That's a little comforting to me I guess. At least it wasn't my fault. So you wouldn't hesitate to rebuild the ZF properly and reinstall behind the 4BT again?

 

that sucks!!!! Did you buy the trany used?? Or buy it from a rebuilder??

 

that sucks!!!! Did you buy the trany used?? Or buy it from a rebuilder??

I got it private party from the guy who sold me my engine. Said his friend who was a trans rebuilder had been through it. I guess I shouldn't be so trusting in the future.

 

just a question, are you running the 42 or the 47? what kind of power do you think you have?
the s5-42 is rated to 420 torque and the s5-47 is rated to 470 torque

 

It's a 42. I'm guessing of course but I'll say absolute max on torque is 400 ft-lbs. So, well within range still. I think this was a freak accident.

 

After talking to both the guy who sold my engine and his buddy, the rebuilder who sold him the trans in the first place, I feel a lot better about this. I have to say it's nice to deal with guys once in a while who are honest and willing to stand behind their stuff. I really don't run into people like this often and would like to thank both of them!

So... following several people's suggestions, I'm going to try and see if it's possible to shift directly from fifth to reverse without popping the shifter over to the left. If this is possible, it would mean the shift lockout mechanism has fallen out, and most likely been wedged between a gear and the housing, and then punched through. It still drives peacefully in all gears, so I most likely haven't lost a tooth.

If I can't get it to go directly from fifth to reverse, well there's something more going on inside there.

My dad works in Hood River, an hour or two from the trans shop and commutes from Spokane to there every weekend, I could throw the trans in the back of his Subaru and let the original builder run through it himself. That way he can see for himself whether it was fatigue, a freak accident, or assembly error.

Chris

 

The magnet in the bottom of the case should have "caught" the lockout lever. If your shift lever boot isn't very difficult to remove the transmission's cover plate retaining the shift lever can be easily removed. You can quickly ascertain if the lockout lever is still in place around the roll pin.

If there was sufficent force to shear a hole in the case I expect the countershaft's fifth gear is damaged. That, in turn, might have indented the mainshaft's driven gear. However, if the gears' damage isn't too severe (judgement call) the imperfections might be stoned out and the gear(s) returned to service. I've seen it done. Good luck.

 

Put some of that marine epoxy over that hole, the stuff that goes on wet, a big glop of it. Put in some more lube - maybe some 180-weight assembly lube. Keep racing dudes at the lights, slam it from gear to gear, and test the repair. If power normal, challenge other macho guys to race, and tromp on it big-time. If it doesn't pull, or it makes noise, sue them. You are an American - you got a right to sue. It's not your fault !!

 

Put some of that marine epoxy over that hole, the stuff that goes on wet, a big glop of it. Put in some more lube - maybe some 180-weight assembly lube. Keep racing dudes at the lights, slam it from gear to gear, and test the repair. If power normal, challenge other macho guys to race, and tromp on it big-time. If it doesn't pull, or it makes noise, sue them. You are an American - you got a right to sue. It's not your fault !!

LOL!!!
I think I'm gonna have a peek inside and see what happened and why it happened before anything else. I wouldn't want to make matters any worse, but thanks for the suggestion. I've always had a disgust for people who just go around suing each other. That would be an absolute last resort for me.

I tried shifting directly from 5th to reverse without popping the shifter to the left- it won't go at all. So as far as I can tell the transmission still has completely full functionality, just a little hole in the side. Wierd...
Thanks for the replies guys.

Chris

 

So I got to pulling and opening the ZF today and this is how it went...

YIKES!!! A bolt where there shouldn't be one!

 

And more pics:

 

And here are some pics of the culprit: one of the three shift rail guide plate (or whatever its called) bolts. It backed out and fell down and got eaten by a gear and shot into the housing. If you look in one of my previous pictures, you can see one of those three bolts is missing, one is backed out a quarter inch, and the other was only finger tight.

That's a pretty tough gear to do that to a bolt. All that happened to the gear that I can tell is that a section of the outside edge of the splines got polished a little:

There were silver bits in what little fluid was left for me to drain, and the magnets inside were covered in shavings from the bolt. I plan to clean everything up real real good, JB weld the hole in the case, find me a new bolt somewhere, reinstall the three bolts with red locktite and maybe slightly oval their threads so this don't happen again, and then reassemble.

 

If you look at the last picture, to the left I see a chipped tooth. Not good. I would replace any gears that are even sligthly marked, including bearings.
You have done most of the work, all that is really needed to replace a couple of gears and or bearings.
Just like bearings, any marks automaticallly requires replacement. They will not last long w/o taking out the whole transmission.
I would spend a few dollars now, instead down the road for a whole new transmission.
I have seen it too many times where somebody cut corners and then had to really pay thru the nose just a short time later.
Next time it might just totally lock up at highway speed causing an uncontrolled accident, busted engine, etc.
Yes it hurts to spend money, but you will have peace of mind that you have a job well done.
Utilmately your call, your money.

 

Well thanks for the sharp eye. I went and reinspected before reassembly because of your comment. I think what you are seeing is actually a spot of grease that reflects the light funny. Just to be sure though, I took it by my buddy's transmission shop, he looked at it and said yeah that thing is by all means still a great gear. Maybe this thing is really bulletproof after all.
Thanks!

 

Well,now that you've opened it up,will the rebuilder still stand behind his work?????

 

Yeah he's fine with it. Pretty honest guy, he admitted the bolts falling out were clearly his fault, and was willing to cover the damages. But I didn't want to ship my trans away and have to wait a long time and wanted to see inside it myself, so we agreed I would open it and take pictures for him as I went. All I'm out is a $6 bolt, a $6 tube of RTV, several dollars of welding gas, and $10 of ATF. I don't think I'm gonna chase his tail for that. Could be worse, I'm just glad it was as simple as that. The transmission is back in but I haven't driven it yet. I thoroughly inspected, and the only thing that appeared to have happened was a slightly polished gear, a hole and a crack in the housing, and a chewed up bolt. I hope to get back out to the shop and finish it late tonight and get my truck back on the road again.

thanks for all the suggestions, guys!
Chris

 

$10 in ATF? The last ZF-5 I had used synthetic ATF from ford or castrol syntorq and they were both really expensive like $15 a quart.

 

$10 in ATF? The last ZF-5 I had used synthetic ATF from ford or castrol syntorq and they were both really expensive like $15 a quart.

Yes, synthetic! But it wasn't THAT expensive. Tranny builders I talked to said any synthetic ATF would be just fine.