Ok ive had the T56 in my car for over a month now and its fun and works properly for the most part. Well reverse has always been troublesome for me. A lot of people said i needed to hook up the reverse lockout as thats why its so hard to get it into reverse. Well today i removed the solenoid all together and even though it made it ALOT easier to push over and up it still has not fixed the problem.

The problem all along after forcing(using 2 hands a lot of time) the shifter over past the solenoid when it goes up i have to normally hear a "click" and then reverse works. Lots of times the click isant a smooth/firm click and then the shifter will pop out of reverse and grind.

I dont think this is reverse lockout related because now i dont have one and it should not affect the actual gear at all(other then letting it be a lot easier to push over).

Like i said i have to here a "click" then i know its actually in gear, - is that common? Do you other guys with T56s have to here a click all the way at the top when you push it in reverse?

I was hoping that was solenoid i was hearing but its not since i removed it today. I plan on getting it back in once i buy the right connector then hooking it up to a switch to engage/dis-engage the solenoid.

Any help will be much appreciated.
-Steve

 

From what ive read, its bad reverse synchros. My 95 does this, you have to put force on it in reverse and slowly let out on the clutch, and if it clicks or pops, its engaged buy you still have to keep pressure on the shifter towards reverse or its just gonna pop out again and grind.

Kevin

 

You might have to remove the trans and replace the reverse synchro like Kevin is saying, not to hard just have to take the back half of the trans off and while your there might as well replace the reverse shift fork pads. Also you can get away with flipping the reverse synchro around since the other side is not used, pretty much making it new again. With my tranny I had to go into it alittle more since I still had problems after doing all this and even replacing the reverse gear, I machined the shift fork and made a spacer so what that did was move the fork/synchro closer the the gear, worked like a charm now my reverse engages solid just like the rest of the gears.

 

Yup, thats about exactly what i have to do everytime. Even keeping contant pressure on it it will still pop out sometimes. When its cold its worse, or when i fire the car up in the morning and put it in reverse its hard to do.

That was the worst i was afraid of, i dont have the time/money/knowledge to pull out this tranny again to fix it. Its going on hold for awhile...sucks throwing down $1300 for a F-ed up tranny...

Its always a hit or miss with used parts...

 

hey 6/7 gears work id say thats good.. lol

 

i would have rather lost the pointless unless going 80mph 6th gear then reverse

(not pointless i just need higher gears in the rear) but you get what i mean...

argh.

 

sorry...replied to the wrong post

 

Yeah I don't think I'll ever buy another used tranny after this one, way to much of a pain in the ***.

 

I hooked my T56 reverse solenoid to the brake light switch before changing the engine to an LT1. it worked well, just have to be careful when going in to 5th on the highway with the brakes on.
For reverse, I just put it in the slot and keep light pressure on the shifer pushing it up while letting the clutch out. It will pop all the way in as soon as the car moves...nothing special really. I wouldn't worry about your synchros... Also you can try putting the car in neutral and letting the clutch out (like double clutching), then tossing it in to reverse.

Good luck

 

It's amazing how many people I see with the same reverse problem, Borg-Warner must have had a bad run cause it's not like reversed is used all the time for the synchros to go bad so fast. I wish I took some pic's how I modified mine to work how it should cause stock it never pushed the synchro all the way to the gear to lock it up good.

 

Well im waiting for the connector from the dealership, im going to wire up a switch...since it helps when the car is moving when i get it in reverse...wiring it to the brake lights wouldnt help there and also its just the way i have always used reverse i dont dont want to hit the brakes to engage it.

Yup ive now read tons of the same problems i have...kinda sucks.

 

Well, shyt happens. At least the car looks good!


(seriously i am going to find your car and steal it, hopefully i dont have to back out of your driveway )

 

Tony plz explain your fix. I am in perfect agreement with you this is the problem.

I just rebuilt my T56 a month or 2 ago and I spent a lot of time reviewing every single piece I ended up replacing 3rd gear and Reverse gear as the synchro teeth on them were badly worn out. I have all new synchros throughout the tranny and this is the only problem since I put it back in the car.
I have hesitated in taking it to a shop and I really dont want to get under the car again but I truely beleive it is not something a shop is going to fix.
Reverse is not engaging fully. I was thinking maybe the Reverse shift fork is worn and slightly bent, which is something my untrained eye may have overloooked and I was going to replace it, but your solution sounds like a more positive fix.

The clunking I hear is reverse sliding out and off it's synchro or ON properly when it does engage.
Either all of our forks are wearing out and bending slightly and even the pro's are overlooking replacing it or it is a defect.
Either way it looks like Tony's got the right fix for this.

 

people break them because they dont realize they need to put it in a gear (like first) before shifting into reverse.
think about how many times you've heard people *crunch* into reverse.....

with power to the lockout 'noid... its just a quick flick to first then reverse.....
but with the lockout there and not disengaged, its impossible to do it fast, so when you get there. CRUUUNCH.

 

with a synchronized reverse that trick should not be neccassary, so sounds like your reverse has been screwed up since you got it too ;0

 

Exactly not to mention that reverse sits on its own shift rail as well!!!

So plz ppl stop telling each other to go into first or whatever.

Tony has a good solution, lets wait to hear it.

Or it could be possible that the fork is bending cuz it is the smallest if I remember correctly.

 

Hmmm I think I'll start a new thread about my little fix, but I'll have to use diagrams from the service manual since I never took any pic's of it while I was doing it. Give me a day or 2 to see what pic's I can find on the web so people kind of know what I'am talking about.

 

Found this little tid bit on camaroz28.com, check out the last post

pops out of reverse...but nothing wrong with tranny??? - CamaroZ28.Com Message Board

Wonder if there is a website we could look that up.

Also if anyone has some pic's of there reverse shiftfork that they could post that would help.

 

Read the link. I guess maybe there is some kind technical bulletin but if it means more money to hell with it cuz I just rebuilt mine 2 months ago. Its a new reverse gear and new synchro too.

I might have that pic u need, im gonna try to go home for lunch break and post if for you real quick.

Also Shbox.com might have the T56 manual/diagram posted up.

 

hmm. then i just guess my first T56, second, and third one, joes car, jeffs car, billys car, codys car and erics car all had their transmission screwed up.. hell, jeffs was screwed right after it was rebuilt in that case.

i should really try PJs car.. hes a hydraulic engineer and has a custom modified clutch setup.. and hes a perfectionist.. im sure his works just fine.


im not going to pretend i know WHY it works better.. but it does.

 

No one cares about a dookie argument. Lets stay focused on the resolution. Which is to address the fork or slider.

 

Ok guys made a writeup have a look let me know what you think. https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tran...6-reverse.html