T5 Help!

[lizardsman]

I need some help. Few months ago my 93 wc t5 had issues. I found out it was the input race. No prob, ordered up a new one, but had problems getting the tail shaft back on. Long story short I fed it up and took it to the shop. Few hundred latter got it back. No reverse, grinding gears. Took it back, now reverse, no 5th, grinding gears. Took it back he called a week latter said nothing was wrong. He exchanged it for a trans I believe is nwc and geared way low. Even with 3.55s it turns 3200 at 70mph. So long story short it was grinding 3rd and 4th. He went on vaca for a month so I doubled clutched and no biggie. when he gets beck we decide to do a full rebuild on my original and no charge since it's his fault and I played the first time. I told him I would pay for parts. That was 6 weeks ago, he won't answer or return my calls, never at the shop or anything. Now I have no third or fourth, if I try it gets stuck. It's killing my clutch and I'm not too happy. So the morale to this ridiculously long question is where's the best place to get a synchro rebuild kit and a fork kit? gonna try to get my original trans back, when I bought the car he told me it was just rebuilt, it had new gears, me sychros and new forks. Everything other than 1st and 2nd synchro looked good when I took it apart. And second question, if I can't get my original back, how do I identify this one? Thanks.

 

[Mustang5L5]

From the sounds of it, you have a 4-cylinder T-5. There's a tag on the side that would ID it, but if it's been rebuilt, it's more than likely missing. At that point, youd have to pull the top cover and count the teeth on the gears to ID it. All T-5's after 1985 are world class. That just refers to the synchro blocker style. There is a way to identify this by inspecting the race for the countergear on the front under the input shaft.

More than likely, the reason your T-5 lose R and 5th has to do with something in the shifter linkage not being set up correctly, or working loose. They are a little tricky sometimes to work.

Id try to get your original T-5 back and cut your losses from that guy. Do you have the T-5 rebuild manual?

http://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/resources/t5-rebuild-manual.29/

I assume since took the trans apart you have some ability to work on it?

 

[Grabbin' Asphalt]

Yes check that ID tag fo sho!!!

 

[lizardsman]

Mustang5l5 I have the manual, and my buddy down the street has a shop next to his house with 3 lifts I have unlimited ascess too. He's a retired gm mastech. I would like to get my original and put a rebuild kit in it. I'm not the best mechanic but I'm not bad at turning wrenches. This is my dd and has become a real pita to drive. I won't have money to park it untill tax time. Kinda a long story why I bought a built car and why it's become my dd. My problem is I don't have the $400 for the summit kit and was wondering if any one knew of a cheap place to get one. Plus I still haven't been able to get ahold of the shop, cause I am ready to cut my losses and do it myself. I now know what not to do so pretty confident I can handle it. Probably need a new clutch at this point as well. The car has run a best of 13.05 at 107 in third gear with the original trans. So I think I'm ok to stick with a t5 for now. I wish I could afford a top 600 but not right now.

 

[lizardsman]

Yes check that ID tag fo sho!!!

Yup, this weekend I'll throw it on a lift and check!

 

[Mustang5L5]

You can order bits and peices of the rebuild kit.

http://www.hanlonmotorsports.com/

Check these guys out. They have the individual blocker rings for sale. Usually thats all that comes in a rebuild kit depending on what level you get. The higher end ones come with bearings, but these can be had individually as well. I beleive autozone actually carries some of the misc bearings. You'll need the part number however, but this info is out there on the net. Ebay is actually a good resource as well.

Part of your issue may be clutch adjustment. If you are grinding EVERY gear, you might want to look into a firewall adjuster. Usually you will grind 2nd, but when 3rd and 4th start grinding, you have to suspect clutch might be grabbing as well.

Hard ot tell you how hard or easy a rebuild is over the net. I'm not the one doing it, you are. I have rebuilt a few T-5's and can tell you that usually when you lose one of the gearset pairs (1-2, 3-4 or 5-R) the issue is in the shift linkage system that moves the physical synchro most likely. Losing 5-R usually happens when someone removes the Torx head bolt on the side of the case accidentally, or fails to reassemble the 5-R shift rod properly.

Either way..i'd get your original trans back and start from there vs a questionable 2.3L T-5.

As for the ID tag. Here are the numbers

http://www.britishv8.org/articles/borg-warner-t5-id-tags.htm

 

[lizardsman]

Thanks Mustang5l5. Never had a problem with all gears grinding. I don't have a firewall adjuster, just adjustable cable. I do believe most the problem is the shift forks. I have an mgw shifter and this trans felt sloppy from the getgo compared to mine. His shop guy got the drift stuck taking the roll pin outta the shift rod so he cut the rod on a new set of forks. Of course he replaced them with a used set and I think that's why I had so many problems with this one. And I'm with you, I believe it is outta a 2.3. I used to go through the traps at 107 at 6500rpm in third. Now on I75 I'm turning 5000rpm at 110mph in fifth.

 

[revhead347]

There is nothing complicated about rebuilding a T5. It takes basic hand tools. You'll need a handful of extra tools like a punch pin to get the roll pins out. The entire rebuild kit with the Ford part number is $250 on Jegs or Summit. They are $199 on ebay, but I don't think it's worth buying it at that price since you don't know where it came from. If you don't want to spend the money on a full rebuild kit, then I strongly recommend you contact Hanlon as mentioned above for individual parts. If you go to the TTC website, you can download the entire rebuild manual in PDF for free. If this guy screwed up your transmission, then he wasn't taking his time and following the procedures. It's a matter of laziness, not ability.

Kurt

 

[lizardsman]

Thanks revhead347. I agree with the laziness part. I've know him for years and made him a lot of money when I drove a wrecker. So I believe he just slapped it together since it was a favor and he wasn't chargeing me much. I did download the pdf and I even printed it out. Still trying to get my original back. Find out this weekend if the one I have is from a 2.3.

 

[revhead347]

The fastest way to tell if it's for a 2.3 is to take it out and look at the input shaft. The snout that goes into the pilot bearing on the input shaft is narrower on the 4 cylinder T5. If you have a clutch alignment tool match it up with the snout on the input shaft to see if it is smaller.

Kurt

 

[jrichker]

T5 identifier information.

On the tail shaft of the transmission, there will be a stamped aluminum tag. The tag will have a number on it that you can cross reference to the chart below. There is no other way to find out what type of T5 it is without disassembling it. All the rest of the numbers on the outside of the T5 case are part numbers which are not unique to any particular T5 model.

Remember that 94 - 97 T5's have a longer input shaft (about 11/16” longer) and can only be used with a 94-95 bell housing unless you modify or replace the input shaft.

T5's used with a 4 cylinder have a 3.93 first gear, reduced torque ratings and an input shaft pilot diameter that is smaller that the T5 used for V6 & V8 engines. The Pilot diameter is .59" compared to the .668" used on V6 & V8 T5's. It requires a different pilot bearing to be used with a V6 or V8. The pilot bearing you need is for a Ford Ranger diesel from AutoZone part #14672

I don't know how you feel about the DYI thing when it comes to gears, some people don't like the idea of working on transmissions. If the DYI transmission fix idea isn't something that you would rather leave to someone else, here are some resources:

See http://www.ttcautomotive.com/English/onlineorder/product.asp to download a FREE service manual for T5 or Tremec 3550/TKO
You will need the Adobe Acrobat viewer which is also a free download – http://get.adobe.com/reader/

See http://www.hanlonmotorsports.com/ or http://www.ddperformance.com for parts

A T5 rebuild kit with syncros, bearings and other small parts costs about $160. It does not include any gears or shafts.

http://www.hanlonmotorsports.com/ also has a video on how to rebuild your T5 or Tremec. It costs about $20, and is worth every penny of it.

I did a Tremec 3550 rebuild, and it wasn't that difficult. The video was an immense help, and I would recommend viewing it. At $20, it will give you an opportunity to look and decide for yourself if you think that it is something you want to try to do.


T5 Shim kits – best product I have seen in a while… http://www.5speeds.com/t5/shims.html
“The Peel ‘n Place T5 World Class shim kit makes shimming T5 counter gear and main drive gears very easy.”

 

[lizardsman]

You guys are awesome! Love the info. I definetly wanna do it my self, just need my original back. I'd rather not rebuild this one even if it's for a 50 just for the gearing. Be great if it was a track street car. But she hasn't seen the track at all this year. I spend most my time on the interstate and need my high gearing back. But love the info. Been extremely helpfull.