ZF Tips with a European Flavor
ZF is one of the world’s leading powertrain manufacturers. One of its divisions, in Saarbrücken, Belgium, specializes in producing automatic transmissions for cars.
When you consider working on a ZF automatic, your starting point should be the tag, which leads you to the information and application required for the unit (see Figure 1).
ZF’’s New 6-Speed Truck Transmission
At this point, anyone working in our industry should be familiar with ZF transmissions. ZF Friedrichshafen AG is a world-class manufacturer of driveline components to the auto manufacturers. ZF designs and builds some of the most-advanced and sophisticated manual and automatic transmissions for cars and light trucks. The company also is big in medium- and heavy-duty on- and off-road transmissions as well as steering gear, and other driveline components.
Broken Brakes: Answers to Some Parking-Brake Problems
Bolt-on parking-brake assembly on some ZF manual transmissions requires careful handling.
Ford light-duty trucks have been equipped with ZF five- and six-speed manual transmissions since 1987. The ZF S542, S547, S547M and S650 have been used behind gas and diesel engines and are manufactured in two- and four-wheel-drive versions.
Handling 6-Speed Heavyweights
The present trend toward larger and heavier-duty pickups has now brought the ZF S6-650 6-speed manual gearbox onto the scene. This 6-speed transmission was introduced in 1999 in the Ford F 250, F 350, F 450, F 550 and stripped-chassis models. It has been used behind diesel engines from 1999 to current production and behind gasoline engines starting in 2002 models. GM adopted the S6-650 transmission for use in its 2500 and 3500 heavy-duty pickups behind both gas and diesel engines in the 2001 model year.
