I must have bad luck...

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GRWeldon

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Family emergencies have kept me from finishing my transmission rebuild for my Pearl White 96 T'bird. It's been almost a month since I touched it. Had all done except attaching the tail housing, reinstalling sensors and shift selector on the outside. Finished it up today and called it done!

I had a small extension spring left over and I didn't know where it came from. After looking at pics and video I determined this was the spring that is attached to the park pawls, only I never remember seeing them during the rebuild.

After removing the pan and looking in the area of the pawls, I remembered removing the spring that was just attached to the case and I was puzzled because it didn't seem to have a purpose. Looking again, I notice that there ARE NO PAWLS installed in this transmission! This tranny came from a 97 Tbird I bought years ago with a milkshake oil engine. I never drove it.

How unlucky can a guy get? I suppose I will use the ones from the tranny I'm replacing in my 96 but this really sucks!
 

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GRWeldon said:
I'm not really sure, but it looks like the pawls are installed with a pin when the tail housing is off. Seems like it would be relatively easy...
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That is exactly how it is installed. The procedure is easy. Did you install the transmission yet?
 
massacre said:
He might have to pull a trans to get the prawl?
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Not entirely. But you would have to pull the tailshaft housing off. The housing holds the pin in place.
 
So, no, I don't have the transmission installed yet. Also, when cleaning up my work area I found the pawl and the mounting pin as well as the spring I already had. That's how bad my memory is. I don't even remember removing them. If I would have put them in the box with all the other stuff I removed there would never have been a problem.

In any case, I removed the old transmission today. Most likely tomorrow I'll install the park pawl that I left out and I'll be preparing to install the rebuild. Also going to remove the flexplate and inspect the rear main seal. It appears to be leaking a bit. Might as well replace it while I'm there...y'all know the story...

I bought new motor mounts along with a new tranny mount. When I removed the tranny crossmember I noticed that the bushings were toast. I can't seem to find the correct combination of words to search for these bushings. Anybody have a hint or a source?

I haven't looked at the tech article selection yet, I will after I finish this post, but it seems damn near impossible to replace the motor mounts on this car without pulling the engine. Please tell me that isn't the case? I suppose if that IS the case, NOW would be the time to do it since the transmission is removed but I can't even SEE the front bolt on either side that fastens the mount bracket to the engine.
 

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I don't know that the transmission crossmember has body mount bushings that are serviced separately. Tail shaft to crossmember, yes, but not sure on the other two. They may be included with the crossmember itself, which is strangely still available new from Ford. F7LZ5K065BA
 
theterminator93 said:
I don't know that the transmission crossmember has body mount bushings that are serviced separately. Tail shaft to crossmember, yes, but not sure on the other two. They may be included with the crossmember itself, which is strangely still available new from Ford. F7LZ5K065BA
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Ford Parts Giant tells me that the part number "F7LZ5K065BA" does not fit my 1996 Thunderbird. It IS indeed a crossmember but it says it doesn't fit... The fine print says its for a 1997-1998... Will it work in a 96?
 
Assuming it's the right part I don't know why it wouldn't. The shape in the drawing is close but not quite right (the picture shows a bit of a "U" shape but it should be more "W" shaped) so I'm not even sure I picked the right part now. :zshrug:


Edit: Yep, I was wrong. F6SZ6G000B is the right part. Discontinued. But - it looks like the bushings are not sold separately either, at least.
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OK, if the trans is out, just pull the rear housing and you can install the parking pawl and spring easily. No harm no foul.
You do not have to pull the engine to do the mounts. I lower the subframe and hold the engine up to do the mounts. Makes much easier work. I have several videos on youtube and Rumble about lowering the subframe and other topics. But it isn't that hard.
 
And at the same time If the trans is out you could lift the engine up a bit with a hoist and still do the mounts. That just is not how I've done it. But even so I would NOT pull the engine to change the mounts.
 
You can replace the motor mounts while the car is on jackstands. Lift the motor slightly with a jack, and you can slide them out. Seems like the front-most bolt on the engine side is the hardest to get to.
 
Grog6 said:
You can replace the motor mounts while the car is on jackstands. Lift the motor slightly with a jack, and you can slide them out. Seems like the front-most bolt on the engine side is the hardest to get to.
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I'm too old to work with the car on jackstands. I use my lift.
 
GRWeldon said:
Do you go by Supergordo on YouTube?
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Here is my Channel, Birdcats MN12 Repair Garage.
www.youtube.com

BirdCats MN12 Repair Garage

This channel is dedicated to repair of the 1989-1997 Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar. Also known as the MN12 platform.
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com


I do have a login on Youtube for supergordo. There is basically no content there.
 
You need to edit the first video, as tccoa is huffing tumbleweeeds at this point. :)
 
Grog6 said:
You need to edit the first video, as tccoa is huffing tumbleweeeds at this point. :)
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I'd love to, I've been so damn busy with work stuff I haven't had time to deal with those. The problem with the videos that are already posted on Youtube is that if I don't use their editors at this point to change it I'll lose all my view counts on the videos. That and I want to finish some new videos too. But just haven't had time.
 
It's not that important really; if they have to look a bit they'll want to find us more.
 
On the old site I made some posts about motor mounts on the old site. There’s a single bolt to the frame you remove from the front, jack the engine and hold it up with an engine bar that rests on the top of the fenders.
You can get to the engine bolts from the wheel wells. Make sure to use a u joint to not strip the heads.
I disconnected the steering shaft to make some room, found the rag going to have a tear, so I’d plan on upgrading to a steering u joint also.
I think I got the trans support to frame bushings from energy suspension.
 
Kidd-7 said:
On the old site I made some posts about motor mounts on the old site. There’s a single bolt to the frame you remove from the front, jack the engine and hold it up with an engine bar that rests on the top of the fenders.
You can get to the engine bolts from the wheel wells. Make sure to use a u joint to not strip the heads.
I disconnected the steering shaft to make some room, found the rag going to have a tear, so I’d plan on upgrading to a steering u joint also.
I think I got the trans support to frame bushings from energy suspension.
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Thanks for the info. I think Supergordo has convinced me to drop the subframe, not only to make it easier to replace motor mounts but to have easier access to the AC compressor that I'm going to replace as well as installing the top bolt on the starter that I couldn't get back in when replacing my transmission. It's a bit more work but I may also replace the oil pan gasket while I'm there because I think I have a slight seep.
 
If you drop the subframe get some 3/4' bar stock and cut it in two, there are alignment holes between the front two bolts on each frame rail in the event you drop the subframe so when you go to tighten back up thee bolts you wont need to have the suspension realigned. The bar stock will work for the rear IRS subframe as well down the road should you ever remove that
 
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