Manual Transmission Vehicle Repair
Time Saved Is Money Earned

The single most critical issue facing a technician today is making a proper diagnosis of the customer’s complaint. A faulty or incomplete diagnosis of the problem creates an event that wastes an enormous amount of money through lost time. Comebacks are always costly due to repairing a problem again with no cash payment at the conclusion and “lost opportunity costs” which arrive from working on a no-profit problem while being unable to perform a paying job. I am not speaking about comebacks, but rather missed or incomplete diagnosis from the beginning of the repair resulting in hours of labor wasted (money) working on the wrong part of the car. Before computer-controlled vehicles, there were mechanical and hydraulic problems to concern us.

Computer power eases burden of synchro rings

Since the invention of the motorcar, designers and engineers realized that they needed to make the torque generated by the motor usable and efficient. This led to the creation of the transmission, which made the transfer of torque from the engine usable and smooth.

Déjà Vu All Over Again: Understanding Ring-and-Pinion Setup

This article will attempt to explain once again the proper procedures to successfully replace a ring-and-pinion set. Although I have addressed this topic more frequently than I want to, ring-and-pinion setup continues to mystify many technicians. Replacing a ring-and-pinion set is one of the simplest and most profitable repairs for a shop. There has always been a mystique involving what should be an easy repair and in the past many shops turned away this work or farmed it out to a specialist. Perhaps there are many new people coming into the business, or shops that are not that experienced are trying to add more services for their customers to increase gross sales, or more customers are looking to improve fuel economy or vehicle performance; whatever, this simple repair generates more tech calls than virtually anything else. Hence, we go over procedures to follow for a simple, cost effective repair.

BorgWarner 4417 Transfer Case: 2 for the Price of One

From 2008 to present, Lincoln Navigator, Expedition and Ford F-150 pickup have come with the BorgWarner 4417 transfer case. Seems simple enough but there are two models of the 4417, which can be an issue in diagnostics and obtaining parts or reman units. The Navigator is equipped with a single-speed transfer case, while the Expedition and F-150 are equipped with a 2-speed T-case, although both are 4417 models. The quick and easy way to identify what you see is to look for an electronic shift motor, which will be the 2-speed unit. The single speed unit will only have an electronic connector to operate the electronic clutch and is basically an all-wheel-drive unit that has no low-range mode. Both units are Torque on Demand (TOD), which uses computer control to apply the internal clutch pack to send power to the front wheels as commanded by the computer (Transfer Case Control Module or TCCM).

Tremec Brings Us the TR3160 6-speed

I am sure everyone in our industry is familiar with Tremec, one of the world’s largest and technically advanced manual transmission manufacturers. For years Tremec manufactured 3- and 4-speed transmissions for Ford, including RUG, RAT, SROD, RUG, TOD, etc. Tremec acquired the manual transmission division of BorgWarner and then produced the T5, T45, 3650, T56, TKO, and the TR6060. Manual transmissions have been on a steady decline on vehicles manufactured in this country for years and are now confined mainly to sport or performance models.

G56: Last of a dying breed

Manual transmissions are in a continuing decline in volume. Most current manual transmissions in domestic vehicles are relegated to the sports or “muscle-car” segments of the market. Of the “Big Three” domestic manufacturers, only Ram options a manual trans for purchase; Ford and GM do not. Part of this decline is a lack of skill and talent in the driver population, who are used to automatic transmissions so that nothing interrupts their ability to text while driving. The EPA does not like stick transmissions because they cannot control the throttle opening during operation.

Back to School: Do the Math

It is now back to school season and that brings to mind the difference in education standards in our society. When I went to school all of my teachers (New York City Public Schools) knew their subjects inside out. If you didn’t do it right, you did it over, and that could include being left back to do a whole year over. We learned math, English, geography, history, civics and social studies, plus very active physical training. We had very little obesity, everyone could write in script and print, and everyone read to the best of their ability.

Evolution of the T56

BorgWarner designed the T-5 5-speed transmission that became one of the largest by volume of production. Using a very simple single-rail shift mechanism, the T5 was lightweight, came with a 5th-gear overdrive to add to fuel economy, and had a torque rating useable in engines of the period. The first T5 models used brass synchronizer rings and straight roller bearings to support the countershaft. BorgWarner refined the design and created “The World Class T5,” which used synchro rings lined with the same kind of paper material used in automatic transmissions, and went to tapered roller bearings for the gear train. The weak point of the T5 was its small size, which was easy to package in the diverse models of cars that used it, but with such a small centerline between the input and the countershaft, torque was limited to a high of 330 lb.-ft.

How did that happen? Part 3

No one wants to have comebacks or waste time with difficult diagnostic issues, but in the long term they are truly educational.

This third article in a series explores real world problems and fixes. This material is based on a huge volume of technical calls and field fixes that we live through in the course of doing business.

How did this happen? Part 2: Are we working on the right component?

Many problems in particular noises confound the diagnostic routines. There is an inbred genetic code in all transmission men to instantly wish to pull out the unit. Force yourself to avoid removing any component until all external sources of the complaint have been examined.

How did that happen?

One of the keys to being successful in any repair is to do a thorough root-cause failure analysis on every unit you work on. Many seemingly unexplainable failures occur due to problems that are outside of the area you are looking at. By now every tech should know that components outside of the unit can create a failure. Failures recurring inside the unit mean that the part or parts that failed were influenced by other parts that were missed during the teardown and inspection of the unit. These are expensive mistakes as a problem that comes back under warranty is on the shop and undermines your customer’s faith in the organization. The examples we will look at in this article will highlight the importance of a careful total vehicle inspection before providing the customer an estimate. Once the customer hears what they believe to be the final number, that number becomes carved in stone, and it’s almost impossible to overcome if there are additional parts or labor required.

Information: The Keys to the Kingdom – or Getting It Right the First Time

Repairing, rebuilding and remanufacturing a transmission require many levels of skill. Proper diagnosis, adequate road testing and close, in-depth inspection are all required to ascertain what is not working and what needs to be fixed. All of this starts with INFORMATION.