427 FE and TKO 600 mating Question

[mikeforte]

Hi,
So the TKO mates all the way up to the large diameter of the bearing retainer? My experience is the Lakewood has the red paint that interfers with the bearing retainer. A half round file to knock the paint off with will make the TKO fit all the way into the bellhousing. If that doesn't work I make 1/8" spacers to go between the TKO & Lakewood bellhousing.
I hope this helps. Email me if you have other questions.

[elmariachi]

Originally Posted by mikeforte

Hi,
So the TKO mates all the way up to the large diameter of the bearing retainer? My experience is the Lakewood has the red paint that interfers with the bearing retainer. A half round file to knock the paint off with will make the TKO fit all the way into the bellhousing. If that doesn't work I make 1/8" spacers to go between the TKO & Lakewood bellhousing.
I hope this helps. Email me if you have other questions.

Hi Mike, yes the shoulder on the bearing retainer goes on up into the bellhousing bell the way except for about 1/8", then hits a dead stop. We had already fit the bellhousing to the transmission on the bench and it slid on and off fine so it shouldn't be that. It really appears that the input shaft is bottoming out in the crank, but we have measured this with some excellent measuring tools 4 times and its 6.5" on boththe tranny input and on the old shaft when its fully buried out to teh bellhousing face.

[mikeforte]

Hi,
Install 4 flat washers about .125" thick between the bellhousing and the main case and see if that spacer fixes the binding of your TKO.

[elmariachi]

Originally Posted by mikeforte

Hi,
Install 4 flat washers about .125" thick between the bellhousing and the main case and see if that spacer fixes the binding of your TKO.

Okay, we just had a buddy roll in with better grade measuring equipment and the seated long shaft out to the face of the BB is 6 7/16" and the distance from the face of the TKO out to the short shaft tip is 6 9/16", so we in fact have 1/8" too much shaft. The washer/spacer idea is quick I suppose, but would we not be better off just to pull the input and have it milled down?

Thanks.

[mikeforte]

Hi,
You could grind the input to correct the interference. Do you have anaerobic sealer?

[elmariachi]

Originally Posted by mikeforte

Hi,
You could grind the input to correct the interference. Do you have anaerobic sealer?

Yes I have the sealer from when we swapped shafts a month ago. I have pulled the short shaft this evening and am just going to run it over to the machinist and have 3/16ths milled off and be done with it. If he weren't 10 minutes away and dying to see me finish this, I would have already just ground it down.

I am still curious where the tolerances are off, but I know the pilot bushing is correctly seated and the bellhousing is firmly bolted on, so either Tremec or Lakewood got it wrong somewhere. Thanks for the input Mike.

[mikeforte]

Hi Mike,
I've seen this many times with the BB Ford. I've made a spacer for years just to fix this. Just a silly 1/8" makes a difference.