Hi All. I've got a 04 turbo cab and its got a clunky shift from 1-2. It comes out of 1st smoothly but needs to match revs before it will drop into 2nd, even with the clutch all the way to the floor. So, if I'm just wanting to drive and not think about it, its a bit irritating. I don't launch the car so its not a major problem, however, it does make the car less fun to drive. It's been this way pretty much since I bought it a couple of years ago. I've seen many others complaining of clunky 1-2 shifting on this forum, yet some note that their shifting is smooth, so there must be an issue. So far, I've changed the transmission oil (was clean) and switched to a numeric but no change. The clutch doesn't slip. Before I start considering a transmission rebuild, what else should I consider?

 

Oil change helped me once but you did that. The next time it started getting bad the clutch hub rivets failed and allowed a hub spring to wedge itself in the pressure plate. Prior to the failure the car got increasingly hard to shift for about half a year. The day that it finally let go I could not shift while accelerating at full power I would have to wait for second to shift to the next gear. Later that day the clutch did nothing and I could only shift gears with the engine off. Not sure that's where your headed but just to let you know of a potential. This clutch had about 27k mi on it but was a replacement OEM. I replaced with sachs 2.5 kit.

I did the window weld mod to the trans mount while the trans was out for the clutch. Can't tell how much it helped but my shifting has never been better than with the new clutch and modded trans mount. If yous is the factory mount it is probably torn. One side of mine was torn. Worth a shot for $20 and a couple hours work.

 

Thanks for the info, r6vr6. the failed clutch hub rivets sounds unusual but maybe its not. My first instinct is that my clutch is OK since there is no slipping (I have a Markski tune and pull 1 bar with no issue) the pedal seems to engage/disengage the clutch and the shifter moves easily when the car is not running but maybe its not fully disengaging when the pedal is depressed? Is there a way to tighten up the pedal engagement?

Your comment on the trans mount is interesting. I guarantee mine is factory. The car only had 54K miles when purchased and I have every receipt since new. I have seen a number of people replace the trans mount and it seems like a pretty basic piece of maintenance. What benefit does replacing it provide? Additionally, I hadn't heard of the window weld mod. What is this?

 

It sounds like your synchros are shot to me. 1-2 is usually the first to go. I think you are going to have to open it up.

 

Thanks Slider. That was my thought as well. but before I do that, I am wondering if I need to adjust the linkages and ensure the clutch is fully depressed. Reading on the 997 forum that this can be a problem leading to the 1-2 notchiness symptom. I haven't done this so would like some guidance if anyone has any.

 

The symptoms you explain are just what I noticed during my hub failure. I think my issue was a odd ball but wanted to let you know. If you get an endoscope you can pull off a large rectangular plug and look at the pressure plate and some of the clutch hub through the pressure plate fingers. It's not fun but you can do it and it might give you a idea of what is going on. You can also watch the clutch lever actuate if you have someone to push the pedal while you watch.

The window weld mod is taking your factory trans mount and filling the voids and sides with 3m window weld urethane. It's making it more solid but not as solid as a full mount. This will keep your trans more in one place so that the cables and linkage are more stable. The pro is that the shifts are normally easier when do agrgesive driving the con is maybe more noise and vibration in the cabin.

 

I have a slow 1-2. I just take my time with it. I very recently replaced my trans mount with the upgraded 997 p/n. It didn't make a difference in the shift. I hoped that it would. Chassis overall feels better, but I still have the same slow 1-2 as before. Considering a fluid change next.

Im definitely keeping an eye on this thread!

 

Hey Stebo, I do what you do, taking my time with it, which is kind of the antithesis of owning a 996TT. I owned a 964 and it was butter smooth so this one felt really unimpressive in comparison, kind of like an 88 mustang 5.0 I had. Originally I assumed it was a gear ratio difference between 1 and 2 that caused all of the sluggishness but then I realized that people wouldn't have paid big bucks for shifting that is this poor.

Thanks for the comment on the trans mounts. Based on what you're saying it seems as though that may be nice to do but unlikely to affect my issue. My next step is to review the clutch setup to see if there is anything there to adjust before I open up the transmission and spend a bunch of cash.

I appreciate those who've responded but I'm surprised at the lack of comments on this thread. I figured there would be lots of useful feedback as this is pretty common. Maybe its all been said in previous threads. Time to dig.

 

I hear ya... more info: i bought my car as an unmolested example with 12,500 miles on the clock. The 1-2 was like that when I test drove it 6 years ago. I just figured "thats how it is" I changed my clutch a few summers ago, from the stock one which had some glazing on the flywheel, to the sachs motorsports setup. This also had no effect on the shifting action. I think its inside gearbox - I've read about a cup car shift lever inside the box which may help but I haven't gone that far with it.

brother if you solve this, I'll be stoked!

 

OP if you get under there to fiddle with the trans mount another thing that was recommended to me from GBOX was to remove the weights on the lever that the shift cable connects to. These weights make chanfging gears easier/ smoother but I thought when I removed mine it let me feel everything that was going on during a shift. The effort is higher but the shifting felt more positive. Its take longer to get the car up than to get the weights off so if you don't like it you can put them back. While this won't speeed up your 1-2 i think you like the feel better as I know I did.

Another thing that I did recently is install a clutch stop and I am loving that. Basically it just limits how far you can push the clutch pedal down. There is a lot of wasted travel in it that make the engagement more of a guess. With the clutch stop installed my engagement happens right when I let up in the lever.

Info on stop
https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...1222934&page=1


These are all shifting related things so I thought might be of interest to you. Of