Gosh DARN IT!! Problem with my new "used" T56

hotstang_46

Member
Apr 11, 2007
481
4
18
Charlotte NC
Ok....Kinda peeved here and need some speculation help from you tranny guys. My performance guy who did the install is not a tranny guy and I don't have one. So I don't even know where to go with this. I'm trying to get an idea of what I'm looking at because it's going to be a pain to flat bed this car (it's lowered) and get it over to someone without having any idea what I may be looking at fixing here. If the costs are going to get to expensive I have other projects going and then I may shelf this one for a bit.

I bought a used t56 from an individual that had a good rating bla bla on and on. I know I take a chance with any used parts but the deal was good and I figured I'd go for it. The tranny was supposedly recently rebuilt. I know it has liberty shafts etc in it because I saw the receipts which were dated from less than a yr ago or so. (ps new spect 3+ clutch, billet flywheel, and mgw shifter if that makes a diff)

So here's what happened. It was put in the car by my performance guy and was making a mechanical sound, almost like a gear whine. He made a call or two to some of his friends who know trannys and they agreed the sound was probably an improperly shimmed bearing. It mostly made the sound with the clutch pedal out when not in gear. When the pedal was pressed there was nothing. I had about 1 hour of driving on the new tranny, not even one hard shift...nothing... and I went to shift from 5 to 2 going around a turn and it woudn't come out of 5th. I pulled it pretty damn hard and it wouldn't budge at all. I turned the car off and it very reluctantly came out of 5th and I eventually fought it into second. I got the car going and limped home. I could not shift it. It was like someone cemented the shifter into second. When I got it in the driveway I could not fight it into Reverse. I just didn't want to break anything.

Again, she was recently rebuilt, I saw the receipts. I think it had about 2k since it's rebuild. If you guys can give me any idea of what it may be that's the problem here that would be great. My performance guy's solution is to take it out send it to a buddy and rebuild the whole thing, costing me 2k. Which my wife would not let happen right now because of work I'm doing to something else. Maybe I can get out of this without a full rebuild :shrug:
 
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That sucks man, transmission issues can really suck. Are there any really good ford dealers around? Maybe they could work on it or recommend a place.

I think you could get another built T-56 for less than $2k.
 
Before you tear the transmission apart, it's possible that you've got a bad throwout bearing. Noises that go away when you push the pedal in is a classic sign. If it started binding it could lead to difficulty shifting if it's not allowing the clutch to fully disengage. Keep your fingers crossed.

I should think you'd be able to get it in and out of gear if you roll the car a bit while pushing/pulling on the shifter if that's the case - it should pop right in or out when the dog rings line up.
 
Before you tear the transmission apart, it's possible that you've got a bad throwout bearing. Noises that go away when you push the pedal in is a classic sign. If it started binding it could lead to difficulty shifting if it's not allowing the clutch to fully disengage. Keep your fingers crossed.

I should think you'd be able to get it in and out of gear if you roll the car a bit while pushing/pulling on the shifter if that's the case - it should pop right in or out when the dog rings line up.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to doing some research on what a throwout bearing is. I'm a total manual newb here as far as tranny's go. I've never had an issue before and besides, this car was an auto before putting this in.

But ya, made a mechanical noise with the pedal out only. Push the pedal in and it went away 100%. I mean when you turn the car off and really really muscle it to a different gear and start her back up it engages in gear and drives absolutely fine. You just can't get it back out of gear/ in gear without
 
well, I've done some reading and people seem to be talking about a grinding/ squeeking sound. That's not what I had. It really more mechanical like a gear whine or something, pretty much a constant sound that didn't go away or get worse.

I'm also speculating that sound has had something to do with the failure I'm experiencing right now.....but who knows...

this sound familair to anyone? :shrug: I really don't want to take it somewhere and just say crack it open and tell me what you find. I have some bad experiences at shops and this is just not a subject I'm good with.
 
ya I know, I was just hoping to get some sort of idea so I possibly determine how bad this might be $$$ wise. gosh my girl has had it with my projects :( The proverbial ****e seems to be hitting the fan on all of em right now



and um yah......I don't think anyone is going to be driving this anywhere unless they want to stay in one gear the whole time. With it off I can muscle it to second and maybe limp it to a shop but even that, I don't know if that's a good idea. When I do this I'll probably have to have it towed
 
I had a similar thing happen to me on my 87 turbo coupe. I was coming off the interstate and had to down shift and that's all she wrote. I pulled over turned the car off I was able to get it into 2nd gear, but it would not shift into any other gear. Was only a couple of miles away and limped home and got it towed to the dealer. Turned out the the clutch broke and one of the springs popped out. Hope it's that simple/easy a fix for your tranny, but do take it to a good transmission shop....
 
Yeah, everyone is saying the tranny, so i won't add to that topic, but the possibility that it might be something else shouldn't be overlooked.

If you just added that spec +3 and flywheel, there is the possibility you bent the firewall at the orifice that the cable runs through into the cabin. The added pressure required to cycle the clutch can do this pretty easily. It happened to me. If that is the case the clutch will not fully disengage when you try to shift. If this is the case, you can cut a decent sized washer that is .100" thick and slide it behind the firewall mount. Be careful though because you can drastically alter the clutch pedal engagement position. You may need to use a thicker or thinner washer.

Hope this helps.

This is kind of a longshot, but on the off chance it is the cause, you are out only the price of a washer and your time to visually inspect the cable instead of a rebuild/replace. If you have to repair or replace the tranny, I recommend D&D performance, they are the best, bar none, when it comes to the t-56.