New Tranny ?

[jayriddle]

My 1994 RT/10 died on the way to work yesterday. Was in 6th gear on a steep downhill (engine was not under any significant load) when I lost acceleration and gained grinding sounds in all gears.

Dealer says they're still looking at it, but it looks like it needs a new transmission.

Assuming he's right, what are my options? Used? Rebuilt? Who's got the best deals on reliable Gen 1 tranny?

Thanks,
Jay Riddle
'94 RT/10
84,000+ miles

 

[SNKEBIT]

how old is clutch?

 

[jayriddle]

The tech. doing the work asked me the same thing. The master cylinder and pedal switch where just replaced recently, but I believe the clutch is original (84K miles). However, I need to check my records when I get home to be 100% certain I never had the clutch serviced.

 

[99 R/T 10]

I am parting out a 93, and the engine and trans are available. If you find out the problem was the transmission, PM me. Hopefully is something easy like the clutch.

 

[FrankBarba]

I also have a tranny...new never used.

 

[jayriddle]

Tech. says it is the tranny and I need to find a new one. He says they're back-ordered from Dodge with no ETA given.

I'm off to check the classifieds...

 

[Schulmann]

Jayriddle,

BAD NEW
I had the same trouble ... in 5th and 6th gear. Though I was accelerating like crazy. I burnt out my transmission. Poor oiling ... according to the guy who worked on my transmission. The Mopar oil for the tranny is like lion pis.
The oil will not support extended driving (24h style) and it will break down slowly. The Viper engin generates a lot heat, some of which goes into the tranny. The solution is to use a better and thicker oil and change it more frequently.


GOOD NEWS
Very easy to rebuild the transmission for those who are specialized in Tremec T56. Camaro, Ford Mustang, Corvette, Austin Martin, Viper all use the same transmission. Only a couple of parts change within. Those parts are readily available. I unmounted my tranny on Monday at 10AM and it was fixed by Thursday 4PM. I had to wait two days to have the missing parts shipped: main shaft (1000$), 5th and 6th gears.

The challange is to find a guy who works on this type of tranny. Ask for a corvette or a camaro specialist.

 

[obaa996]

I just had my '94 in the shop last week to get the tranny looked before the new owner gets it. It went in last Mon, and they diagnosed that it needed a new tranny on Thurs; I was also told it was backordered. However, the tranny showed up on Monday, and I ended up picking up the car last night. So I don't think the backorder is terribly long-lived.
That said, is there some sort of break-in for a new tranny? The shifting is much harsher than before; it feels very notchy, and is high effort to get into the different gears....

 

[Jack B]

Look up Rockford Gear, they build and repair. They also have race prepped T56's for sale. Those will have a steel 3/4 shift fork, metallic shift pads and improved synchro's. I believe the cost is approximately $2,000 for a new transmission .

If you live near Detroit the best kept secret in Viperland is John Donoto of Performance Transmissions. Several Viper dealers utilize him. He can also send you a custom shipping crate to get the trans to his shop.

Once you put in the new parts you can use the current oem synthetic oil, which the Gen 1's couldn't use due to organic components in the earlier transmissions.

 

[99 R/T 10]

I am going to have to disagree with Jack, because I have a close friend that had two of Rockford transmissions. Both failed with in a few hundred miles. They didn't back them with a warranty.

 

[Jack B]

Just to add fuel, I believe Rockford actually makes all the gears for the T56. plus anyone racing with a different ratio is probably a Rockford gearset. If you want to see an interesting article on the T56, get this months Popular Hotrodding.

 

[Schulmann]

Ah yes, there is a difference for the recommended tranny oil for gen1 and gen2. A lot of professional people don't get how these transmissions work.

Here is a good exemple: I was at my local autopart dealer yesterday. Since 10 years I have been asking for Manual transmission oil for syncrhonized transmissions. They always told me that gear oil is the same .... Yesterday they had 3 different brands of oil on the shelf for syncronized transmissions.

In the past only a couple of shops were aware of this difference.

Maybe that poor gen1 transmission was filled up with gear oil !

I know that in the past there were several discussions on ATF and real manual transmission oil. I am wondering why Dodge recommended ATF for gen1 vipers.

Is this related to the fact that in the early 90s manual transmission oil wasn't widely available for cars in the USA ?

In those years I had a Dodge Stealth and I had a lot of difficulty to find the right oil. I ended up using ATF winter and gear oil the summer.


Another important thing is the clutch. Espetially in cold weather (below 30F), if the master or the slave cylinders are not in perfect shape, or the oil is too old (plenty of water), it will be very hard to shift.

 

[99 R/T 10]

I know the Wizard addressed this one a while back, but I think after Tremec bought out BW, they changed the comosition of the gears. Hence the need for different oil. The Gen I's use Dex III up to 96 I believe, after that they went with Castrol sytorq.