Tranny Problem or Not?

damacman · Jan 16, 2006

OK, so I've read all about the T3650 issues, and mine for the longest time has been fine. I've had a Tri/Ax on mine since it was about 5k mile old. In the last several months, power-shifting 3rd has been near impossible - like you hit a brick wall. The only way I can upshift third is to release the throttle slightly on the shift and it slides right in - power shift and it's a NO GO. Second ground on occasion on power-shifts too, but never a miss. Fourth has always been easy.

So, tonight I pull off my Tri/Ax and reinstall the stock shifter prepared to take it into Ford to be serviced. The stock shifter, while it's like rowing a boat compared to the Tri/Ax, goes into every gear so much easier than the Tri/Ax. Now, here's the weird part - I take it out for a quick spin and power-shifting all gears was a piece of cake.

Hmmmm . . . I did notice that when I pulled the black plastic ball off of the bottom of the Tri/Ax it was pretty snug on the end of the shift lever. When I popped it on the stock shifter, it fits quite a bit more loosely. I wonder if its' possible that this is the problem.

Any thoughts . . . I'd prefer NOT to take it to the dealer for them to tell me that there isn't anything wrong and charge me $50. I'd sure have no way of showing them that the shifter doesn't want to go into 2nd and 3rd . . .

Please don't say - GET A PRO 5.0 as the Tri/Ax has been really good to me for 25k miles . . .

98blackmagic · Jan 16, 2006

at first I was thinking a bent shift fork, but if it works with the stock shifter..............hmmmm I would think from what you describe its a faulty shifter .

ocbaud · Jan 16, 2006

my first time at the track with my gt(and any manual car) on a couple of my runs i had trouble getting the shifter into both 2nd and 3rd under hard throttle. other times it was fine. that was with the triax. tommorow i'm installing an mgw shifter, which i had on my v6 before and it is SO much nicer. I'm also changing my fluid with some royal purple max atf and hopefully both of those will help that problem.

damacman · Jan 16, 2006

98blackmagic said:
at first I was thinking a bent shift fork, but if it works with the stock shifter..............hmmmm I would think from what you describe its a faulty shifter .

I'm beginning to think you may be right. When I installed the Tri/Ax originally, I adjusted the shift stops EXACTLY as described in the installation manual so I would think a bent shift fork is unlikely. The fact that it's gone 25k miles with no issues makes me think something has changed. What bearing do you think the black plastic ball would have if it is in fact a little too snug? I could easily enough put some grease on the end of the shifter and pop it on - I bet the Tri/Ax would be much smoother then.

98blackmagic · Jan 16, 2006

damacman said:
I'm beginning to think you may be right. When I installed the Tri/Ax originally, I adjusted the shift stops EXACTLY as described in the installation manual so I would think a bent shift fork is unlikely. The fact that it's gone 25k miles with no issues makes me think something has changed. What bearing do you think the black plastic ball would have if it is in fact a little too snug? I could easily enough put some grease on the end of the shifter and pop it on - I bet the Tri/Ax would be much smoother then.

quite possible, I would try it before I pitched it out.

stangGT97 · Jan 17, 2006

damacman said:
I'm beginning to think you may be right. When I installed the Tri/Ax originally, I adjusted the shift stops EXACTLY as described in the installation manual so I would think a bent shift fork is unlikely. The fact that it's gone 25k miles with no issues makes me think something has changed. What bearing do you think the black plastic ball would have if it is in fact a little too snug? I could easily enough put some grease on the end of the shifter and pop it on - I bet the Tri/Ax would be much smoother then.

The TR-3650 has build in stops, so remove the ones you screw into the base of the shifter - it is very possible that they are whats causing your difficult upshifts. Heres the statement right from Tremec:
http://www.tremec.com/English/faq/faq.asp#14
Reinstall your Tri-ax with the stops removed and let us know what happens, good luck

damacman · Jan 17, 2006

I've seen that before but am unsure how correctly adjusted stops on the Tri/Ax could cause any problem. It was my understanding the misadjusted stops would cause the tranny to pop out of gear.

Either way, I'm going to work on this tonight and see what I come up with . . .

Blk2k4mach · Jan 17, 2006

i know you didnt want to hear this, but get a pro 5.0 seriously, you will be sooooo glad you did. if you think the tri ax shifter was good for you, you need to find out what is the best for you (pro 5.0)

ocbaud · Jan 17, 2006

Blk2k4mach said:
i know you didnt want to hear this, but get a pro 5.0 seriously, you will be sooooo glad you did. if you think the tri ax shifter was good for you, you need to find out what is the best for you (pro 5.0)

i've tried a pro 5.0 , a triax, and a mgw.

i've had an mgw on my old v6, and a triax on my gt up until today, when i swapped for a mgw.

from what i felt driving all 3 shifters, the triax and mgw felt a lot more alike than the pro 5.0. it was a very short shifter, but i didnt like the angle of the handle, which is pretty much straight up.

again, nothing is the best, because everyone has there own opinion. mine is that mgw has awesome build quality and performance

again, the triax is a great shifter. its just a bit to noisy for me and i really like the mgw a lot more

twogts4us · Jan 17, 2006

Blk2k4mach said:
i know you didnt want to hear this, but get a pro 5.0 seriously, you will be sooooo glad you did. if you think the tri ax shifter was good for you, you need to find out what is the best for you (pro 5.0)

Nope, that's EXACTLY what he said he didn't want to hear, yet you decided on your first post here to tell him that a quality shifter needs to be replaced by another quality shifter. What you feel is best for him won't necessarily solve his issue...or, even if it does, it's a $185 solution.
Welcome, my friend, but please refrain from making your 2nd, 3rd and 4th posts similiar to this one. Make some friends and enjoy!
DaMacMan - to set your stops, push the shifter completely in gear and give it a good firm push, then run the stop bolt right up to the shifter, then back it out about a paperclip width. I still use the stops, in both GTs, with the T-45 and the TR-3650. Does the shifter move freely now that it is off the transmission? Does it need greased?

damacman · Jan 17, 2006

OK, the Tri/Ax is back on. When I pulled it off, I did notice that the lower handle bolt had worked its way loose - not very loose, but loose. In addition, I pulled out my feeler gauge and checked the stops per the installation instructions and set them to .020. Both were closer to .015. I did also put some white lithium grease inside the black ball on the end of the shifter.

Seems to work OK. I'm thinking that since the handle had some forward / rearward movement with the lower bolt loose, that may have been my problem all along . . .

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