New clutch=no reverse at all!!

[bigred*]

Im sooo close, there has just been thing after thing to fix, finally just finished replacing the clutch, and its awesome! When i barely let the clutch off it already grabs and starts chuggin forward in any gear! Before if i put in anything but first itd just spin, and first couldnt get over 2 mph, so the new clutch is working fantastic! Except for one problem, i have no reverse at all!!
What happens is it clicks in and when i let off the clutch it makes a very faint grinding noise, not grinding like when a syncro is going, my other zf5 has lost 2nd gear syncro and thats a loud grind if you try to force it
With this it clicks in smoothly but when you let the clutch off, when it should be grabbing and going backwards it just makes a faint grinding noise

Ive tried 1st->reverse O/D->reverse, even turning it off putting it in reverse and stadting it and still nothing..
Could i have missed something when reinstalling?? I havent put the 4wd stuff back on, but that shouldnt matter
I will admit when i put the top of the shifter back onto the transmission it was pitch black and i did it by feel, i thought there was only one way it could go in, could i have messed something up there?? Im so stumped..

I should also say before i replaced the clutch reverse worked perfect, in fact it was the best working gear with the clutch toast, zero grinding at all.. And i should admit, i dont have a tranny jack, so i use my motorcycle jack, works almost as good, but i had it on two cinder blocks on top of the jack so it could reach all the way up there, one cinder block on the front, one on the back, at one point one cinder block rolled off, so the back of the transmission dropped 6 inches to the lift, or however tall a cinder block is, it didnt hit hard, and the whole thing didnt drop, just tilted back.. Could this have messed somthing up?? I wouldn't imagine it could but now im scarred

 

[fordf350man]

I would say double check the shifter. Make sure it is in neutral. I had put one in wrong before (not a zf though) and It would move side to side but not go in to any gear.

 

[IDIoit]

ive never took apart the shifter on these trannys, but seeing you did, and reverse worked before, i would assume operator error.
i would pull it back off in the daylight and inspect.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

I will admit when i put the top of the shifter back onto the transmission it was pitch black and i did it by feel, i thought there was only one way it could go in, could i have messed something up there?? Im so stumped..

How did you pull the shifter? On a 4-speed it's usually easiest to pull the whole thing from the shift tower and then you can look in thru the hole and see the shift rails inside the trans, but on a ZF you can easily split the shifter itself via the two 8mm bolts under the rubber boot. So basically, did you just remove the upper section of the shifter (with boots attached) thus leaving the lower stub still sticking out of the shift tower, or did you undo the 4 torx (star drive) bolts on the shift tower and pull the entire shifter out? If you just pulled the upper section then I can't see you messing up anything even in pitch dark reassembly, however if you did pull the shift tower stub then it's entirely possible you put it back together wrong - there are some plastic pivot guides in there, and you really wanna make sure all 3 shift rails are in neutral before dropping the shifter back in. You don't have to pull the transmission to check for this, everything will be accessible from inside the cab.

 

[madpogue]

Try putting it in reverse with the engine off, then starting it. I wonder if the clutch is not fully disengaging, and thus blocking reverse engagement. The way you describe how quickly the clutch engages makes me think that's a possibility.

Especially check to see if the shifter moves further into reverse with the engine off vs. engine running.

 

[reklund]

Put the disc in backwards?

 

[bigred*]

How did you pull the shifter? On a 4-speed it's usually easiest to pull the whole thing from the shift tower and then you can look in thru the hole and see the shift rails inside the trans, but on a ZF you can easily split the shifter itself via the two 8mm bolts under the rubber boot. So basically, did you just remove the upper section of the shifter (with boots attached) thus leaving the lower stub still sticking out of the shift tower, or did you undo the 4 torx (star drive) bolts on the shift tower and pull the entire shifter out? If you just pulled the upper section then I can't see you messing up anything even in pitch dark reassembly, however if you did pull the shift tower stub then it's entirely possible you put it back together wrong - there are some plastic pivot guides in there, and you really wanna make sure all 3 shift rails are in neutral before dropping the shifter back in. You don't have to pull the transmission to check for this, everything will be accessible from inside the cab.

Ya i originally pulled the two 8 mm bolts to take the shifter stick off, but the little nub sticking out kept catching on my floor so i couldnt drop it all the way, so i took that part off, with the 4 torx bolts, with thaf off i could see inside the transmission, put a rag in it then it all dropped out, ill pull it back off in the daylight now and see if i messed something up

 

[bigred*]

Put the disc in backwards?

Nope, i have a single mass flywheel with 12-1/4" clutch, it only goes in one way

 

[bigred*]

Well heres the update, pulled the top of the shifter off and nothing looked out of place, just looks like a hip bone going into the transmission.. But now a new problem has arisen this morning messing around with it again, along with the grinding i was getting when in reverse now all of a sudden im gettin the same grinding noise by just leaving it in nuetral! If i let the clutch out in neutral it grinds now! If im pushing the clutch in it sounds fine.. I made a video but i dont know how to upload it

 

[bigred*]

So could my transfer case be causing this?? I havent hooked up my front drive shaft but i also haven't hooked up the 4wd linkage, so i dont know if I'm in 2wd or 4wd or somewhere in between.. Could this cause that? It still goes forward fine, i dont how the t-case would be differnet in reverse..

 

[IDIoit]

grab a cresent wrench and try putting it in neutral

if it goes foward just fine, and not in reverse, the problem is in the tranny.
i still say you did something incorrect, or left something out?

 

[reklund]

You sure the clutch fork is clipped into the throwout bearing properly? can you get the trans in reverse with the engine off as suggested? Upload your video to youtube and post a link here is usually the easiest way.

 

[bigred*]

Well it was the transfer case believe it or not! I really dont understand, but i bolted my 4wd shifter up and it was stuck between 4wd and 2wd, pushed it into 2wd and it was fixed!! All the grinding went away and backed up just fine! Whoo! Theres still one mystery noise, sounds like a faint grinding at low rpm in gear, im not sure if its the engine chugging or actually grinding.. And wow lots of smoke, still need to tune the fuel injection and change all the fluids, but it drove great on the freeway!
Haha and with that turbo, man this thing is a beast

 

[LCAM-01XA]

And this is why I don't like "idiot-proof" shifters - if the shifter detents aren't perfectly matched to those inside the transfer case she'll try to do all sorts of stupid stuff. In this situation I think the grinding was most likely the range fork and slide-collar being stuck between high range and neutral, it was almost in high range but not quite all the way in. If the case was indeed stuck between 2wd and 4hi the grinding would be caused by the mode fork and slide-collar, and it wouldn't cause absence of reverse gears as the only difference between 2wd and 4hi is the chain drive being engaged, the rear output shaft never disengages from the input during that shift so she would have still gone fine in any gear (still would have made scary noises tho, but that would just be the chain drive which has no effect on the rear driveshaft). So yeah, probably 4hi and neutral, you just overshot 4hi when you pushed the lever to 2wd - those things are actually kinda hard to get into the gear you want them in just by hand.