Been awhile since I've had any issues with teh Notch, but now it's being fussy again ... and my tags are coming up due at the end of July, so I need to get this working right before it's time to get on the smog dyno.
Before everyone reads the thread title and immediately starts yelling "It's your synchro gears!", let me give a little more detailed description of the symptoms it has been having lately:
- When stopped and idling, it can be a major pain to put into 1st, 2nd, 5th, or reverse gear, requiring a fair amount of force to put into gear;
- When moving about 5 MPH or more, the trans shifts into any gear with normal effort;
- The problem becomes worse as the motor reaches normal operating temp;
- There is NO GRINDING WHATSOEVER when putting it into gear, with the exception of reverse (unless you put it into reverse gear immediately after you start it up);
- There are no weird sounds, whining, grinding, growling, howling, or clanking, clunking, or other funky sounds coming from the transmission whatsoever;
- The clutch engages smoothly and catches at the correct height, and moving the firewall adjuster in or out does not improve the condition at all;
- The shifter does not have any significant slack in it at all, nor is the shifter boot interfering with its ability to go into the 1st, 2nd, 5th, or reverse positions;
- The shifter bushing (nylon bushing that goes under the ball end of the shifter, itself) is in perfectly good condition;
- Trans fluid is fresh (used regular ATF, not synthetic) and had no shavings or filings whatsoever in it when I drained and inspected the fluid. Fresh fluid did seem to improve the situation slightly, but not by much;
- Trans mount, motor mounts, shifter, clutch cable, and clutch quadrant are in perfectly good condition, and clutch (King Cobra, installed circa 2006, has less than 50k on it) seems to be in good condition (does not slip or chatter at all);
- Vehicle has slight vibration on highway over 65 MPH in any gear and even in neutral. The vibe was much worse before I indexed the driveshaft and got rid of like 75% of the vibe, so I probably need to index it over one more position to get it spot-on;
Relevant parts details: 4.10 gears, FRPP aluminum driveshaft, Pro 5.0 shifter base/Tri-Ax handle, King Cobra clutch (installed with new flywheel around '06), UPR aluminum quad and firewall adjuster with brand new Ford clutch cable (less than 5k on it).
If I grab the driveshaft and give it a firm wiggle, I get no play at all from the U-joints, but there does seem to be a bit of movement where it pokes into the T5's tail housing. I'm thinking that possibly the tailshaft bushing or something along those lines may have been damaged from running it on the highway with the driveshaft either indexed wrong or somehow out of balance, as this only just began when I made an hour-long drive down to Casa Grande where the speed limit is 75 MPH. Higher speeds (above 65 MPH) = more vibration, so I kept it at 70 MPH max, but when I got there, it started exhibiting the above symptoms. Since then, I've just been keeping it off the highway (limped it back by keeping it under 65 MPH and pissing off everyone on the Loop 202), and I've only been going on brief 5-mile round trip beer runs on the weekends with it just to keep the battery happy (and to keep me happy, too ).
Does the above sound consistent with a bad tailshaft bushing? Or something relating to the tailshaft, itself? Or does this sound like more of a clutch-related issue of some kind (such as maybe a bad clutch diaphragm)?
FWIW, this is acting almost the same as what the T5 in my little S15 pickup was doing when the clutch master/slave cylinders failed on it, but this is a cable-driven setup and not hydraulic, soooooo ...
Sorry for the lengthy post, but I figured I'd offer up as much detail as possible. Any info/suggestions are greatly appreciated. Mucho thanks in advance!
Before everyone reads the thread title and immediately starts yelling "It's your synchro gears!", let me give a little more detailed description of the symptoms it has been having lately:
- When stopped and idling, it can be a major pain to put into 1st, 2nd, 5th, or reverse gear, requiring a fair amount of force to put into gear;
- When moving about 5 MPH or more, the trans shifts into any gear with normal effort;
- The problem becomes worse as the motor reaches normal operating temp;
- There is NO GRINDING WHATSOEVER when putting it into gear, with the exception of reverse (unless you put it into reverse gear immediately after you start it up);
- There are no weird sounds, whining, grinding, growling, howling, or clanking, clunking, or other funky sounds coming from the transmission whatsoever;
- The clutch engages smoothly and catches at the correct height, and moving the firewall adjuster in or out does not improve the condition at all;
- The shifter does not have any significant slack in it at all, nor is the shifter boot interfering with its ability to go into the 1st, 2nd, 5th, or reverse positions;
- The shifter bushing (nylon bushing that goes under the ball end of the shifter, itself) is in perfectly good condition;
- Trans fluid is fresh (used regular ATF, not synthetic) and had no shavings or filings whatsoever in it when I drained and inspected the fluid. Fresh fluid did seem to improve the situation slightly, but not by much;
- Trans mount, motor mounts, shifter, clutch cable, and clutch quadrant are in perfectly good condition, and clutch (King Cobra, installed circa 2006, has less than 50k on it) seems to be in good condition (does not slip or chatter at all);
- Vehicle has slight vibration on highway over 65 MPH in any gear and even in neutral. The vibe was much worse before I indexed the driveshaft and got rid of like 75% of the vibe, so I probably need to index it over one more position to get it spot-on;
Relevant parts details: 4.10 gears, FRPP aluminum driveshaft, Pro 5.0 shifter base/Tri-Ax handle, King Cobra clutch (installed with new flywheel around '06), UPR aluminum quad and firewall adjuster with brand new Ford clutch cable (less than 5k on it).
If I grab the driveshaft and give it a firm wiggle, I get no play at all from the U-joints, but there does seem to be a bit of movement where it pokes into the T5's tail housing. I'm thinking that possibly the tailshaft bushing or something along those lines may have been damaged from running it on the highway with the driveshaft either indexed wrong or somehow out of balance, as this only just began when I made an hour-long drive down to Casa Grande where the speed limit is 75 MPH. Higher speeds (above 65 MPH) = more vibration, so I kept it at 70 MPH max, but when I got there, it started exhibiting the above symptoms. Since then, I've just been keeping it off the highway (limped it back by keeping it under 65 MPH and pissing off everyone on the Loop 202), and I've only been going on brief 5-mile round trip beer runs on the weekends with it just to keep the battery happy (and to keep me happy, too ).
Does the above sound consistent with a bad tailshaft bushing? Or something relating to the tailshaft, itself? Or does this sound like more of a clutch-related issue of some kind (such as maybe a bad clutch diaphragm)?
FWIW, this is acting almost the same as what the T5 in my little S15 pickup was doing when the clutch master/slave cylinders failed on it, but this is a cable-driven setup and not hydraulic, soooooo ...
Sorry for the lengthy post, but I figured I'd offer up as much detail as possible. Any info/suggestions are greatly appreciated. Mucho thanks in advance!