A Question for David Kee

[Cal Metal]

Dave:

Recently a person asked me a question that I had never heard regarding the operation of a gear box. The question was:

"When pulling over 5,000 rpm in first gear I find that, when I go to shift, I feel a lot of resistance when trying to move the shifter from 1st to 2nd. I have to really pull hard. When just cruising that shift (1st. to second) poses no problem at all. There is no grinding or other malfunction in the box; to the contrary, it really operates nicely".

Can you help us with this? I had a Tremac once that did the same thing. No way could you power shift this from first to second. It felt like the shifter was mired in thick mud. Thanks.

[cobrashoch]

Cal - What you described is a classic clutch problem most times. Centerforce centrifical clutches are known for this problem and I got rid of a centerforce just for that reason a couple of years ago.
Even money that the tranny is really o.k., I'd bet.
cobrashoch

[David Kee]

I agree, clutch adjustment or possibly even bellhousing alignment. Once the power is fully disengaged form the input shaft even if for an instant any transmission should shift out of gear very smooth.
If I am off on the clutch adjustment in my race car the clutch will start to engage above 3500 rpm even though I can drive it around normally. When I pull up to the line and bring the rpm up to 6400 the clutch it will try to push the car at about 3500. If I increase the release gap the problem goes away.