f150 transmission experts chime in please

D

dohcdelsol93

Junior Member
I recently made my very first attempt at rebuilding a Ford RTS transmission.

Took me three tries before i decided i got it together properly...took a LOT of grease to keep those needle bearings in that input shaft assembly during installation!

Now that i have the transmission assembled and in the vehicle i'm not so sure i got it 100% right and wanted to as an experts opinion.

1st gear can sometimes not go in extremely smooth, it wont grind, just seems to take a bit more work to find than 2nd or third which shift like warm butter.

and 4th gear likes to pop out and/or grind. The two times i've used 4th gear while driving when i remove it take it out of gear to down shift I then have shifting issues like i'm stuck in gear or between gears. I have to play with the shifter to get it going again. Seems that it takes a few attempts to get it into 4th

I've obtained a little better manual/FSM for the TOD transmission since i rebuilt mine (all new synchros and bearings)

what i noticed was that on the hub assembly for both 1/2 and 3/4 it says not to staggar spring clips, i'm pretty sure i staggared them.

and on one of the hubs the metal levers (3 per hub) have a little notch in them, i'm not sure if the notch faces forward or toward the rear

and last but not least it says there are etch marks in the hubs/sleeves. I looked all over both hub assemblies and did not see any etch marks...was i supposed to put etch marks before disassembly?

thanks ahead of time guys. I plan on digging back into the transmission this weekend and would love for it to go smoothly this time around!
 
Back about 1966 I rebuilt a 1962 Corvair Spyder 4 speed that had a bad syncro. I used Motors Manual and unfortunately they had the syncro pictured backwards from how it should be, so I still had no 4 th. Out it came for the third time before I figured out the picture was wrong. :mad:
About 3 years later I had to rebuild another Corvair 4 speed and followed Motors Manual, and of course I'd forgotten about the syncro being wrong in the picture.:mad: Never forgot again after that.:)
 
Tom I am surprised you didn't make notes in that manual with a pen .

My old ones are full of my observations .
 
I now have a Ford fsm. Probably about the best manual one could acquire . I know I need to go back into the transmission but I have specific questions involving the etch marks on the sleeves and hubs which I cannot find and positioning of the 3 levers.
 
What I do if I'm not use to working on that transmission. Put all the parts in the same order on the out side of the transmission as they were inside. I do this on automatic transmissions, which have a lot more parts than a 4 speed.

I just reworked a F150 for my 1930 pickup. It works good. It will shift a little hard in first if you are going to fast when you try to shift into first. It should never jump out of fourth gear. The gears are worn or it is not going all the way into gear, or you have bad alinement with transmission and engine.
 
You might have to talk to someone from the Ford dealership, or a good transmission shop to find the answers. Most of the large dealerships will have one guy who specializes in transmissions.

We posted at the same time, but I do the same as George as far as laying out the parts.
 
You have more than one issue that makes it hard to shift and skip out of gear. ****** needs to come back out of car and rebuilt using a good manual, preferable with lots of pictures.

Retainer springs should NOT be staggered. Staggering makes the levers sit and a lopsided angle. making it hard to shift at times.

The notch in the levers are fvor oiling purposes. Oil will get to then regardless of which way the notch is.

Etch marks are something your were supposed to "mark" on the hub BEFORE you disassembled.

Email me for more specific information. I have a Very Good manual. I have built 30 of these things.
kenparker0703@aol.com
 
Thank you Ken. Email sent. I have no idea what to do about the etch marks at this point. Putting the springs back in position should be simple enough. I did verify the hubs slid smoothly inside the sleeve before assembly
 
we have built over 150 of these transmissions, did you put the front (3/4) syncro in backwards? are the points nice and sharp(not rounded) on the gears and syncros? did you take the top apart? might have a detent problem.
 
machine girl said:
we have built over 150 of these transmissions, did you put the front (3/4) syncro in backwards? are the points nice and sharp(not rounded) on the gears and syncros? did you take the top apart? might have a detent problem.
Click to expand...


if by the top you mean the shifter assembly no i left the shifter tower intact being that this was a low mileage transmission that was working very well when removed. No gears were damage. Because i was installing a custom main shaft i went ahead and rebuilt while it was all apart, i also swapped out the OD gear and gear cluster for a taller final drive ratio.

I know i have a detent issue (or lever whatever you wanna call it)

since you have so much experience with these transmissions perhaps you could tell me as the ford factory service manual leaves these questions unanswered

for the dentents or insters in the synchro assemblies, is the shorter ones in the 1/2 gear assembly and longer ones on the 3/4 assembly?

and on the synchro hubs, i know the 3rd/4th gear hub has the narrow thrust side facing the front of the transmissoin, is there also a narrow and wide side on the 1st/2nd synchro hub and what direction should it be facing?

I've almost got this transmission taken back out, tomorrow the transfercase comes off and the transmission also comes out.
 
no the longer ones are 1/2 yes you have the 3/4 hub right. the 1/2 syncro hub will only fit one way wide flange on first gear. you can pm me with a phone # will try to help you.
 
Sweet. Seems my issue are just the keys and spring clips.

I'll hopefully have those long keys in the proper 1 2 location later tonight


Thanks a ton you guys
 
I prefer to leave the transmission that Henry put in my A there. When I want to drive something with a modern transmission I get in my Honda.
 
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