Dirtybirs Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 (edited) Ok, So I have a 97 Contour SE with rod shift linkage mtx... So here's what happened. I pulled out of my house. Everything's fine. I am cruising up the street (a very busy street) everything shifts normally, no problems. I come to a red light, press in the clutch, put it in nuetral. Everything feels fine. But then When I go to put it in first, nothing there, just a TON of slop in the shifter. I try 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and reverse, same slop in every position and no abnormal noises... so my first thought is the shift linkage broke. Luckily I was able to push it backwards into a parking lot off the street, and then coast all the way back to my house. I then have one of my neighbors shift gears for me while I look underneath at the linkage rod. The entire rod/linkage moves normally with the shifter, all the way into the tranny, but as I said, its very sloppy and I was able to move the shifter around with no resistance, without pressing the clutch, and can move it in and out of all the 'gears' by just moving the rod just outside the tranny. I dont think it is the clutch either, eventhough i can select any gear position with pressing the clutch (like a bad slave), just cause how loose the shifter feels, and there's no 'clunk' or resistance or ANYTHING in any position. I found a used transmission pretty cheap '$165' at a local junk yard, and have someone that will install it.... but if it is the linkage broken somewhere, will I need to buy a linkage rod as well? I am also probably going to buy a clutch from ebay.... any brand/model suggestions on that? Edited June 21, 2011 by Dirtybirs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Haines Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 OK, if the rod going into the trans moves in and out and rotates when the gear stick is operated then chances are it is within the trans that you have the issue..next steps.. *Drain the trans fluild...remove the 8 mm wrench size bolts that hold the shift tower/turret to the top of the trans.....should then,as trans is in neutral..be able to lift the tower out and check for the bolt... Even rod shift units have the bolt that also breaks on cable shift units...get this far and we can go from there....Before you decide to pull the trans etc.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Haines Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 The 'Bolt' on the rod shift tower has the white dot in the pic. This is one of the bolts in the linkage but the easy one to check first... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtybirs Posted June 23, 2011 Author Share Posted June 23, 2011 ok here is the linkage going into the tranny. the chrome rod under the boot moves into the tranny and rotates with the shifter, but I see no 'tower' or anything. It goes in in a hole in the casing, but nowhere to unbolt just the linkage, only bolts I see are to dismaount the entire tranny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Haines Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 Open the hood,remove the air cleaner,look down and see the top main trans mount and the tower bolted into the trans next to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtybirs Posted July 19, 2011 Author Share Posted July 19, 2011 Open the hood,remove the air cleaner,look down and see the top main trans mount and the tower bolted into the trans next to it. So I am assuming this is the shift tower you are talking about.... I got 4 of the bolts, but the other 2 are block by the trans mount.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtybirs Posted July 19, 2011 Author Share Posted July 19, 2011 So I am assuming this is the shift tower you are talking about.... I got 4 of the bolts, but the other 2 are block by the trans mount.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Haines Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 Support the weight of the trans with a small jack...remove the nolts from the mount that go into the inner fender...then remove the nuts that hold the mount to the trans..lift out the mount to get to the tower bolts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtybirs Posted July 30, 2011 Author Share Posted July 30, 2011 Support the weight of the trans with a small jack...remove the nolts from the mount that go into the inner fender...then remove the nuts that hold the mount to the trans..lift out the mount to get to the tower bolts... I got it all fixed.... it was the pin at the bottom of the shift tower rod. Thank you all for your help! It looked like ATF in the tranny when I got in there (red, thin fluid)... is this normal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Haines Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 Glad you found the problem. ATF fluid has not been the correct spec for many years in the MTX75, Ford 'honey' fluid or Royal Purple 'Syncromax' are the common choice. Was the trans gearshif 'stiff' before this rollpin broke?.. For other rod shift trans owners,apart from 'The Bolt' at the top of the tower,the internal linkage has other potential failure points... ...the roll pin that has gone holds the 'ball' of the ball and socket joint to the vertical shaft. Another 'bolt' holds the 'socket' part to the shaft that comes into the trans from outside and the last 'bolt' is the one that holds the shift linkage with u/j's etc to the shaft that enters the trans.. FWIW over time running in ATF fluids,the shift forks can become stiff on their shafts which will then need extra effort to shift gears,this extra effort can put a lot of load on all the bolts and roll pin in the rod shift system..another reason NOT to use ATF fluid any more.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtybirs Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 It didn't seem stiff to me... but that doesn't mean that it wasn't stiff when I bought it and it just felt normal to me. I was going to put in Penzoil syncromesh, but my neighbor brought up a point that sounded reasonable to me. He said that putting in the thinker oil will put way more strain on that pin... so I opted to put ATF back in.... So would a thicker oil actually reduce strain on the pin by making the forks shift easier? I plan on going to a local junk yard and robbing a few pins and bolts for the future, as I just realized the roll pin I put in is aluminum. I put it in, flared the ends, then put a smaller one inside that, and flared the ends..... but wouldn't a bolt work just as well there, since the stock pin stuck out quite a bit (not flush at all)? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Haines Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 .....the roll pin I put in is aluminum NOT a good choice of material.. 1)The roll, pin must be steel 2)All parts on the MTX75 are METRIC sizes,incl roll pins 3)CORRECT Ford part for this is E840135-S100..you may be able to pick one up from your dealer 4)NO ATF fluid in any MTX75..that spec is now obsolete..the MTX works better with honey Ford fluid or Royal Purple 'Syncromax'... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierow13 Posted May 21, 2017 Share Posted May 21, 2017 Hello this my fist post have a 97 contour se 2.5 Manuel trans and I managed to break the joint in the shift rod. Does anyone have an idea what I should do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2000SVTC Posted May 22, 2017 Share Posted May 22, 2017 Can you please describe exactly what you mean? Most of the dicussion in this thread involves failures inside the transmission - is your linkage broken inside the transmission or outside? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierow13 Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 Out side the transmission the rod linkage joint that connects to the transmission broke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierow13 Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 Here are some photos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts