722.

3 General information

Here's a picture describing the relationships between the elements of the 722.3 transmission
and the gearing

Please note - I think this diagram showing the relationships between each element and the
gears is a bit misleading for someone who is familiar with the 722.1XX. B3 is not a brake band
in the 722.3 it is a clutch at the front of the transmission.

Here are some pictures showing the position of certain parts on the outside of the transmission
Let the fun begin!

Unlike the 722.1 transmission the input shaft on the 722.3 extends out from the casing – to
“up end” the transmission on the “bell housing” part you need to support the casing so that
the input shaft does not get hurt. I used blocks of wood.

First I removed the output shaft nut. Someone had already had a go at it before I bought the
transmission but failed... (Not a good sign)

I used the same method as I did on my 722.118 as I'm still not going to buy a special tool for
that!

722.118 Automatic transmission rebuild (Monster DIY)

I could tell that the bearing in the rear part of the casing was dead.
Once you've got the rear nut off remove the stuff on the outside of the transmission, such as
the selector shaft, the “electrics box”, kick down solenoid, vacuum dash pot
Reaching the brake band piston covers

Unlike the 722.1 you need really deep clamps to press the covers in so you can remove the
cir-clip ring wires (LINK). I don't have clamps that are deep enough, so I removed the valve
body.

You need to remove all of the bolts that you see. Warning – there are no other bolts or screws
holding the layers of the valve body together – it is not like the 722.1 valve body that can be
removed in one safe unit. EDIT => It isn't as bad as I thought there are two screws on the
underside of the valve body that will stop most of the parts from flying all over the place. You
can loose a piece though if you are not careful.
With the whole of the valve body removed you can look through to what seems to be a weak
point with these transmissions – the governor drive shaft.
The shaft on this transmission is almost dead.
Removing the Bowden cable conduit

I've read that lots of people just yank the Bowden cable conduit out of the transmission. I can
see why people do this – as who would want to remove the valve body to gain access? I can
also imagine that if you do do this you'll either break the conduit doing it or weaken it to such
an extent that it will no longer seal properly and leak after you've “fixed it”. It is a difficult part
to remove with care – bayonet fittings are great for fitting but a pain in the arse to remove.
Removing the B1 brake band piston

Here's the B1 piston coming out

The B2 piston (as always) was being a bit stubborn – but I worked out you don't really have to
worry about it to get the gear set out, so I left it in place. B2 to come later.
Governor and secondary / auxiliary pump removal (1)

After trying it the other way, I found it easiest to tip the transmission on to its bell housing /
front end for this bit – be careful of the input shaft.
Whilst the rear cover is still in place, now is a good time to remove the output shaft seal
Remove rear cover
The crud in the bottom of the rear cover shows how badly maintained this transmission has
been.
Governor and secondary / auxiliary pump removal (2)

Remove the park system

There are shims under this part that you ideally need to keep
It looks like this transmission has been removed and stored vertically with the tail end pointing
up in the rain! As you can see in the pictures above this part of the transmission is pretty rusty
- even the shims under this splined part to which the park pawl engages are rusted. There's
rust on the governor as well...

...I have no knowledge of the history of this transmission. It was at least sold to me honestly
as spares – I did get the impression from the (private) seller, however, they had had a rough
time with it. There was no longer a Mercedes to be seen at their house...
Governor and secondary / auxiliary pump removal (3)

Remove the drive cog for the governor and the secondary / auxiliary pump.

Remove the cir-clip and pump parts for the secondary pump.

Please note - there should be a small ball bearing between the outer cap and the cover for the
end of the spring. Mine was missing.
Remove little nut with plastic locking from the shaft with a slot in the end
You can now remove the governor and the cross shaft that connects to the secondary pump.

An important part of this system which looks like it is clogged is this little spray tube that
delivers oil to the governor / secondary pump gear system.
Gear set removal (1)

Remove the front pump assembly

Remove the push rods that are between the lugs on the brake bands and the brake band
pistons and remove the B1 brake band. It is quite easy to pull out the B1 brake band and also
the B1 brake drum.
I found that the B1 brake band was worn down to the metal – virtually no friction material left
– consequently the B1 brake drum is badly damaged. The K1 clutch is inside this drum.

Here's a picture of the push rods on the B2 brake band.

You can now remove what they (sometimes bizarrely) call the B3 clutch pack. I guess this
terminology is a throw back to the 722.1 that actually had a brake band – here reverse is
controlled by a clutch. I'm surprised it isn't called the K3 clutch – hey ho let's go with the
flow(?). Does anyone know why it has been named this way?
Gear set removal (2)

Remove the screws at the rear of the casting and pull out the rest of the gear set

Here's a picture showing how the B2 band is left in place. You can't withdraw it until the gear
set has been removed.
To remove the B2 band you need to twist it round and pull is through the casing.
Dirty dirty dirty

Slow progress with the valve body today.

It was DIRTY. Here's an example of the muck on the dividing plate.

There are mountains of crap all over it. Lots of the valves were stuck in place. I ended up
cleaning what I could with brake cleaner and then leaving parts to soak in penetrating oil
before using the shank - THE SHANK! - of a 6mm drill bit to pull the stuck plugs out of their
holes.
I've come across more evidence of tampering - some of the slotted heads on the screws were
burred. To avoid this from happening to you, my advice is to not use normal screw drivers but
to use a bit and a 1/4" drive ratchet.
I've laid out all of the valve body parts (for the lower part of the valve body) on paper and
taped them into their correct position with respect to each other and in the correct orientation
- well I say correct they are as I found them.
Final tip for those of you who are going to do this job - when you've finished for the day - care
for your valve body. Wrap it all up and put it in a clean cardboard box well away from your
wife, partner, the children, your pets, other peoples' pets, the drunk neighbour etc
Next, I'm going to take the next layer of the valve body to bits and clean that up.
Removing the valve body from the gearbox, with the gearbox fitted to the car is a perfectly do-
able job. I found out today that there are two smaller screws that hold the main parts of the
valve body together. It isn't as bad as I thought it was. (I've added an EDIT to the post on
page one) I was walking through the garden holding the valve body like it was radioactive
waste! - it isn't that bad.

You can loose one piece though if you are not careful.

Here's a picture showing the two main parts of the valve body assembly. The valve body
proper can be separated from the part where the filter fits just be undoing the bolts...

And here are the two screws that hold the rest of the layers together and the part (enclosed in
a red square) that can fall out.
The only thing you need to be sure of is no dust. Re-cover the bottom of the transmission
ASAP. Imagine a cloud of sand / dust / muck being blown under the car and into it?
Valve body - naming the parts (1)

I think I'm almost there - I just can't find one bit in a G wagon ATSG manual and the German
FSM...

...so there's still a little bit of work in progress!

Here's what I've got so far.

First the lowest part of the valve body

This is the side towards the rear of the transmission

and the front
Valve body - naming the parts (2)

Now the upper part of the valve body (as it sits in the car)

Parts towards the rear end of the car / transmission

and towards the front
Explanation about part 45

Part 45 - is stuck in the valve body because there's a little ring of plastic that does not really
want to come out without destroying itself. I've left it in place.
A different way of looking at the numbers

Both the ATSG manual and the FSM label the parts of the valve body in the same way as they
are shown in the previous posts - in a disassembled state.

I was thinking that perhaps this way of showing where they are is helpful to those who are
thinking about fitting shift kits
The attached PDF file holds the German FSM and the ATSG descriptions for each of the
numbers

EDIT here's a picture version of the PDF file - image quality isn't fantastic though
Help / how to determine if a spring was there or not

The problem demonstrated above - was there a spring there? - have I just lost it? Oh no! The
sharks are circling, and they want me to buy a new valve body problem is a tough one to
crack.

The answer is to take your time and take photographs of the parts as you remove them. Once
the parts have been removed stick them down onto paper so that the order and orientation of
the parts is preserved.

To speed up this painfully slow process I borrowed some pens from the children to make
demarcation lines between the parts as they came out - then I carefully taped them in place as
it is tough going catching stuff as it springs out, cleaning off the oil, remembering which way
round it was and not dropping something else...

And yes I took pictures of these temporary layouts just in case some little hands got past the
line of death!

########

These tips, however, don't help with the feeling that perhaps someone has been messing
about with stuff before you got there. How can you check what's good then?

First stop the ATSG manual or the FSM - but then you see that the pictures are generic and the
information isn't good for all of the parts you've got. So what then?
All I can think of is to try and use some common sense - look at the parts - look at the ends -
look at how the rest of the parts and the springs fit together.

Here's an example of the end of a sliding valve part that does not have provision for a spring
attachment =>

Here's a picture of a male part over which a spring fits

Very subtle difference between the two - a small protusion versus a small recess and a
chamfer. So not the best method of working out if it is good or not. But I can't think of
anything else...

Here's an example of a part in which a spring sits this one is much clearer and obvious if
something is missing
Here's the front bit

I used two wood working clamps to compress the return springs on the B3 piston

You can then remove the wire circlip

With hindsight it is probably easiest to remove this wire circlip first as it won't then get stuck in
the recesses for the PTFE rings (which you can also remove)
Carefully remove the cap under which you'll find the return springs
And remove the springs
The front bit continued

You can now pull out the B3 piston. Note that there's a locating pin so you can only put it
together one way!

You can now see the bolts that hold the front pump in place. If you unscrew and remove them
you will find that by putting them back in but turning them by about half a turn you have
enough length on the bolts to push the front pump very carefully from it's recess.
Note the mark for which way up!
The front bit - last bit!

Here's the casing

Here's how the plate that covers the front pump should align. I don't think you can actually get
this wrong though as the bolts and bolt holes won't align in anyway other than the right way.
And here's a little cap that comes off the stator too!
EDIT:-

I forgot to say - this bit looks good! I could sell this bit and make my money back. And when
the valve body gets put back together there could be profit!
B2 piston removal

As I reported above, the B2 piston was a bit stubborn when I tried to remove it earlier. I
expected similar troubles to those that I had with a 722.1, when I disassembled that tranny.

It turned out to be really easy.

It is a bit stiffer than the B1 to remove but isn't complicated (on my 722.303) by metal spring
pieces like it is on the 722.1

As shown previously I'd removed the valve body to enable my trusty wood working clamps
access to compress the B2 piston cover so that the retaining circlip can be removed.

This picture is actually the B1 piston but you can get the idea from it

Because I'd removed the valve body and the gearset and brake bands access to the inner side
of the B2 piston was as good as it can get
Essentially all you have to do is to push from the inside and it will pop out!

Due to excess crud, my B2 piston was still being stubborn so I used a screw driver (naughty
naughty!) to GENTLY twist the cover round to see if it would come loose...
...and it did!
Like I said - easy easy easy!
Not too much damage here at all!

The B2 piston is a bit knackered but at a push I reckon "it would do a trip".

Other than the crud that is shown above on the large PTFE sealing ring on the outer edge of
the piston (which needs to be replaced) there are some nasty wear marks on the shaft of the
piston denoted by the arrows in the picture above. It would probably be best to replace the
whole assembly...

The bores in the transmission casing are pretty damn good though - they have escaped with
only a light polishing.
To save what I've got I've cleaned and greased up the bore so that corrosion doesn't take hold
whilst I decide what to do with it all.

This picture shows loads more grease than is needed - but that's what happens when you are
setting the stage for a peach parts photo shoot!
OK Here's the Governor
I'm a bit disappointed!

I wanted to be able to really take the governor to pieces but it looks like it is more or less
treated as a sealed unit despite advice in the ATSG manual that says you need to clean it. I
guess you can't clean it in its component parts that easily. You'd have to do your best by
pushing the plunger (which attached to the weights) in different positions and then washing it
through with a solvent and lots of clean transmission fluid.

Anyway here are the pictures of it in parts - well taken down to parts without damaging
anything!
Gearset (1)

At the risk of being even more irritating than normal - I really can't get over how easy it is to
take a 722.3 to bits!

OK I'll shut up and just post the pictures =>

Take out the little spring clips (don't get them mixed up)
And now looking the other way
Gearset (2)

To get the output shaft out of the gearset remove the circlip ring on the output shaft

Pull output shaft through gear set.

And there's the bit with the K2 clutch in it
To get to the reverse brake (I'm not sure it is called that - I'll check wait 1!) remove another
spring clip
K2 clutch pack

Remove another of those spring clips to get at the clutch pack

The paper based friction material is a bit worn in the middle of the pack but the steel stator
plates are in good condition - happy happy!
Just so you get an idea of how easy it is (yes I know it is irritating to read this sort of thing)
the gear set was taken to pieces within 30 minutes including the arsing about with the digital
camera for you lot and drinking a cup of coffee...

...so OK the piston for the K2 clutch isn't in bits yet - I'll save that treat for another day - but
on the whole I think this is a nice little earner for any transmission shop.
The ID numbers are for the parts shown in this PDF

http://www.ganzeboom.net/images1/ganzeboom/parts/Mercedes/722.3,%20722.4.pdf

I've added in a USD conversion at 1.26 USD = 1 Euro

K1 Clutch and the piston taken part pictures

Look closely at the picture below and you'll see that not only has the friction material gone but
the rotor parts of the clutch are now conical!

Nice!

The rotor parts of the K1 clutch have also embedded themselves into some of the stators
The screw driver end is pointing to a lip of about 0.25mm

To make matters worse this front part of the transmission has suffered water damage
Bubbles / pockets of water has helped to cause pitted corrosion on these surfaces. This must
have happened with the transmission being poorly stored somewhere.
K1 Clutch and the piston taken part pictures (2)

To get the clutch return springs and piston out you need to find a way of compressing the
return springs so that the retaining housing can be moved out of the way of a retaining clip
ring.

To do this I just grabbed a bit of 2" X 1" soft wood and made a little bridge structure.

As you can see it is the super duper deluxe version with two screws per foot. Hi-tec solutions
rule.
Push the retaining clip up and out of the way
(You can see the clip just under the clip in the picture above)
It dings up this far!
K1 clutch piston removed

Here are the spring positions for the K1 piston

K2 clutch
Note about selector-shaft

For the selector shaft you probably don't need to remove the valve body, but it might help you
if you do - or if you get stuck. To loosen the shaft that you can see from the outside of the
transmission you need to undo a hex head screw. Here are some pictures of the part I'm
talking about.

Here's the outside of the transmission.

Here's a picture of the underside of the transmission with the valve body in place.
And here's a picture of it with the valve body removed
You should be able to reach this screw with the valve body in place but if you get stuck and
need more access you'll need to remove the valve body.