Dang--1, 3, and 5 Gone... and I'm out in Bumf***

patrickt · #1 (**permalink**) 07-06-2009, 12:30 PM

... and 2nd and 4th are just about gone as well. Alright, it was just about this time last year that I was once again out in Bumf*** and went to shift and the clutch was nowhere to be found. That required a harrowing tow home because of a loose set-screw.

That thread is here: Ehhrggg, Standed by a Set-Screw Well, I was out in BF again today, went for a crisp shift from fourth to third and... you guessed it... third was gone. I mean totally gone. It was like shifting in to cotton candy; there was just nothing there. Goddamm Tremec, I knew I should of bought a Top Loader. So I'm in neutral and I coast over on to this gravel place to see if I can wiggle the shifter and magically make my gears appear. I can't. But I was able to find second... barely, and only with luck. I limp it out on the road and find that if I'm lucky, I can find fourth as well. OK, maybe I can get home with these two, almost there, gears. If they hold up, that is, and I don't need them locking up on me when I'm on the interstate trying to get home. And I've started off accidentally in third from time to time and the FE just grunts and takes it... but I don't know about fourth. Alright, I make it home with very spartan shifting and suspect driving. All the tales about "Tremec Stuck in Gear" and "Tremec Loses Gears" are dancing in my head. I pull the shifter boot ring off and... a bit of luck. See below. OK, so it wasn't the Tremec after all. No Loctite on these bolts, I noticed. And the one bolt that is left is loose as a goose. Well, the car was running great until the gears vanished... but all's well that ends well.

jwd · #2 (**permalink**) 07-06-2009, 12:40 PM

I used bolts that were a little longer and put a lock nut on the other side. Glad yours was an easy fix.

Jim

Clois Harlan · #3 (**permalink**) 07-06-2009, 12:42 PM

Hey Patrick,

Stay out of Bum F**** Egypt! I have been there a few times and it has never worked out very well for me either.

Clois

Cashburn · #4 (**permalink**) 07-06-2009, 12:46 PM

Why don't you carry some tools for that???

As the other poster mentioned, a longer bolt with a nyloc nut on the backside is a great backup to the assembly.

patrickt · #5 (**permalink**) 07-06-2009, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cashburn

Why don't you carry some tools for that???

As the other poster mentioned, a longer bolt with a nyloc nut on the backside is a great backup to the assembly.

I keep a satchel of tools in the trunk... and rigging something up out in the middle of nowhere would not have been that hard... but I was absolutely 100% sure it was that damn Tremec and I didn't think I could pull the tunnel and fix the Tremec linkage there by the side of the road.

I'll tell you though, it's a lonely feeling when you go to shift and either the clutch or your gears are nowhere to be found.

xracerbob · #6 (**permalink**) 07-06-2009, 01:02 PM

I was under 758 over the weekend doing the 300 mile once over and found that set screw you mentioned previously was loose. I loctited and re-tightened but will keep an eye on it.

Glad it was only a minor deal getting it sorted out.

patrickt · #7 (**permalink**) 07-06-2009, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xracerbob

I was under 758 over the weekend doing the 300 mile once over and found that set screw you mentioned previously was loose. I loctited and re-tightened but will keep an eye on it.

Glad it was only a minor deal getting it sorted out.

Uhhh, why don't you just pull the shifter ring and have a look-see at the ol' shifter linkage bolts as well....

computerworks · #8 (**permalink**) 07-06-2009, 01:29 PM

Factory Five has two solid-looking shifters for the Tremec, if that's not working out for you.

computerworks · #9 (**permalink**) 07-06-2009, 01:30 PM

.......

RodKnock · #10 (**permalink**) 07-06-2009, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by computerworks

Factory Five has two solid-looking shifters for the Tremec, if that's not working out for you.

I'm glad it was an easy fix. I'm surprised you forgot to mention in the thread opening about how great ERA is.

mrmustang · #11 (**permalink**) 07-06-2009, 01:40 PM

Your car is now totaled .............Sure you can fix it, but it will never be the same

Bill S.

patrickt · #12 (**permalink**) 07-06-2009, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by computerworks

Factory Five has two solid-looking shifters for the Tremec, if that's not working out for you.

I'd rather walk....

patrickt · #13 (**permalink**) 07-06-2009, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RodKnock

I'm glad it was an easy fix. I'm surprised you forgot to mention in the thread opening about how great ERA is.

Uhh, they could use just a smidge more LocTite....

Doug I · #14 (**permalink**) 07-06-2009, 02:16 PM

So that missing bolt holds 1st, 3rd and 5th
The other bolt holds 2nd, 4th and reverse, and since it was loose that's why 2nd and 4th were so vague.

patrickt · #15 (**permalink**) 07-06-2009, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug I

So that missing holds 1st, 3rd and 5th
The other bolt holds 2nd, 4th and reverse, and since it was loose that's why 2nd and 4th were so vague.

No, the shifter was just rotating/wiggling on that one bolt -- so it was only barely moving the shift linkage in the Tremec. It's a very, very simple little repair. But, just like last year, a loose bolt just about stopped me in my tracks. And this bolt (kind of like the set screw last year) would not be ordinarily seen unless you look for it.

EDIT -- For some reason, it just seemed to move "back" a little better than it moved "forward." That's the only reason I got 2, 4, and reverse.

patrickt · #16 (**permalink**) 07-06-2009, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmustang

Your car is now totaled .............Sure you can fix it, but it will never be the same

Bill S.

Uh, OK. Will you do me a favor and take it off my hands for salvage value?

mrmustang · #17 (**permalink**) 07-06-2009, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patrickt

Uh, OK. Will you do me a favor and take it off my hands for salvage value?

No, I already have an ERA, now, if it was a Contemporary

Bill S.

Got the Bug · #18 (**permalink**) 07-06-2009, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patrickt

No, the shifter was just rotating/wiggling on that one bolt -- so it was only barely moving the shift linkage in the Tremec. It's a very, very simple little repair. But, just like last year, a loose bolt just about stopped me in my tracks. And this bolt (kind of like the set screw last year) would not be ordinarily seen unless you look for it.

EDIT -- For some reason, it just seemed to move "back" a little better than it moved "forward." That's the only reason I got 2, 4, and reverse.

Looks like it was a job for the ultimate multipurpose tool...Vice Grips.

patrickt · #19 (**permalink**) 07-06-2009, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Got the Bug

Looks like it was a job for the ultimate multipurpose tool...Vice Grips.

Except that second bolt was gone, gone, gone. Now had I not been absolutely sure that it was the Tremec internals that had gone awry I could have simply removed the shifter trim ring and put the screwdriver through the hole where the missing bolt went and that would have provided enough stability to have gotten all five forward gears. Maybe even of used a little duct tape to hold it in place.

But I've been bitc_in' and moaning about Tremec's "stuck in gear" problems and their deafening silence on the issue for so long that I immediatly jumped to the conclusion that the Tremec was at fault.

Got the Bug · #20 (**permalink**) 07-06-2009, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by computerworks

Factory Five has two solid-looking shifters for the Tremec, if that's not working out for you.

Yep. Something like the Steeda Triax is a lot more beefy and you'd get the benefit of a short throw shifter.

http://www.steeda.com/products/steed...ter_tremec.php