Recently rebuilt my T-56. Everything seemed fine. Used a Tick Stage 2 rebuild kit. Drove the car around on a few 1/2 hour trips, stop and go around town. Today I drove the car about 20 miles, high gear 60-70 mph and started to have problems. Alot of gear noise, won't go into second and hard to shift into all gears. Was rolling to a stop ,tried to engage the clutch to downshift and wouldn't go in,finally went in but car wanted to stall. When the car is stopped,clutch disengaged, I can shift into all gears with it running, but on the move I can only "powershift" with some resistance. I went by the pdf rebuild manual that said to orientate the syncros as they came off, however the Tick syncros had 2 groves instead of one? Anybody have an idea what I screwed up? Are the spacers in the tranny different thicknesses? Set endplay on input shaft according to manual. Haven't checked fluid level, could low ATF cause this? Also has new input shaft.

 

Spacers as in thrust washers? As long as they passed inspection on the tear-down, you shouldn't have shifting issues from those.

You have a lot going on that is attributable to clutch release problems. Slower shift speeds are going in by the synchros working, but faster shifts aren't. You should probably insulate the hydr. line, check for leaks in that system and bleed it. If LT1 hydraulics, read this:
http://www.ls2.com/forums/showthread.php?t=174146

Then, once that's working, troubleshoot.

 

Thanks for the info, well it looks like I screwed the pooch on this one. Just went outside to fool around with it. Car not running, try to shift and I think it's jammed in 3rd,won't come out. Hopefully I can get it in the driveway to pull the trans. Oh well, that was an expensive lesson, guess I'll send it to Tick and have them check it out. Thanks again jmd.

 

Stuck in 3rd / 4th is typically a key that got trapped during overtravel of the synchro slider (shifters with stops are a good idea on the f-body T56.)

But, were the keeper springs for the keys on 3-4 installed the same (clockwise from key #1 on both sides)?

 

Did some investigating today. LESSON 1: ALWAYS CONFIRM YOU HAVE OIL IN THE TRANS BEFORE YOU DRIVE IT!!! LESSON 2: SEE LESSON ONE! Found some metal and bronze in the rear case and magnets. Looked down in the main case and could see one of the 1234 bronze fork pads laying in there all warped up! I must have drained the trans(obviously) when I removed the engine/trans combo from my other car! Someone please come over and beat me with a bat!

 

Don't be scared to run stock pads in 1-2 and 3-4. Those crack a lot less than 5-6 (and that one is usually due to shifter leverage abuse.) and the stock ones smoosh and wear less than brass.

Buy me a lathe and I'll take care of the bat thing.

Update us that it's doing fine once you're back in action.

 

Well it's official, trans is junk. Not "worth" rebuilding. Main shaft, input shaft, Bearing, races, etc all junk. Got a friend that is going to get me a new unit from RSG with upgraded internals(600ft/lbs) for $2400. Nothing like a $5000 lesson over a few quarts of ATF!