Out of a 97 T/A has about 3000 miles on it Clutch, hydraulics etc are all new
THing has worked flawlessly up til this morning.

2nd would occasionally get notchy upon upshifting.

Then on the way home going into 2nd got an audible groaning noise almost like something binding. Put in the clutch still does it, go to neutral with clutch pedal in still does it let the pedal out all is fine.

Doesnt do it in any other gear.

hasnt been hammered on still breaking the motor in.

If I run it up higher in 1st before going into 2nd doesnt seem to do it.

What the hell is wrong with this f'n thing?
Fluid is fresh and full btw.

The T56 is prone to blowing up if abused... there is a chance the prior owner abused it.

And it doesn't take many bad shifts at redline to damage said transmission...

Original owner was a middle aged woman who bought the car new. Complained a few times of an issue which turned out to be a FW/clutch defect they gave her a new trans anyway. Had this in 10 yrs ago before I took it apart put a few hunred miles on it with no issues. Havent beat on it yet myself, just layed into the throttle some but not enough to hurt it meaning barely cracking the secondaries a few times.
450 ft lbs rating doubt mine would make that til higher in the range. Few days ago 2nd was getting notchy there for a bit then acted normally??

I have searched high and low on the web and noone seems to know anythign about these no luck with Google.


2 shops wanted me to leave the car with them thats not going to happen, not comfortable with driving it like this.

Hoping someone has experienced this or by hearing the symptom may know...

Ive taken apart manuals before and wound up bringing the case and a bucket of parts in to be put together lol.

Lots of little stuff to know and too much work to have to do it over.

Weird out of nowhere this seems to happen.

Wish I knew someone to take the trans to the few Ive talked to are more interested in the car itself which bothers me...testdrivers. Guess Ive had enough nightmares with shops I just dont trust anyone with it. Worked in a hanful of them when I was younger and if you have a sports car or if it has any power at all I gurantee it WILL be joyridden.

Hm... I know there are shops that build the T56... just don't know of any in the area.

notchy 2nd sounds like a weak synchro.

From talking with a few shops sounds like they dont go often but 2nd gear sounds common. THere have been 7 different updates on the trans/gearset since then

Man if I had a few bucks Id love to order the Z06 gearing set and order a lower 6th gear.

Looks like 3-400 labor if I bring them the trans+ whatever parts are.Oof..Time to start ebaying stuff...lots of it lol.

Guess would be a good time do have the balance on the FW and PP double checked.

WOnder what happens when I start leaning on this thing lol.

shit will break!

Well after talking to a couple shops this aint gonna be cheap. Thinking about getting rid of the extra T56 I have to pay for this hate to though.

Gotta learn how to work on these things looks like.

last time I tried with a Muncie I would up taking a bucket of parts and a case to a shop and said here, you deal with it. lol They hate that!

i muncie would be a walk in the part compared to a t56. i did a nv3500 in my 1996 s10 and it was fairly easy. it cost me $400 to replace all the blocking rings and a shift fork. i also replaced all the internals from one trans into a new case from a 91 240sx which was a sr20 swap and the owner beats the shit out of it on the regular without issue. they arent terrible. the key is taking it apart carefully so everything doesn't fall apart so you have no idea how it goes back together. most don't need anything special aside from a bearing separator and a press.

Two tools I dont have. Maybe at some point Ill look into it Im sure once I start tracking this eventually Ill break something again would be nice to know I can fix it myself, hate being at the mercy of shops. Time to learn something new.

Just lots of little things that I dont know what to look for as far as wear so Id be going in blind at this point unless it was something real obvious like a bad syncro or gear. Far as shaft/bearing clearances I wouldnt have a clue.

harbor freight has presses that are pretty affordable..

i am in a similar boat as you cause my zf6 pops out of 1st on a hard de-accel. i do not have money for a new one.. i was hoping to find a few that were trashed and make the best of them. but it will probably be just as expensive getting a new one. i might get lucky and win on a scratch off. its not a huge deal cause it has enough balls to take off in 4th but it is just annoying cause i know its not perfect.

I have the 12 ton floor press if you wanna borrow it.

I've seen quite a few presses on Craig's List 12-20 ton for $50.

Thanks Andy...girlfriend found the 40 page repair manual Im going to check it out. If it feels right may just tackle it I dont know...honestly if I had the extra money to burn wouldnt even consider it, easier to pay a pro but things are rough right now.Well see...

you said you have a spare right? why not use it?

Imnot sure what year its out of and dont know the history. Supposedly a lower mile one but dont want to go through the trouble of putting it in to find it isnt right.
Some T56 came with a lower torque rating, 97 being the higest and a lower first gear. This one is "just right"

There were so many changes on things in ternally Im not sure if I can scavenge parts to use either. I just dont have enough know how to determine.

Anyway Im gtting the 40 page manual on this thing thanks to my other half Ill look it over. Maybe Ill screw this one up too LOL. And so it starts....again

You can have my press, it's a POS though. Buyer beware with harbor freight stuff. Actually the things that bug me about it are it needs new arbor plates, since they aren't the same thickness, and the extension arm for pressing small parts needs to be shortened somehow. As is it's hard to press anything that's a few inches tall. It can do >6" long parts, and really really short parts, but not in between, if that makes sense.

6" long parts


So your head fits in there?

that's about the only part he has that would... but he can still press really short parts.

oh, wait, Ron, you got a girlfriend? Should I be planning for the end of the world?

Dont worry I still hate the rest of em .