look different on an MR2 tranny....

This is roughly what you will have after you slide the assembly out....

This is the view inside the shift mechanism..... See those 3 tabs? Those are connected to the 3 shift rods inside the tranny that actuates the forks and move the gears. 1-2, 3-4, and 5-reverse. Push all 3 tabs to one side to put it in 3 gears at once.... I'm serious! You will understand in minute!

Remove the 12mm bolts that hold the small endcase on, and tap the case off with a plastic headed hammer or brass drift..... Your trans may or may not have arrows pointing to the bolts.....

TA DA! 5th gear is completely outside the main case of the tranny..... Take the time now to scrape the case sealant from the surfaces of the case with a new razor blade. You don't want to wait until it is clean and ready to assemble to scrape the gasket!

Remove the bolt holding the shift fork and slide the fork and selector off the rod. Put these 3 items in a bag......

This is the world-famous "2 screwdriver tap-with-hammer" snap ring removal method.... These rings come right off this way.... Remove this one on top of 5th....

This big nut is beaten over on one side, just like an axle nut. You can bash it all about with a punch to try to get the detent back out to remove it, but I just grind it a little on that face. I cover the gears with a shop towel with the nut uncovered and grind it a little..... Then it removes easily with a 30mm wrench or socket. Notice it does not turn when you try to loosen it? That is because the box is locked in all gears! If you skipped the earlier step, the shafts will turn and drive you nuts....

OK, now for the GST's, or Ghetto Service Tools.... This is an "OEM" brand gear puller from Autozone made for pulling power steering pulleys, it is about $15
Pull the gear off the shaft with it......


The other part of the gear comes off with a regular 3way gear puller, also good for pulling steering wheels and crank pulleys! The large wrench is to hold it steady.

This is what you will see after the gear has been pulled...... The roller bearing is 2 piece, and there is a shim underneath it..... Be careful with this stuff! Remove the roller bearing and shim, and pay attention to the may it went it, you want it to go back in the exact same way...

This is a good idea, you do not want to incur the rath of the syncro's popping out just yet! Put this all in a bag.....
Notice these are the really desirable dual syncros, as it is a 2002 tranny from a Solara V6....

Now is where it gets ugly...... the plate under the gears is held on by Torque screws, and they are have a threadlocker from the factory! You will not get them all out alive. Get a GOOD quality 3/8 drive bit, and use a small impact. You can do it with a breaker bar, but you almost need 2 people, one to hold the greased pig (tranny), and the other to work the breaker bar...

If you get them all out alive, I'll give you a cookie! My record is 5 out, 2 stripped..... but don't worry! You can get the stripped Torque out!
Don't use an "Easy Out" or other magical screw extractor, they do not work! What you will end up with is a piece of broken-off tool steel in an otherwise removable bolt!
Instead, get a few left-handed drill bits. I have 1/8,1/4, and 3/8 on hand.... A left-handed drill bit is a bit that work turning left... (DUH) Start with the small bit and drill down into the bolt, straight as you can. Work up a size and keep going, slow drill speed, lots of downward pressure.... Most likely the combination of localized heat and the left rotation will back the broken bolt right out. I have never had it fail on me....... At worst, you drill the head of the bolt and can remove the stump later with pliers.....

Remove the retainer plate, and then the snap ring holding the bearing in place.

Remove the detent ball from the side of the case, 6mm hex.... Use a magnet finger or gravity to get the ball out! Plastic bag it....
Remove the small snap rings from the 3 selector rod shafts..... These are a loss hazard, meaning you will loose them as they fly across the room! Place a shop rag over them before you use the 2 screwdriver method to get them off.....

Turn the tranny over and remove these 3 bolts from inside the clutch housing........

Remove this odd bolt from the outside of the case...... That's funny, who wrote that on my tranny? If you forget, the case will NOT come apart!

Remove the other 10,000 bolts holding the cases together, and drive them apart with a brass drift or piece of Oak wood...... Just don't tear up the cases trying to pry them apart. Notice the big chunk of brass in the picture...... If you place it against the case and whack it with a hammer, you are less likely to hurt the case....

Check it out! Pressurized oiling! Does a DSM tranny have that? Heck no! This is a serious tranny! Remove this gear and the trash magnet and bag them..... There will be some fine metal goo on the trash magnet, gears shed metal when they break in.

This is the reverse idler shaft, the odd bolt on the outside goes into this to hold the top of the shaft......
You can remove the shaft and gear and set them aside...

Remove the bolts holding the oil pipes and reverse pivot and bag them.....

Detailed pic of the selector rods.....

Start removing the bolts that hold the forks to the shaft, and slide the rods out. As soon as they are free, re-assemble them so that you know how they go!

Notice this detent rod in between 2 of the selector rods.... remove it with a magnet and make sure you know how it goes back in....

Check out my rod(s)

With the rods gone, you can remove the input shaft from the case. Set it aside. A box is a good idea to keep it all safe and clean. To get the output shaft out, you have to lift the differential up a little...... With the (gear) cluster shafts gone, the diff. will lift right out into your hands.

Now we can move on to getting the new LSD ready for installation! You need to get the ring gear off the old diff, which means removing the 16 bolts from the outside.... you can drive the gear off with a brass drift or plastic hammer.....

Your new LSD does not have the 2 large roller bearing on it, you have to press them on. I do not reuse the old bearings, as they are difficult to remove without damaging them. You will have to have them pressed on, you CANNOT hammer them on! If you are doing syncro's also, you will become VERY intimate with the press!
You will have to either heat the ring gear or firmly tap it onto the new LSD. The bolts for the LSD are LONGER than the stock ones! If you try to reuse the stock bolts you will be sorry! Use a little dab of Locktite blue and torque them to 80 FT-LBS in 2 steps...... notice the x mark at every bolt.

Your new LSD also does not have a speedo gear or snap ring, you have to get them at your dealer.... part numbers to follow. Install these before you forget! (yes, that would suck to get it all back together and have no speedo...)

Time for me to go to bed! I am waiting on some parts.... so next time I will show how it is put back together.... it is a little tricky as you have to set the bearing pre-load and it requires some specialized tools to re-install 5th back onto the shaft.
Now is the time to do all your synrcros, you have to press off all the gears and re-press them back on with the new parts installed. Not for the faint of heart! This tranny only has 30,000 on the clock, so no syncro replacement on this one..... I will do that soon on another box and start a different thread on that. You cannot tell by looking at or "feeling" the syncro action if they are good. You just replace them.
BTW, this box is going on a 94' Camry coupe with 3SGTE.
The LSD is a CUSCO, and I have them available with all needed parts for installation.

Please visit my site and keep me out of a "real" job!

http://www.speed-source.net/

Carl Crawford