Getrag revelations , shift fork misery

[mysteryman]

A new problem has come up with the Getrag. It is going to affect everyone I am afraid. The problem is with the aftermarket shift forks that currently are being sold... I just had another guy this past week come by that had lost 3 -4 shift fork... What happens is the syncro ring is wearing clear threw the fork. .

Yes this does happen when the main shaft bearings are shot causing bad misalignment... But the past 3 I have seen do this had nothing wrong with the transmission at all... Just the 3-4 fork... These past 3 forks that wore were not factory getrag forks. . They were the aftermarket ones currently being sold by most all the trans parts houses... Further investigation revealed that the aftermarket forks are made out of the wrong alloy... They are also being cast rather than forged like the originals...

The solution I thought would be simple... Just buy factory getrag forks. ???

I contacted getrag to place an order for a truck load of forks... My contact at getrag informed me that they had never offered the forks by themselves. They only sold the top cover assembly. Worse yet he said that 2 years ago they scrapped the g360 tooling... . He did some digging for parts at depo's around the world to see what he could scrounge me up... He said he thinks he found me some top cover assembly's left overseas but would have to do some further investigation and let me know Monday... .



I also checked Chrysler's inventory . There is not much left there either. I also learned that they will not be reordering any more parts once the current inventory is depleted... :{



I am not very concerned about gears and shafts so much. There are several aftermarket vendors producing them... Some are very good vendors others not... But those forks give me heart burn... I only know of one vendor doing them and they are junk ! There may be another but I have not found any as of yet.

I called about 2 dozen trans parts distributors and had them check the casting #'s on the forks in their inventory... . All were the same #'s , same vendor as the worn out ones I had on my desk. .



If my guy at getrag comes threw with the cover assemblies I highly recommend that everyone get in on this deal... He is supposed to let me know the status Monday... . I will post more then... Those of you that want in on this send me an EMAIL with "getrag cover" in the subject line... . This is our last chance to buy this part... The party is over. Those of you that have those aftermarket forks in your transmissions are in for a big suprise before long. .

 

[Sri Ram]

You're kidding, right? #@$%! You have an EMAIL.

 

[Monte]

let me know what we need to do to get on the list..... thanks, monte

 

[Sri Ram]

Who, out of curiosity, manufactured the flawed forks? I think we'd all like to know.

 

[ARhine]

bump, how does one get in on this?

 

[JLEONARD]

Further investigation revealed that the aftermarket forks are made out of the wrong alloy

So what is this alloy exactly? What does it need to be? Can we do a heat treat operation or a hard chrome, TiN coat or something like that to fix it or prolong it's life?



Jay

 

[1stgen4evr]

I had a conversation with Terry about these and there may be more than alloy problems. He mentioned some that were drilled off angle. One patch on the problem would be to go ahead and cut the floor so as to allow access to the shift cover. Don't know why all the motor companys quit doing that from the factory. (I really do know cheap cheap cheap bean counters) My old 70 ford has that feature and it is most useful when removing the transmission and would allow shifter repair too be done much easier.



James

 

[pepecat]

when I swapped to a getrag I needed to cut the floor out and replace it with the large hump style. Terry informed me that 4sp 2wd and all 4wd's have bolt on/removeable humps from the factory from '74- 80 m880's have them too. I oreded mine up from a surplus shop outta oregon and it bolted right in. I now have easy getrag access

 

[DieselBuzz]

When I went into my trans the original fork was worn about 1/2 way through after 175K. When I replaced it, with one of these wrong metal ones, the shift lever sat about two inches higher off the center console in forth than it before. So, I guess I'll pull it and do the fork again when it starts to creep back down. I may have to shim it by then too?

 

[hotram03]

So, Are we all gonna try to pool together and get some of these original shifter forks or what are we talking here, a nv4500 or nv5600 conversion is just to costly, I am going to have to go thru mine soon I have a bearing starting to rear its ugly head, and my clutch is worn out as well.....

 

[1stgen4evr]

was worn about 1/2 way through after 175K



Two things will cause accelerated wear on the fork. One is riding with a hand on the shift lever causing a tad of pressure all the time. The other is angular wear on the clutching segment which causes again, a slight pressure on the fork all the time. Slack bearings will provide the angular pressure which is trying to 'spit' the gear. Long service without reshiming will allow slack bearings.



I have serviced/repaired a lot of different transmissions for a lot of years and I can say without hesitation that the Getrag is a good transmission, design wise and application specific. The front up angle which results in poor pocket bearing lube and improper assembly has given the bad reputation that follows still. The info to run them forever is in the forum. Heed and you will reap reward$$$$. The fact that Dodge isn't going to support this transmission long term(and who could afford their prices anyway) does bring a negative dynamic to keeping them going. If Terry is successful in securing some good parts, I plan to buy at least one of the 3-4 forks. Also a good idea to find and buy a spare transmission.



a bearing starting to rear its ugly head



If you know it, don't put off the repair. It can become non repairable ($$$$$$$) in an unbelievablely short time.



James

 

[HFletcher]

A new problem has come up with the Getrag. It is going to affect everyone I am afraid. The problem is with the aftermarket shift forks that currently are being sold... I just had another guy this past week come by that had lost 3 -4 shift fork... What happens is the syncro ring is wearing clear threw the fork. .

Yes this does happen when the main shaft bearings are shot causing bad misalignment... But the past 3 I have seen do this had nothing wrong with the transmission at all... Just the 3-4 fork... These past 3 forks that wore were not factory getrag forks. . They were the aftermarket ones currently being sold by most all the trans parts houses... Further investigation revealed that the aftermarket forks are made out of the wrong alloy... They are also being cast rather than forged like the originals...

The solution I thought would be simple... Just buy factory getrag forks. ???

I contacted getrag to place an order for a truck load of forks... My contact at getrag informed me that they had never offered the forks by themselves. They only sold the top cover assembly. Worse yet he said that 2 years ago they scrapped the g360 tooling... . He did some digging for parts at depo's around the world to see what he could scrounge me up... He said he thinks he found me some top cover assembly's left overseas but would have to do some further investigation and let me know Monday... .



I also checked Chrysler's inventory . There is not much left there either. I also learned that they will not be reordering any more parts once the current inventory is depleted... :{



I am not very concerned about gears and shafts so much. There are several aftermarket vendors producing them... Some are very good vendors others not... But those forks give me heart burn... I only know of one vendor doing them and they are junk ! There may be another but I have not found any as of yet.

I called about 2 dozen trans parts distributors and had them check the casting #'s on the forks in their inventory... . All were the same #'s , same vendor as the worn out ones I had on my desk. .



If my guy at getrag comes threw with the cover assemblies I highly recommend that everyone get in on this deal... He is supposed to let me know the status Monday... . I will post more then... Those of you that want in on this send me an EMAIL with "getrag cover" in the subject line... . This is our last chance to buy this part... The party is over. Those of you that have those aftermarket forks in your transmissions are in for a big suprise before long. .

This seemed like something good! Was it dealt with in another thread? TIA

 

[dpuckett]

Mysteryman's health has tanked, so finding Getrag parts and new 205 VEs is probably lower down on his priority list than it used to be.



Daniel

 

[hotram03]

Well I hope Mysteryman gets better, best wishes to him, in the mean time what are we going to do about the shift forks, I'm just about ready to go thru mine, I just don't want to put in sub-par parts and have to go back in later . Let me know.

 

[1stgen4evr]

Unless you have had a lube failure or the misfortune to already have one of the sub par shifters, you probably won't need a new one. There are a few spare parts around from original units.



In another more recent post, Mysteryman said he was better. Certainly hope so.



James

 

[HFletcher]

.



In another more recent post, Mysteryman said he was better. Certainly hope so.



James

That's good news! Where did you see that, James?

 

[1stgen4evr]

Well this thread started last June and there was something in the last month from Terry where he commented that he had been suffering from poor health but was at least back on line for a time then.



I really can't connect it to a particular subject. I will look back and see if I can.



James