Transmission Grinding

kbsonicstang

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I have an 88 mustang lx, all stock. sometimes when i go to put the car into reverse it will either not go into reverse, grind it, or go into reverse like a piece of cake. No other gear does this, just reverse, and it dont do it all the time. The car idles at about 950-1100 rpms. I dont know if the clutch cable needs adjusted, or if it will be something a little more complicated. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance
 

90_red_lx

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Reverse is a non synchronized that is nothing more than a little tiny gear that engages into a set of gears cut straight in the cluster shaft. Your trans is fine, any t5 will do that. I've rebuilt my t5 6 times now, never had one that ever worked perfectly. Just part of being an unsyncronized gear. It helps sometimes to push it in 5th I've found before dropping to reverse. They're forks are controlled by the same arm inside the trans.
 

wheelhopper

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I thought it was 2nd gear and reverse that were somehow connected or shared something. Whenever I had a hard time getting into reverse, I would shift into 2nd, then have no prob putting it in reverse.
 

93sspcoupe

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i never had a problem with my t5 taking reverse or any other gear. my only problem was having it against a 347. i think i sheerd all the teeth off 3rd gear the other day lol.

word of advice, dont waste your time rebuilding a t5. get a tremec or a gforce t5
 

kbsonicstang

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thanks guys for all your imputs. ill try the shifting into another gear before reverse. and i hope that helps
 

blownfox

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I had that problem with my t-5. I would put it in 4th gear than into reverse and it would not grind. sometimes it would do the same thing going into second. I solved all of those problems by buying a t-56.
 

wheelhopper

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i never had a problem with my t5 taking reverse or any other gear. my only problem was having it against a 347. i think i sheerd all the teeth off 3rd gear the other day lol.

word of advice, dont waste your time rebuilding a t5. get a tremec or a gforce t5

I agree to an extent. If your going to push some serious horsepower or do a lot of drag racing, a stock T5 is not worth having.

For me, I doubt I'll ever be beyond 325hp and since I run on the roadcourse my trans does not see any powershifting or 3000+rpm launches. I plan on doing the 2.95 first gear upgrade and steel bearing retainer. That should work for me for a long time.
 

90_red_lx

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T5's can surprise you as to what they can hold if you don't beat the crap out of em. Myns been through a living hell though, which is why it's been rebuilt 6 times. Sheared the teeth off 2nd once, replaced synchronizers a few times, and a couple stupid fixes.
 

jfsram

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i never had a problem with my t5 taking reverse or any other gear. my only problem was having it against a 347. i think i sheerd all the teeth off 3rd gear the other day lol.

word of advice, dont waste your time rebuilding a t5. get a tremec or a gforce t5

That's because 93's and newer have the synchronizer on reverse. Technically on 93 and up T5's, they are called a brake to stop the shit from spinning before you engage reverse.

Another thing. As mention 2, 5th or whatever. Any forward gear will stop the disc, input shaft from spinning. For that matter. Even if you hold the clutch pedal down for about 3 or more seconds. The disc will stop spinning and you'll easily engage reverse with no grind.
 

93sspcoupe

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I agree to an extent. If your going to push some serious horsepower or do a lot of drag racing, a stock T5 is not worth having.

For me, I doubt I'll ever be beyond 325hp and since I run on the roadcourse my trans does not see any powershifting or 3000+rpm launches. I plan on doing the 2.95 first gear upgrade and steel bearing retainer. That should work for me for a long time.

i never launched my car either. not at 3k anyway lol my car only made 327rwhp. but made 391rwtrq. h.p. dont tear shit up, torque does lol i think my t5 had a 335 first gear. it felt lower than my tko500 and it has a 327 first gear.

i never powershifted my t5 either. i hope you add a short throw shifter, thats the life of t5s lol
 

90_red_lx

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My t5 suffered yet another death sunday afternoon lol. Got on her, hit 2nd, hit 3rd, the nittos barked, and when they hooked the gear teeth stripped off third. Either rebuild 7 or a tremec is coming, haven't decided which path I will go next.
 

93sspcoupe

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My t5 suffered yet another death sunday afternoon lol. Got on her, hit 2nd, hit 3rd, the nittos barked, and when they hooked the gear teeth stripped off third. Either rebuild 7 or a tremec is coming, haven't decided which path I will go next.

get a tremec lol. i got mine from jegs. got tko500, bellhousing, and yoke for 2,050 after shipping and all. i got them to price match johnbleakly ford lol
 

FISHTAIL

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i never launched my car either. not at 3k anyway lol my car only made 327rwhp. but made 391rwtrq. h.p. dont tear shit up, torque does <snip>

You do realize that one is calculated from the other right? hp = (torque * rpm)/5252. Hp is nothing more than a calculated number to denote work done over time. All wheelhopper was getting at was high power applications will destroy T-5's quickly.

For instance, I'm hoping to see 400+rwhp from my setup, and I'm fairly certain that the T-5 in my car won't live very long if I drive the car hard. As for a 3k rpm launch...that's pretty standard for drag racing. My cobra has the 2 step set at 4500, although I haven't left on it yet. I believe Doug there used to launch his 03 at around 4k though.

Anyway, I agree with the above post that you should ditch the T-5 if you plan on making any kind of power. If you are going to stay close to stock, then you'll be fine, but otherwise your just asking to be rebuilding it all the time.
 

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