All of my gears on my tranny are gone its like freeplay all throught the gearbox.what is this and how doI fix it?I have a spec stage2,flywheel and shifter forks put in maybe 3,000miles ago.some help!
thanxs in advance
Its like a joy stick I can move it all around,if that helps any?I have a b&M short shifter is t poss. that it broke?I have been searching and have found some good info,but need more!thanxs
You broke the shift tower bolt ... VERY COMMON! $1 part will cost $1,000 to fix (if you take it to the dealership). I had the same thing happen to my first Cougar under warranty and the warranty repair bill said $1,200. Your best bet, contact Terry Haines.
I took the boot off my shifter and was looking around at the bottom of the shifter and it felt like it was dangling(sp)by a thread.This all happened with I was slowly and smoothly shifting into third.
Originally posted by brandonsvt99:
I took the boot off my shifter and was looking around at the bottom of the shifter and it felt like it was dangling(sp)by a thread.This all happened with I was slowly and smoothly shifting into third.
And my diagnosis is the still the same ... you sheared the shift linkage retaining bolt (internal to the transmission). Contact Terry and he can help you try to "fish" out the bolt. If it can't be fished out, the trans must be pulled. DO NOT DRIVE THE CAR!
You can't be serouis as I just got my tranny done
I have no more money left,and no other car.can you give me terry haines # to me,pm me if you have to. thanxs
P.S I was hoping maybe it was just the linkagewhy does this bolt break like this,elaborate a little please.This is now a very depressing time no for me.I need help!arrr.
By the way thanxs fastcougar!I apprecaite the help.
Haines Motor Sports Inc [secondline@ameritech.net]
Also, He can be reached here:
http://www.fordcontour.org/index.php?showforum=15
Like I said, this is a VERY common issue ... do a search and you will find tons of info. Here is a great start:
http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=tranny&Number=1028444&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1
I can't e-mail him I meant like a phone #,where I could talk to him on the phone.
He runs a business and has business hours, but can be reached at a decent hour on weekends. I'll PM his phone number in a second.
Although I agree that it is very likely the shift tower bolt, I would thoroughly check out the linkage before pulling the trans. See if the linkage has come off at the trans end. See if moving the lever moves the shift tower to make sure that you don't have a broken cable. Most certainly check out the shifter itself. Many have had problems with the ball on the end of the B&M shifter breaking. It is also possible that the cable came loose from the shifter end.
Dont sweat it, mine just did it too.
http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=tranny&Number=1271489&page=1&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=7&fpart=1
Order the bolt (bolt p/n W702421-S309M)
Jack up car and remove wheel so you can get to the shift cable ends and pop them off while you're down there
Support engine and transmission
Remove Transmission mount (3 bolts on tranny +3 on car)
Remove shift tower bolts
Pull shift tower out (unless your car is stuck in gear instead of neutral, in that case add 2 or so hours of cursing, pulling, and violent shaking of the shift tower to the end of this list)
Drill or use screw extractor to remove the part of bolt still in the tower (it's very soft 
)
use threadlock and replace bolt
Fish out bolt head (magnet on a string or a Bend-It Magnet ACE harware has them other places prob do to)
Installation is reverse (use gasketmaker!)
Easy fix hour/ couple hours fix 
Originally posted by Big Jim:
Although I agree that it is very likely the shift tower bolt, I would thoroughly check out the linkage before pulling the trans. See if the linkage has come off at the trans end. See if moving the lever moves the shift tower to make sure that you don't have a broken cable. Most certainly check out the shifter itself. Many have had problems with the ball on the end of the B&M shifter breaking. It is also possible that the cable came loose from the shifter end.
Thanxs for the advice,are there any write ups on how to do any of these,i'm very mechanically declined,as it just took me about 2 or so hours to replace the thermostat!I am only 19years old,just starting out repairing my car.What sucks is that this happened when I was test driving it after the new t-stat was in to make sure everything was ok.I guess something was wrong! 
"Shotty" thanxs for the info. I guess there is no ceger out here in Delaware that could help me is there?Free food and drinks for however long it takes!
-Just throwing that offer out there(I could actually pay them a little bit of money)
I forgot to mention that I still have either 2nd or 3rd gear its not like I can't move,I just can't shifter into any other gears,would this still be my shifter tower bolt?or just My short shifter broken?
I'm waiting for a call back from my mechanic,I'll let you guys kno if you were correct.
Originally posted by brandonsvt99:
I forgot to mention that I still have either 2nd or 3rd gear its not like I can't move,I just can't shifter into any other gears,would this still be my shifter tower bolt?or just My short shifter broken?
I'm waiting for a call back from my mechanic,I'll let you guys kno if you were correct.
Well that would have been fricking helpfull for you to point out before!
Sounds now like you broke one of the shift cables OR the end popped off the transmission side or even shifter mechanism side.
Stick with diagnosing the problem by jacking up the car and pulling the drivers wheel off. Use jackstands. Have someone sit in the car and shift the shifter fore/aft and see what is moving. THen have them move is left/right and see if it is still moving or not. Once you identify the area by the fore/aft movement then you can see there is a second lever with a cable next to that one. If it isn't moving but it is still hooked up it is the cable of at the shifter. If it is a cable end moving but no lever moving then the end is bad and it came off. If everything is moving correctly but you still can't shift to other gears then you are screwed and need to go back where you had the transmission done and make them fix it.
Yea sorry about the missed info.last night I was so mad
I thought I put that info,until today when I was looking back and found out that I didn't.
Thanxs warmonger,i'm gonna jack it up and try if I can see these cables.
*does anybody have a pic of where and what these cables look like?
Are these shifter cables located out of the tranny or are they internal?when I remove the wheel and the splash guard should they be visable if someone is in the car moving the shifter around?
They are open, but they are a little hard to fully see. It helps to remove the left front wheel.
Remove the drivers side wheel, I dont remember if you have to remove any splash seilding, but if there is some, remove it...then look right up on in there and you'll see a bracket with 2 large nuts on it that hold it secure and there are 2 cables that are attatched to pins, just pop them off.
Pop them off and do what with them?I thought the cables might have already been popped off thats why my shifter doesn't select any gears.Idk though you guys are more of any expert than me.
You where supposed to check BOTH ends the cables to make sure they where connected to their respective "nubs/nipples". As for the car getting stuck in gear and being sloppy, my car did just that ... I fully stand by my assertion that it's a sheared tower bolt!
Originally posted by fastcougar:
You where supposed to check BOTH ends the cables to make sure they where connected to their respective "nubs/nipples". As for the car getting stuck in gear and being sloppy, my car did just that ... I fully stand by my assertion that it's a sheared tower bolt!
Yea, what he said. Check where I said to in my last post, drivers side wheel, look in there and you'll see em. Also check by your shifter (in car) under the center console. If they are all attatched then your tower bolt snapped.
Originally posted by fastcougar:
You where supposed to check BOTH ends the cables to make sure they where connected to their respective "nubs/nipples". As for the car getting stuck in gear and being sloppy, my car did just that ... I fully stand by my assertion that it's a sheared tower bolt!
No need to get angry......thanxs for the info, I understand what i am supposed to be looking for.I hope its not the shifter tower bolt!
"fastcougar" If it was the shifter bolt wouldn't it have traveled through my tranny and reached my diff. and borken that apart?Because I was about a mile or two away from my house when this happened and I limpedit home and the tranny def. had time to "circulate" the bolt.Just a thought.tell me what you think?
Not necessarily, mine didn't when it broke
Really?I was hoping that would eliminate the bolt being broken...O well I am going to try to solve this problem tomarrow.I will keep you guys posted,for those of you who care.
there is a magnet somewhere on the bottom of the tranny. my bolt was stuck to that. went right past all the gears and sat right down there. make sure you get everything out. im assuming your talking about the selector shaft, they used a lock washer but no locktite. make sure to use a new lock washer and some locktite when u put that thing back together.
Originally posted by TRicker:
they used a lock washer but no locktite. make sure to use a new lock washer and some locktite when u put that thing back together.
More rubbish info! There is no lockwasher on the
vertical shaft bolt.Use the correct Ford part which
CAN be had at the dealer...It is a 'tri-lobe' self
locking design.Get your facts straight before leading
others astray with incorrect information on the MTX75!
on the one that holds the gear selector? yes there is, i still have pics of it. unless your talking about a different bolt, there is a lockwasher on it. let me find the pics
<img src="http://ncmail.netscape.com/attachment/SW5ib3g=/230216/4/image/pjpeg/base64/inline/IMG_0351.JPG">
i dont have a pic of the bolt but thats what im talking about.
Save the attachment in your netscape email to your desktop ... upload it to a file server somewhere like photobucket ... then link to the URL of the file.
Originally posted by TRicker:
on the one that holds the gear selector? yes there is, i still have pics of it. unless your talking about a different bolt, there is a lockwasher on it. let me find the pics
Correct bolt for the shift tower is W702421-S309M. It does not have any loose lockwasher. In fact none of the bolts
used on a MTX75 have loose lockwashers. Go to the
dealer BUY ONE!
Originally posted by brandonsvt99:
All of my gears on my tranny are gone its like freeplay all throught the gearbox.what is this and how doI fix it?I have a spec stage2,flywheel and shifter forks put in maybe 3,000miles ago.some help!
thanxs in advance
When it was opened for the shifter forks you didn't have an LSD put in did you?
my bolt was a factory bolt from the dealer. had a freakin lockwasher on it.