TKO 600 Shifting Problems With 5th Gear

[57AGIN]

Jim:

Thanks for your reply re my TKO 5th gear shifting problems.   I've moved this topic over into the Transmission section.


Best news with 57 AGIN is now being able to shift into 5th (.64 overdrive gearing) for freeway driving.  The engine RPM with my 3:70's in the 3rd member goes from 3,500 down to a little over 2,000 at 70 mph. 

Now, if I can just figure out why I can't down shift out of 5th everything will be much better.  Both Rick and I are wondering what's going on, as the only change we did on assembling the transmission was turning the shift mechanism 180 degrees in the rear most shifter mounting position.  This moved the shift lever about 3" forward from the bench seat to give plenty of room for shifting.  I'll be contacting TREMEC to see if they have an explanation or a cure.  This was the only glitch I've noted since the car is back on the road.

Bob
57 AGIN


Bob,
   I used my Tremec right out of the box and didn't do any 180 turn of the shifter housing. I'd think that would be awfully hard to drive if you couldn't downshift. Let me give you a piece of advice if you powershift the car. When going from second to third don't shift it like a T-10. Go straight up with the shift. Put your power behind shifting it straight up. It can't be shifted by putting power up and to the right like a T-10. It'll scare you to do it at first but when you never miss a shift you'll get used to it.

Jim

   

[57AGIN]

Jim:

No, the car isn't any more difficult to drive than when I had the old T-10 4-speed in it.  Now I just don't shift out of 4th gear into the overdrive gear, so the end result is 1:1 set up and no overdrive until the problem is figured out and resolved.  I sure do like the way the transmission shifts so smoothly from 1st to 4th and back down again.

I believe the problem may have been due to the reversal of the shift lever to move it another 2-3 inches forward from the bench seat.  I took the car to a friend (Joe Pirano) who owns Westminster Transmission and he test drove the car.  Wonder of wonders the transmission did the same thing to him that it does with me (IT WOULD NOT SHIFT OUT OF 5th GEAR).  The transmission just will not return to the neutral gate, until the car is stopped the shift lever cannot be moved out of 5th gear.  Once the car comes to a stop, the shifter can be returned to the neutral gate and then shifted back into any gear.  Joe said that it probably has something to do with the interlock that prevents the TKO from accidentally being down shifted into Reverse.  Joe has asked me to bring the car over to the Transmission shop with Rick when I get it back from Santini's and we'll pull the shift lever mechanism out to see what has to be done.  Joe seems to think that whatever the interlock problem turns out to be will be an easy fix.  Meanwhile, it does give the brain something to dwell on, doesn't it?

Bob
57 AGIN