Howdy!

ok, got some insight and a question. first of all heres my ride.

86 F150 4x4 300 cid I6 with the 4speed manual tranni

tremec t170 rts tower shifter style

So heres what happened. everything seemed pretty normal but whenever i pushed the clutch pedal i heard a odd squeak from under the dash. didnt really think anything of it but it was noticable.

then one day the squeak ended with a pop. after that the shifting became a little more difficult... not bad mind you but, i dont know... sticky? it would try to move a little when i started it in gear, clutch pedal pushed in. it really didnt like to switch directions while running. i know, i know, i should have stopped driving it and fixed it but i didnt for one reason or another and just kind of wrote it off as just another quirk of my old truck.

well it just kind of got progressively worse. and i finally got to looking around. i had recently changed the clutch so knew that wasnt the problem but i thought maybe the hydaulic slave or master cylinder was leaking or weak... no leak. so tried to put a spacer inbetween the clutch fork and the slaves arm. well that didnt help either. so gave up for the day.

i went on about my errands for the day and on my way home as i was down shifting for a upcoming stop sign i got stuck in 3rd gear. i tried and tried to get it to come out but it was jammed tight. i ended up doing a california round on through the intersection and made it home ******* it out hard.

feeling pretty out of sorts i really looked hard for the problem. i knew the clutch was working at least a little because it didnt die while it idled clutch pedal down. so i wedged myself under the dash because the sun was shining through the windsheild and i couldnt see much under there with out the shielding the dash provided. well when i pushed in the clutch pedal i noticed sunlight... let it off and the sunlight disappeared... the firewall section that holds the clutch master cylinder had come loose... the sweaking had been the screws that held it in place and the pop noise? the final screw bidding goodbye to the truck. so yeah, i fixed that, grinning ear to ear. yay! all better... til i got in and suprise! still stuck in third.

so i riped out the carpeting and popped off the access cover to the tranni. took off the top cover of the tranni. found the 3-4 shift collar and did about all i could short of using a prybar on it. finally i did though and thats when i found the problem. i was greeted by another pop noise. the snapping of metal... nearly puked when i heard it. scared to look i put my hand down in there and found a small piece of metal sticking out of the collar. it came free with a little wiggle.

i held in my hand what i later found out was a sychronizer key or plate or insert... depending on who you ask. i guess banging the gears for so long had worn/broken off the end caps on the little thing and its springs had pushed it up to far. when i had tried to shift back out of third it slid back with the collar and caught on forth gear wedging the collar.

so now for the question i had. does anyone know if its possible to replace these with out pulling the tranni? i had read on a jeep forum (they used the same tranni in the cj's in the early-mid 80's) that the fix could be done on the side of the road. the guys didnt go into detail though.

looking at it it "seems" doable. just pull the ring spring back towards you with the collar pushed forward and slide the key in under the collar... maybe with a little tap from a hammer?

i'm currently waiting for the part to get shipped here so i've got a little time to research the subject before i try it.

thanks!

 

You should ask this in the Clutch/Transmission/Differential/etc. forum....

EDIT: And/or the offroad/4x4 forum.