[DeTomaso] ZF transmissions - industry use clarification
MikeLDrew at aol.com
MikeLDrew at aol.com
Tue Feb 22 07:10:22 EST 2011
In a message dated 2/21/11 9 02 43, julian_kift at hotmail.com writes:
> It is the same ZF company, but I understood (and someone correct me if
> I'm wrong) all rights to the ZF 25 DS were transferred to Roy Butfoy (RBT
> Transmissions) and Lloyd now continues to manufacture the transaxles.
>
Close, but not quite. Technically, Lloyd's business partner Oliver Ring
is actually manufacturing the new ZF gearboxes and Lloyd is marketing them.
Oliver's facility is in Texas.
I just spent the whole day yesterday at Lloyd's shop, getting an in-depth
education in the teardown and rebuild of the ZF gearboxes. He explained to
me that 'our' ZF is the only thing that he and Oliver do. Lloyd owns the
manufacturing rights for them (purchased by his father Roy from ZF), and
Oliver does the actual manufacturing of all the parts for the old and new
gearboxes; he also does all the assembly of the new gearboxes. Lloyd
concentrates on marketing, and on servicing of the old gearboxes.
Note that the new RBT five- and six-speed gearboxes are philosophically
closer to the BMW M-1 ZF, rather than the older versions that appeared in the
GT40, Mangusta, and Pantera. There is almost no parts interchange between
those and the BMW-style ZF.
I also asked if there is any parts interchange between either flavor of ZF,
and any of the zillions of other gearboxes that Big ZF manufactured in the
past, and/or continues to manufacture. The answer was a shrug of the
shoulders--if there are any parts in our gearboxes that are common to anything
else, Lloyd doesn't know about it. Almost all of the bearings etc. inside
our gearboxes are unique just to them, and therefore cost a fortune (think
$400 for a bearing!) It would be nice if there was a less-expensive
interchange available, but how to find it?
Mike
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