Got to love these head scratching, hair pulling situations. You learn so much when you baby a classic to health. The clutch went out on my wagon. My mechanic was pretty sure the tranny was ok, so I ordered a Luk Repset kit. I also ordered a new cable and a refurb flywheel just in case. I already had a new starter and motor and tranny mounts for future installation, so it would be a rather large job for him.

The car goes on the lift, open up everything and discover a crack in the upper facing portion of the bell housing and things began to make sense. Two weeks prior, I hit a pot hole and heard a rattle. The Luk Repset included the wrong throwout bearing, so we had to purchase the correct one, which delayed the work by a full day. Meanwhile, the bell housing was getting a weld job and input and output shaft seals were ordered. Disappointed in Luk. They appear to have their shizod together based on all the research I did ahead of time. Amazon credited me cause I complained. The rest of the clutch kit worked fine. I returned the flywheel and cable cause they were not needed. The starter and mounts went in with no problem.

The work dragged out for nearly a week due to other cars needing attention in his shop so unfortunately we never got around to the severe vertical play issue in the shifter. He said I should look for a "shaft shift seal" online and the next time I bring the car in he can install it. I can certainly live with the play in the shifter and I know that he'll have to drop the tranny all over again to install the shift seal BUT the search for the mysterious "shift shaft seal" has driven me CRAZY.

The FOG 4 speed transmission has very limited parts available. I've researched exhaustively dozens of online sources PLUS sending emails to Timken, SKF and National all of whom make shift shaft seals for automatic transmissions and I'm awaiting their response.  I know there was a TREMEC 4 speed manual transmission in 60's Ford's but those seals can't compatible with FOG. Or are they? I'm not understanding why there are seals available for automatic Pinto's but not for the Pinto FOG. I even looked for Bobcat and other 70's cars with FOG RWD 4 speed trannies. I'm wondering if the automatic shift shaft seals that are so easily found are also usable on the FOG manual shifter BUT nowhere is it written that they use the same seal. After all were talking about a seal not an entire set of synchros and gears.

I've come up with SKF 5510, Timken 313156 and National 312518 all as possibilities but have no confirmation that any of those will work on the FOG tranny. Naturally, I won't have him open the tranny to install a seal I can't find or doesn't even exist BUT this has me baffled and I'm missing something here but need other opinions and revelations. Any ideas, resources, help, suggestions? Thanks for listening fellas. Looking forward to your thoughts. gus

 

As mentioned the FOG transmission was used in the Pinto/Bobcat and MAYBE the Capri. The Automatic transmission were used in a LOT of Ford cars for a LOT of years. That is why those seals are more plentiful.

I put a Luk clutch in my old Mazda 323. From reports it seemed a good product. And for the two years/15,000 additional miles I had the car I had no issues. My recollection was that the throwout bearing and pilot bearing were from Japan, the disc Mexico, the pressure plate South Africa and the alignment tool from the USA. I believe it was a $150 kit I got off Ebay for $80 shipped.

As i mentioned.. I dont think the Shifter RAIL has a seal.. it is completely contained witbin the transmission case or the tailshaft..

It also rides in borings in the cast iron case and doesnt have bushings..

See the pix in the article i linked to above with the top plate removed.

The only way you could determine if the shift RAIL had excessive vertical play would be to remove the top plate of the trnsmission.


Did you check the rubber grommet to see if it was worn

If the transmission is installed in the car you can easily check the grommet and retaining circlip by removing the screws that hold down the shifter boot and looking at the grommet.

If you can move the shift LEVER up and down round and round a lot, and the rubber looks deterriorated, chances are its just the grommet.

The gromet is a sort of unique method ford used to replace a spring and unless your mechanic has had experience with pintos, he probably wouldnt suspect a worn or deterriorated grommet as the problem and mis diagnose the problem.

He may also be referring to the nylon bushing that the shift LEVER pivots in, thinking it was bad when it could just be a bad grommet.

Or the nylon bushing may be bad.

The rubber grommet holds the shift LEVER up to serve as a reverse lockout so that to.shift into reverse you need to press down on the LEVER then left and forward.

If you can engage reverse without pressing down on the LEVER, then the grommet is bad.

Check out the link about replacing the grommet with a spring..

There is also a small nylon "SADDLE" bushing inside the tailshaft where the shift LEVER goes that fits between the shift LEVER and the slot in the RAIL that wears out and can cause looseness.

See photos in the links above

Excessive play side to side front to back is caused by a worn or missing "SADDLE" bushing where the LEVER AND RAIL connect.

The spring is the way to go since i dont think the rubber gromets areavailable any more and not sure  if you could even install them since the shift lever has a big rubber damper midway.

Also.. check to make sure that there is a circlip at the top of the grommet fitted into the groove in the shift lever. If there isnt one, the grommet wont have aywhere to seat to push up on the lever.

racer walsh sells a spring shifter for $175.

But check out the mod in the links. A spring should only cost a few dollars and you can select one that has the tension you like and cut or stretch it to get it like you want it.

And it wont wear out.

Also you dont need to reinstall the rubber boot..

The saddle is available on amazon or ebay for $10-20

And a jeep CJ uses a similar one for about $8

Heres a link with part numbers for the jeep unit cor about $2

https://www.morris4x4center.com/shift-rod-plastic-bushing-8127490.html

Not sure where this company is located but there are part numbers so try your local jeep dealers your local.jeep.

You re welcome..

In the meantime, do look at the grommet..

Well the nylon bushing was used to serve as a sacrificial replaceable part to prevent possible metal to metal wear to the more expensive shifter mechanism so wear is expected and very common.

Thanks Blaine. I did write to Burton explaining the issue and asking them to narrow down what I need and what page I can order them from but they haven't responded. I might have to spend a lot of time on their site and figure it out myself...but I did figure out that they call it "rocket".