[DeTomaso] Drifting Out of Third Gear - The Rest . . . . . . . of the Story

[Mike Thomas]

Well, Byron is our local expert, he checked all of that and said all looked good.  But, as you say, fingers crossed.
Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: jtaphorn at kingwoodcable.com [mailto:jtaphorn at kingwoodcable.com] 
Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2017 12:24 PM
To: detomaso at server.detomasolist.com; Mike Thomas <mbefthomas at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Drifting Out of Third Gear - The Rest . . . . . . . of the Story

Mike

The first time I rebuilt my ZF, I experienced the same problem of slippage out of third gear while driving.  I was not as fortunate as it being a rubber boot that was to thick.  Rather, I reassembled the rear cover in the wrong order and damaged the detent spring for third gear.  With inadequate pressure on the detent, the shifter shaft would vibrate out of place. Never, made that mistake again.  Not a big deal to repair once the ZF is back out of the car. But, who wants to take that baby out again.

I've got my fingers crossed it is only a rubber boot.  But, I doubt it.

JT
---- Mike Thomas <mbefthomas at comcast.net> wrote: 

=============
So, I just put out a post regarding evidence of no wear on my non-steel syncros that Byron Sanborn, Vintage Racing Motors, sourced from Dennis for my ZF rebuild 6 years ago (checked my records).  In there I mentioned something about the box drifting out of third gear.  So, here's the rest . .
. . . of the story.

I've been putting up with the box drifting out of third gear, and once or twice from first, for the past 3-4 years.  It would usually be more frequent the box was cold, and usually when I would lift on the throttle, but unfortunately once or twice when under hard acceleration (ouch).  I finally got fed up enough, after checking all my linkages and replacing a broken clutch lever arm which in its' weakened state prior to breaking I had attributed the third gear problem to, and pulled the box for Byron to take a look.  Conversations on the phone prior led him to think that I may have compromised the engagement ring for some reason.  Upon cracking the case and pulling the gear set out, he could see no evidence of wear, all the shifting forks were properly adjusted and everything was working as it should on his bench test.  It wasn't until he had it buttoned back up and was working the shifter in hopes of finding a solution that he noticed that the aftermarket boot on the end of the shift rod at the shifter box was too thick and, when pushed back as it would be for third gear, was bunching up and not letting the arm move back enough to solidly engage third gear.  So, he ordered what he thought would be the thinner OEM boots that they originally came with and which he also admitted were far too fragile, but what he received was the same thicker version that I had on there to start with.  I had replaced that boot myself after the rebuild, and even then recall being told the original versions were no longer available.

So, he removed the collar from the shifter arm and machined the backside enough to allow the arm to fully engage.  Now the pilot is out, I can put it all back together and take if for a drive to see if indeed this does solve the problem.  All crossable appendages crossed ;-).

Mike Thomas
Pres., Panteras Northwest
Yellow '74 #6328



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