adriver

iTrader: (1)

I'm going to waste a minute with a back story. I had originally gotten tired of the slop in my original shifter. I thought there was a problem with it, and bought the new (3rd gen) style. The biggest difference I noted right away is the new style has a plastic housing, where the original is metal. I installed the new one, and it was JUNK! (install post here: What did you do to your truck today? - Page 20 - PerformanceTrucks.net Forums ) Finding third is nearly impossible. I ground the gears and missed more shifts in two weeks than I did in the previous 10 years. I got fed up with it, and kept the old one in case I wanted to go back to it some day. I came up with 4 things, that I think might be contributing, and I did two of em.

1. I think the threads on the shift handle might be a little worn out. I haven't yet, but I might go back and apply some thread tape, just to tighten those up. I can feel some play before the jam nut is tightened.
2. What's not pictured is above this there is a washer and a plate that applies pressure. Those 4 screw holes tighten the plate down.


I need to see if there is a torque rating for those tiny little screws. Don't think so, but it would be in inch lbs.. Here is the factory service manual specs:



The bolts holding the tower in are 8mm, and the screws holding the plate on are little t15 (or t20 screws). I don't think they have a torque rating in this book. I only have screwdriver type drivers, and the grabbed with pliers to get a little more of a turn on em. (THIS IS ONE THING THAT MIGHT HAVE DONE IT).


3. If you look back up at the pivot rod, you will see there is a hair under 1mm of play on the end, and that was what I wanted to try. I didn't know how I was going to get a rod just a hair longer, and looked around the garage, and wow that looks close. I have these triton pegboard hooks, and had some extra.



Cut the ends off, oversided it, and slowly ground it down to where it was a tight fit. Cut it to size and beveled the ends like the factory is,



Started larger, and slowly ground down, and this is what I ended up with. When I installed it, I pushed down with a little push, and then it almost popped right in. There was no side to side to slop. Reinstalled, and WOW!! It's never shifted so good. There is NO play in the ball while driving when in 1st, 2nd, 5th, or Rev. I get about 1" of side to side play in the ball when in 3rd and 4th. Shifting from gear to gear is as clean as it gets. All gears going up and down are a tight shift, and feels so much more confident finding and going in.

That new style shift tower after I took it out, already has chips in where it meets the shifter ball. THOSE ARE CRAP!!. The shift pattern is also farther away and third is funky. If I ever have a problem with mine, I'm going to go pay twice as much for a used original before I buy another superceded style.

From here I might leave it, or I might try thread tape if I get really bored.


The 4th thing that crossed my mind was to shave these down. Thinking the plate would sit a little farther down. I do think this is why I have a little play in 3rd and 4th when the shifter is straight up and down, but this one I'm not willing to try at the moment, and probably not until I come across a cheap spare to try it on.

adriver

iTrader: (1)

I went and looked at the new design:

The rod itself looks like its pressed in if not one cast piece. There is no taking it out like on mine.
The pieces seem like they are all resin or cheap plastic.
I did notice those bar end retainers on the new style are flush to the height. They are also notched on one side, possibly to help seat better, or to make sure it won't spin.


I was thinking I could try the new style retainers in my old setup. The old pivot bar and the new pivot bar are the same size in length and diameter. The hole where the pivot bar sits on those new retainers is much bigger. There is a lot of play. I could honestly fit a bar that's about 10-20% larger diameter into the new style retainers. So swapping those over won't work. I think I just realized, they realized this was an error in the design, and tried to correct I think in 2003 (was when the part number was superceded).

THE THING THAT'S REALLY BOTHERING ME RIGHT NOW, is that one of the most well known problems of this transmission is the 2nd to 3rd shift, I THINK THIS IS WHY. The retaining plate doesnt come down far enough to secure the pivot bar retainers, and leaves slop in the shift (specifically when it's straight up and down where the ball is not being turned and pushed on the plate). I think they redesigned it because they knew. They never did any kind of recall or fix to solve this. All it would have taken was 2 slightly taller pivot rod retainers. This could have been a recall that takes off the boot cover, the retaining plate, swap em out and reinstall. They could have fixed one of the nv3500's biggest issues for a few pennies and 10 minutes each one.

Tell me I'm flat out wrong, and that's ridiculous. Tell me I shouldn't be getting pissed off right now as I'm realizing how simple this was to fix, and that they knew it since at least 2003.

silentbravo

iTrader: (1)

Manuals died out pretty quickly after that and probably didn't get enough complaints to care about it, for a recall. If it's not life threatening they probably will try harder to Not justify a recall.

_zebra

iTrader: (5)

i just dug around for a few years until i found somebody selling a Hurst














...peasant

_zebra

iTrader: (5)

but for real - the stock shift lever also screws in on a big rubber bushing. that accounts for some of the slop.

that cross bar you described also can account for some if the plastic centering nubs on each end are wollered out 9as you just fixed).

another thing i found is that the flat spring warshers that clamp down on top of them also control how loose or tight the gate pressure is. take one out & you'll be flopping side to side like an independent in election primaries; add one and you might feel like you're arm wrestling 1st/2nd gears. this don't affect side movement while in gear (slop) - just gate pressure.

_zebra

iTrader: (5)

oh, and the 2-3 shift taking an eternity is due to the same flaw that f-bodies suffered: the clutch hydraulic line's too restrictive to let it quickly engage/disengage in succession. the 03+ trucks can at least do the same f-body drill mod, but the 99-00 & 01-02 clutch lines are half plastic with tiny IDs and just have to suck it up (unless you swap to the newer [or custom] master & slave with freer-flowing fluid lines).

adriver

iTrader: (1)

That plastic bushing that fits on the end of the tower and seats in the trans seems pretty solid, and I don't think that piece wears out slowly. It looks like it could break one of the four tabs off, and cause major play, but I don't think that's an issue.

I noticed on the newer style, that round washer below the spring plate is multiple shims. Not sure how universal that original size is, but the original is just one piece. The newer style also secures the spring plate with philips scrwes and at first glance didn't look like the same thread.

The main problem with that entire design is that pivot rod, that shouldn't be there. You can apply enough pressure to have it tight in 1,2,5, & R, OR 3 &4. When 3rd to 4th, 4th to 3rd, straight up and down, the rod can stay seated, but in the other four gears that rod needs to angle and twist. You can't clamp down that way. I'm near positive the old Euros and Japanese styles did it right, and you secure the ball. The correct way to do it would be to have a round plate the lower ball sits in (cradled), and leaves enough room for the lower shifter to pass through in all gears. Same way on the top with a spring plate. That's the only way to get even pressure and maintain position on the shifter no matter the gear.

I have put almost 100 miles on it, and it's better, but I'm still not completely comfortable and happy with it. I'm thinking the only way it could be tight in any of the side gears is if it's not letting the shifter rotate as far over as it should, and that it might be, not letting the internal linkage at the top of the trans line up to where it should, which could be putting pressure on that linkage. I'm going to try those newer style rod retainers in the old style next, (probably today), and see how that works.

I contacted Core about a year ago about there's being listed as sold out for years. Then they told me they were back in stock, updated the website, and once I had the option to pay $400 for one, I then talked myself out of it. I'm not too worried about short shifting, I just want to get rid of that slop.