2005 Ford gt supercar


Oct 18, 2018
19
I had issue with the input shaft on transmission the splines got worn out. clutch slipping on splines. The clutch I was using was spec clutch twin disc I had it for about 7000 miles . I email spec clutch about buying disc alone they could never give me an answer. I ll call you back . They said . Very disappointed with service . The web says clutch are rebuildable for life . Except for gt supercar. I guess ...Anyway I bough one from eBay oem new in box and said the hell with spec clutch. You expect better service from a Co that you spend $3500 in clutch kit to ignore you. 3 times I tried they did not respond . So if you buy spec clutch be aware of customer service they suck that is my experience with them... now on another topic why did the input shaft got worn out so quickly ?? I found the problem . The input shaft is not hardened enough to withstand load I had the hardness check ,and it was very low levels . Something the Ricardo manufacturer didn’t do well . I have never seen a input shaft worn out on 8500 miles on a car that I never race and never abuse . Please send me feed back let me know if someone is having issues like me . I had input shaft made with 4340 steel . On machine shop that specializes on gears and shafts.


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Beez

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Oct 28, 2016
195
South Denver
The severity of that wear is crazy - anyone else ever seen anything like this?
 

Specracer

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Nov 28, 2005
7,081
MA
You should get in touch with the user B.M.F. here. He is working on transmission parts. That is a lot of wear. Amazing
 

nota4re

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 15, 2006
4,177
Many, many, many GT's here with very high HP. We've done dozens of clutch replacements - including virtually all of the 1000 HP twin turbos we did. NONE exhibited even the faintest signs of wear on the shaft. I say it is likely that something was wrong with the clutch that you used - and not a general problem with the Ricardos.
 

Indy GT

Yea, I got one...too
Mark IV Lifetime
Jan 14, 2006
2,526
Greenwood, IN
Many, many, many GT's here with very high HP. We've done dozens of clutch replacements - including virtually all of the 1000 HP twin turbos we did. NONE exhibited even the faintest signs of wear on the shaft. I say it is likely that something was wrong with the clutch that you used - and not a general problem with the Ricardos.

I agree with Kendall, I have not heard of any transaxle spline difficulties from other owners over the past 12 years. And as he states many of these applications are at power levels significantly higher than the OE 550 hp level. I too would tend to think this was a clutch disc problem.

And before disparaging Ricardo for spline hardness deficiencies, I would do a little more investigation. Do you know the shaft material and what case hardness and effective case depth is specified on the shaft drawing for the damaged spline? The shaft in the picture has multiple splines. Did you assay hardness of the other splines or the shaft outside the carburized zone? Likely not. Shaft splines are typically hardened and are used to allow linear motion while transmitting torque. The wear depicted in your photographs looks “stepped”. Almost none on the spline region closest to the pilot bearing diameter, then moderate wear in the region aft of the unworn spline and heavy wear to the spline aft of the moderate wear region. There is a significant amount of “relative motion” going on between the male and female splines which is not normal. I think this was caused by something wrong with the clutch disc.
 

B.M.F.

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jan 29, 2009
1,782
Minnesota
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You had a very strange and odd failure. I wouldn't blame anyone unless with out certain you can prove the root cause of it. Considering I don't think anyone has seen this type of failure before i would consider it a freak failure.
 
Oct 18, 2018
19
You had a very strange and odd failure. I wouldn't blame anyone unless with out certain you can prove the root cause of it. Considering I don't think anyone has seen this type of failure before i would consider it a freak failure.

Yes it seems like it . The input shaft had problem I know when I replace the original clutch to spec clutch ,I notice the shaft had wear and the car only had 2500 miles . I test the shaft with a hardness tester . Which is a very simple tool is a glass tube that holds a steel ball with magnet you let it drop ..the ball barely jump to 20 rock well hardness I test another input shaft from a regular transmission and it jump to 55 Rockwell scale . Very big difference . I know this is not the perfect way of testing the shaft ,we can get real technical with the spline pitch the hardness of each splines the thickness of each spline etc.etc. But the bottom line here the shaft was worn out ,Even before I installed the spec clutch. And now is completely gone..


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Oct 18, 2018
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This is a gt supercar competing against Ferrari and the input shaft worn out at 8500miles something is wrong with this picture or I am just crazy ???????


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Oct 18, 2018
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I had couple of email want to know where I got input shaft done . I guess I am not the only one with this problem????


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Oct 18, 2018
19
Another question about this subject you could not ruin a input shaft unless you break it . Otherwise is impossible. You could not ruin it. And how many clutch is spec clutch make for gt . Only stage 1. 2, 3, 4,5 but is for a gt.... but is 9/12 inch inch diameter 26 spline you can’t make a mistake either it fits or not ....


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nota4re

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 15, 2006
4,177
It seems that you had a problem. Unfortunate. Shit happens. We're only saying that since the inception of this forum - some 13+ years ago, no one else has shared this problem. Leads me to believe it is a very isolated case. There are GT's with a whole lot more miles than you have and there are GT's with a whole lot more HP than you have.... seemingly with no evidence of this kind of problem.
 

Apollo

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Aug 5, 2006
2,499
Pahrump, NV
It seems that you had a problem. Unfortunate. Shit happens. We're only saying that since the inception of this forum - some 13+ years ago, no one else has shared this problem. Leads me to believe it is a very isolated case. There are GT's with a whole lot more miles than you have and there are GT's with a whole lot more HP than you have.... seemingly with no evidence of this kind of problem.

...Kendall and his shop has a lot of experience with GT internals from low mile to tens of thousands of miles, and from stock hp to over 1000hp at the wheel builds....
 
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Kayvan

GT Owner
Jul 13, 2006
4,782
Too many variables to know for sure; QC-defect, mods, after-market quality, PO owner abuse.

First test would be is Input Shaft still true..perfectly straight, in phase; if not, or galled where its seats, then it would grind splines.

If goal is to get car back on road, return all to OEM stock; factory specs are known.

Otherwise, its x-rays, lasers and hiring metallurgists to get answers.
 
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I had a new input shaft made 4340 . Much better than Ricardo crap that was there.


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