[Yeahdoug]

I was one of the ones defending the MT82 in my Mustang. Mine shifted great. Then after 70k miles, I lost third gear. It just disappeared. Not wanting to pay 2500+ for a new transmission that could have it's own issues, I decided to tear it apart and find what was wrong. It was a PITA. Needed a bunch of Ford pullers and other tools to get everything apart. Bought the 20 ton press from harbor freight to help($150 with a coupon, sweet deal). I'll probably have 600 bucks in the repair including all the tools. Not too bad considering I screwed up the speed sensor so there's $80 extra in there.

Worst part is that there is no aftermarket internals for this transmission yet so I'm just having to use oem parts. Who knows when I'll have to do it again. Oh and the parts all have long lead times

I predict many more failures start to crop up as all the mustangs start to get higher in mileage. There's no reason why a gear should freaking fail.

Here's some pics.

Getting started

Here's the problem child. Did the clutch 6 months ago, so I'm pretty good at it.

Rear of the case off. Had to order a huge two jaw puller to split the case. Thankfully OTC had one for $100.

Had to buy a press from HF. Only $150. Worked great... excuse the mess. Also bought there 1/2" electric impact. For 50 bucks it's a beast.

All the guts spread out.

The failed 3rd gear... this should be one piece. The ring that the synchro sleeve engages just broke off third gear. The 3rd gear synchro also got really hot so I'm replacing that too.

Ford really screwed up letting Getrag move the manufacturing to China. I'm considering selling the car when it's all back together. There's no reason I should be having to deal with this at stock power levels and less than 100k miles... I don't even have a tune. Frustrating because I otherwise love the car.

 

[randeez11]

Its what I have been preaching all along. The Metallurgy sucks in China. When it comes to proper heat treatment and hardness testing, as well as using good materials. Well, Ive said my piece many times before. And Ive also said that Im not just blowing smoke out my @$% Ive been a machinist for over 40 years, long enough to see a lot of their junk first hand.

OP. Good luck. I spent the cash and put in a Tremec.
I have an MT 82 sitting on the basement floor with less than 3000 miles on it. Maybe someone will want it.

I notice in the 5.0 magazine write up on the 2015, that they mentioned changes the Gertrag to improve reliability. Lets hope they get it right , one of these days.

 

[Mustangfreak196]

How have you been driving your car for that 70,000 miles? Just daily driver or have you gotten some hard driving thrown in there as well?

 

[pdmustgt]

Wow right off the bat we go for heart it because of where it's made. We don't even know exactly why part failed. I've seen plenty crap made here in the States that's junk too. Been through it with engine parts, trans, rears, etc. Lets get off our high horse WE are not the best in the world we're falling behind.

 

[RoboStang]

Wow right off the bat we go for heart it because of where it's made. We don't even know exactly why part failed. I've seen plenty crap made here in the States that's junk too. Been through it with engine parts, trans, rears, etc. Lets get off our high horse WE are not the best in the world we're falling behind.

We still MAKE things in the USA?

 

[SPeace-ATL]

We don't even know exactly why part failed.

umm, yes we do! Look again at the last picture on the first post. That is third gear broken in two pieces when it should have been one. The metal fatigued and came apart.

Now, on parts availability, it seems that Ford negotiated with Getrag and became the only source for the parts for these so we are stuck with their prices, inventory and distribution network.

One day Ford will discontinue the parts and there will be NONE.

Ford did this to us with the 2005-2010 TR3650. Any part that was redesigned between the 2004 version and the 2005 version became proprietary to Ford who is the exclusive distributor of those parts. Fortunately, MOST of the parts needed for a rebuild were not changed.

Example: The input shaft for a 2005-2010 TR3650 can only come from Ford. Likewise, the shift forks...

 

[stevegt2012]

Its what I have been preaching all along. The Metallurgy sucks in China. When it comes to proper heat treatment and hardness testing, as well as using good materials.

I retired from a large defense contractor. Whenever we had subcontractors manufacture components for us we always had teams of source inspectors at their facilities to monitor such things.

I would hope Ford is doing the same.




Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App

 

[Yeahdoug]

How have you been driving your car for that 70,000 miles? Just daily driver or have you gotten some hard driving thrown in there as well?

Never drag raced or power shifted. Autocrossed a bunch, but almost never got out of 2nd. Occasional spirited drive but nothing abusive. Most of the miles are highway commuting at 65 mph to work.

 

[IceBlue]

My MT82 blew up at 8,000 miles and I am no fan of that.
I did the XL conversion recently.

However, if I could get 70K out of any manual transmission, I'd be real happy.
Yours must have been a good one to get that kind of mileage.

I doubt my new Tremec will go 70K miles.

 

[moonrakercat]

Any possibility of having those two parts welded together & then machined ?

 

[Yeahdoug]

My MT82 blew up at 8,000 miles and I am no fan of that.
I did the XL conversion recently.

However, if I could get 70K out of any manual transmission, I'd be real happy.
Yours must have been a good one to get that kind of mileage.

I doubt my new Tremec will go 70K miles.

Except I don't want to buy a transmission every three years. 70k is really not a lot anymore if you commute.

 

[IceBlue]

Oh no, I get it.

I would not find it unusual to replace bearings and synchros at your kind of mileage.

However, a gear set broken apart speaks volumes and should not happen.

 

[pdmustgt]

umm, yes we do! Look again at the last picture on the first post. That is third gear broken in two pieces when it should have been one. The metal fatigued and came apart.

Now, on parts availability, it seems that Ford negotiated with Getrag and became the only source for the parts for these so we are stuck with their prices, inventory and distribution network.

One day Ford will discontinue the parts and there will be NONE.

Ford did this to us with the 2005-2010 TR3650. Any part that was redesigned between the 2004 version and the 2005 version became proprietary to Ford who is the exclusive distributor of those parts. Fortunately, MOST of the parts needed for a rebuild were not changed.

Example: The input shaft for a 2005-2010 TR3650 can only come from Ford. Likewise, the shift forks...

NO you see the aftermath but you don't know the WHY

 

[pdmustgt]

Since it's internet everyone will jump to conclusion that all mt 82 will do this

 

[randeez11]

My MT82 blew up at 8,000 miles and I am no fan of that.
I did the XL conversion recently.

However, if I could get 70K out of any manual transmission, I'd be real happy.
Yours must have been a good one to get that kind of mileage.

I doubt my new Tremec will go 70K miles.

At the rate Im driving my GT, Ill be pushing up daisies long before my Tremec sees 70,000 miles. :no:

 

[randeez11]

Wow right off the bat we go for heart it because of where it's made. We don't even know exactly why part failed. I've seen plenty crap made here in the States that's junk too. Been through it with engine parts, trans, rears, etc. Lets get off our high horse WE are not the best in the world we're falling behind.

True, inferior and defective parts have been produced in the US and in Canada. Not disputing that.
But Im not on a high horse at all. Im a realist however and look at the facts. And the fact is, there is a lot more, I mean a lot more defective and inferior components and parts being produced percentage wise in China, than was ever made in the US or Canada. Again, that is a fact, not a theory.

 

[SPeace-ATL]

NO you see the aftermath but you don't know the WHY

Yes, we see the aftermath. Only one part is broken.

Had the whole thing grenaded and we found this in the rubble I wouldn't necessarily say the gear was defective. We wouldn't know what other stresses it went through when everything crashed in on it. In this case it is pretty clear that the gear was either poorly designed, or had a manufacturing defect because that was all that broke.

Yes, the why is pretty clear. It appears to be a two-piece construction. That concept has had a bad track record in the automotive gear industry.

There does seem to be some China bashing going on here and I'm not into that. The USA has the technology to make strong stuff, but for some unknown reason we pretty consistently send things out of the country to be produced. Even the Tremecs are manufactured in Mexico!

Will all MT82 transmissions do this? Of course not. There are lots of them out there and if this was a trend we would have heard of more cases by now.

Is the MT82 a bad transmission? Not necessarily. Let's not forget that the T-45 was loaded with weak spots and the TR3650 that replaced it had issues as well. These were addressed over time.

MT82 will eventually be better too.

 

[randeez11]

I am in no way China bashing. I am not going to repeat here what I said in detail on another thread. if you want to search for that post, you will see why I say what I say.
True enough there may be a design problem, or maybe even just a problem with a part, that just simply failed. It happens.

My comments stated facts about offshore manufacturing , specifically China. I was not bashing.
I don't know everything. But in the field of manufacturing , I know a lot more than most , as Ive spent a lengthy career involved with it.
And facts are facts, sorry.

 

[SPeace-ATL]

I am in no way China bashing...

Sorry, I meant to be referring to the general lamenting that the MT82 is made in China. Calling it China bashing was a bit strong.

You are correct that the quality control or something is lacking with offshore manufacturing. The T5 gears we get from Taiwan are not so good either.

Strangely enough, the Tremec parts that are now made in Mexico seem to be consistently good.

 

[randeez11]

Sorry, I meant to be referring to the general lamenting that the MT82 is made in China. Calling it China bashing was a bit strong.

You are correct that the quality control or something is lacking with offshore manufacturing. The T5 gears we get from Taiwan are not so good either.

Strangely enough, the Tremec parts that are now made in Mexico seem to be consistently good.

And that is precisely what I was saying in the detailed posting on another thread, that I asked people to read.
The reason Tremec quality is so good is because they have been producing a product at the same facility since they first started marketing it, many years ago. And they have gotten progressively better at making it, because as we all know. "Practice makes perfect"
China is getting getting better. But is still learning. They simply haven't been at it long enough yet.