Ford GT - Transaxle Repair?


I

Intervention302

Member
May 19, 2012
6
Hey Guys,

Wanted to do a little research on this issue and thought this place would be the best place to start.

My Dad has had his GT for 12 years now. Whipple 4.0, Stainless Works Full Exhaust, he loved the car, as do I. We did the shift cables maybe 6 years ago and that helped the shifting issues we had. However, the vehicle still occasionally pops out of 3rd gear depending on throttle input. If you hold the shifter forward, its a non issue

I did some research with a few years ago on replacing the transaxle and was told there are very few available and to expect around $30,000for the swap. Has anything changed on that? Is this possibly repairable, or only fixed by swapping out the entire unit.

Thanks guys


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Wow looks like your in NH, and registered here since 2012 and this is your 1st post? Welcome!

@B.M.F. and also MK2 motorsports both have some levels of Ricardo servicing. I would think that they will chime in with more.
 
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Your popping out of gear symptom is likely caused by a bad/worn synchro. Unfortunately, Ford chose not to purchase any parts for these transaxles. Ourselves and others have attempted various means of contacting Ricardo to see if these can be purchased from them directly, but as far as I know no one has been successful. As such, replacement synchros need to be scavenged from used transaxles or manufactured.

We recently had an owner come to us with this exact problem - except it was 2nd gear. He asked us to remove the transaxle and ship it out to be repaired (NOT to either of the shops mentioned in this thread). Approximately 1 week of transit, 3-weeks of repair, and another week of transit back to us. We re-installed the transaxle (as well as a new clutch, etc.). Upon completion we took the car for a quick test drive (approx 4-5 miles) and all seemed good.... except when we neared the end of the drive, it popped out of gear during a routine left turn at a traffic signal.

Bummer. We held a 3-way call with the repair shop and the owner and I think the shop more or less knew what had failed. At this point, the owner opted to have us order a new OEM transaxle. At the end of the day, he ended up paying 2X for the labor (essentially we had to do the job twice). So, the moral of the story is to be careful.
 
Yes thanks for the replies guys!

I talked to two local GT Owners who referred me to Rich. I'll try to reach out to him during business hours tomorrow.

I agree on the worn synchro, just a bummer to "potentially" spend up to 30 grand to repair/replace.

My Dad turned 74 this year, but he loves driving his GT

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The transaxle is not particularly rare or inflated price wise. Ford still lists for $11,560 with a $3,200 core and there are several on eBay right now. Replacing the transaxle is a big job, but not $15k in labor, so I think $30k is on the high side.
 
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Best advice, do a full swap. Parts for repair are extremely difficult to source and then you have to find someone who can make the repair, also very scarce.
Full swap should cost about $15k if you return your core. I believe inventory is getting low on new transaxle.
 
So I have a friend at Ford Parts and gave him the number M-7003-GT which I believed was the transaxle number. It cross referenced "4g7z7l073a"

Then I found that part on Tasca for $9500


I believe this to be the correct part and the best course of action going forward
 
What you now need to think about is if you go ahead and do the clutch "since you are there". If the clutch feel/behavior is just fine, then I would skip it.

The new transaxle from Ford will come with a new hydraulic throw-out bearing already installed in the Bell Housing. It will also come with an Axle Bolt Upgrade Kit in a small box within the same crate as the transaxle. Make sure you locate this before discarding the crate. When installing the Axle Bolt Upgrade Kit, make sure you follow the TSB to prevent fluid weeping out through the splines of the axle shafts. We use Permatex Ultra Black for this and have a 100% success rate. Highly recommended.
 
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nota4re said:
What you now need to think about is if you go ahead and do the clutch "since you are there". If the clutch feel/behavior is just fine, then I would skip it.

The new transaxle from Ford will come with a new hydraulic throw-out bearing already installed in the Bell Housing. It will also come with an Axle Bolt Upgrade Kit in a small box within the same crate as the transaxle. Make sure you locate this before discarding the crate. When installing the Axle Bolt Upgrade Kit, make sure you follow the TSB to prevent fluid weeping out through the splines of the axle shafts. We use Permatex Ultra Black for this and have a 100% success rate. Highly recommended.
Click to expand...

That's fantastic information thank you.

Car has I believe 15k miles last time I was in it. To my knowledge, clutch feels great
 
Ordered today at Autofair Ford.

$12,700 with the core charge. $9500 after the core has been returned
 
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Just a heads up, the VIN of your car is etched on the top of the OEM transaxle.
 
Intervention302 said:
$12,700 with the core charge. $9500 after the core has been returned
Click to expand...
Logistically, it is probably easiest for you to return the core to the dealer... but you may want to consider shopping the transaxle on this forum to potentially get more than $3200.
 
nota4re said:
Logistically, it is probably easiest for you to return the core to the dealer... but you may want to consider shopping the transaxle on this forum to potentially get more than $3200.
Click to expand...
If somebody wanted to make an offer on it, I'm all ears.

Runs great, 16k miles. But 3rd gear syncho is weak. Never grinds, but does pop out of gear from time to time.

Holding the shifter stops the issue
 
I wonder what they do with the "core return". Can they get parts to rebuild that mere mortals don't have access to? Or do they take parts from others to rebuild?
 
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Caveat: I haven't been inside the GT tranny, so I'm extrapolating from my experience rebuilding other manny trannies. I don't think a worn synchro would cause it to pop out of gear. I suspect it's more likely the shift rods or collars are worn or misaligned. You should at least open it up and take a look before returning it. It might be a fairly simple fix.
 
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A worn synchro won't cause it to pop out of gear. A worn synchro can cause it to grind and/or not go into gear.
Shift linkage adjustment that's not putting it all the way into gear can let it pop out-does it have a short shifter? #1, check adjustment
A worn fork that's not putting it all the way into gear can let it pop out
When the energizer teeth on the gear and slider lose their back cut, they can pop out
A bearing or retainer plate that lets gear set move fore and aft inside case can cause a pop out

Put it in 3rd, look at the cables/levers on the trans. Anything touching them that shouldn't?
Pop the fore/aft cable off the lever on the trans. Make sure trans and shifter are in 3rd. Does the cable slide on/off lever easily(aligned perfectly)?
 
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FYI
It’s politically incorrect to call it a tranny!
 
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As mentioned, for $3200, Id keep the old tranny. The VIN dot stamped on the top is worth that in any resale. Rich Brooks is a great source for parts and knowledge. We did my tranny about 5-6 years ago,(don't have my 05 GT file with me atm for exact timing). I ordered a replacement tranny and kept the original. Car was at the GT Guy for service and repair after my failure.
We sent the original tranny to Kyle Stillen (Stillen Performance Parts) who back in the day, had the only Ricardo trained tech for repair. That gentleman has moved on, but Kyle was able to have him come back and rebuild my original over a weekend. It was worth it to me to have the original tranny (with a thorough/complete rebuild). Cost was about 30+k to buy a replacement and install, ship my original and a second for parts from Detroit area to Stillen, and have it rebuilt.
I'd look at the shift cable alignment ( as mentioned) or the cables again. There is an alignment tool( black plastic block) that fits on the shifter for the propose of alignment. Rich was able to adjust my cables for the new tranny without this tool but the tool was available back in the day.
There have been post in the past about heat damaged shifter cables, exact causes I don't recall, but performance add on may be a source of this additional heat.
I'd do this before ordering and swapping the tranny. Though a spare tranny is not a bad thing, the units in these cars tend to be fairly robust.
Buying a second hand tranny for parts might be a option.
 
roketman said:
FYI
It’s politically incorrect to call it a tranny!
Click to expand...
Tranny, tranny, tranny!

I could make a joke about Jaguars and trannies, especially their recent ad campaign. :LOL:
 
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The whole shift cable alignment is, IMO, largely misunderstood. There's only one thing that matters when it comes to the shifter cables and it is VERY easy to test. That "thing" is that you don't want cable to limit the full throw of the shift lever at transaxle. As an example, if you having an issue with 3rd gear, you just place the car in 3rd gear and then disconnect the cable at the transaxle. See if you can push/pull the cable before/past the current position of the ball stud on the shift lever. If yes, then you are good. However, if you remove the cable at the transaxle and discover that that is the end of the throw of the shift cable - and it is hard to cable back onto the ball stud, then you need to make an adjustment to the cable.

All of that said, it is very, very rare in our experience that shifter cables are the fault of any transaxle problems - but you should always check!
 
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