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Old 05-05-2018, 06:16 AM   #1
roy green coupe
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Default My Mitchell synchro trans experience

I wanted to make our coupe easier for my wife to drive so after much research on this forum and others I decided to order a synchronized transmission from Mitchell manufacturing. I ordered it through Snyders and waited a couple of months and they were nice enough to call and make sure I still wanted it before they shipped.
I was very impressed with how well the trans was packed and it arrived in good condition. A nice professional looking folder with instructions was included. I took several months to get the trans installed since I did a bunch of other things to the car over the winter.
Finally the day came where I could take the car out for a test. I was primarily focused on the brake adjustments and not the trans , I was so confident it would be fine. Well as others have commented second gear was pretty noisy, probably louder than my stock trans but shifted into high nice and smooth .
This is the part where things take a turn, as soon as I let off the throttle the trans popped out of gear. Well, back to the garage. I have bought other expensive aftermarket parts that didnt work as promised so I guess I shouldnt have been surprised.
In the paperwork that came with the trans there was a page dedicated to what to do if your trans "slides out of first or third gear after installation". Answer: Shift Tower Repositioning.
They go through several things to check after you tear the car back apart and pull the top off the trans. Check the Real Deal oil seal to make sure not interfering with shift rails, check for burrs in holes preventing cover from sliding forward as much as possible, remove gasket from between bell housing and trans top ( only .011" thick) , push shift tower forward as far as possible.
Another test, same result. Its a good thing I like working on old cars. One thing I noticed was when I put the top on it was apparent that the shift fork was too far rearward to line up with the shift collar when in neutral. Attempting to measure this seemed to confirm that moving the cover forward would be a fix but would require removing about .020 " of metal from the front of the shift tower.
Why would a brand new 2000.00 trans need to have this done? There are alot of places for the tolerances to stack up here. The shift fork is made by them,the shift rail with its detent positons is made by them. Perhaps the location of the synchro on the mainshaft varies from one case to the other ?
One thing I am sure of is this problem was built in and has nothing to do with what car it went in. With that said and the fact that Mitchell knows this is a problem and tells you so, I feel this should have been corrected before it was shipped.
The good news is after I machined the cover, basically enough to move forward as much as possible without slotting or enlarging the bolt holes, it now seems ok. I am a little concerned about the plastic shift pads on the forks wearing since this synchro seems to barely work when they are new. I feel very lucky that I didnt have to take this thing out and ship it 3000 miles and wait who knows how long for it to get fixed .
I found many other folks who seem to have had no problems with their Mitchell transmissions. I guess its a crapshoot if you get a good one, shouldnt be that way.
If I had to do this again I wouldnt take a chance on it unless I knew that Mitchell was addressing this problem. Some might ask " did you call Mitchell?". No, I did not , they already know there is a potential problem and said so in the instructions. Cost me 2000.00 and alot of stress to find this out.
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Old 05-05-2018, 07:22 AM   #2
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Default Re: My Mitchell synchro trans experience

I don't have a Mitchell, but if I had the extra funds, I would consider one. Even though the instructions mention your problem, I think a call would have been the proper thing to do. They may have had a solution short of altering the transmission that may have involved returning just the shift tower.
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Old 05-05-2018, 07:29 AM   #3
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Default Re: My Mitchell synchro trans experience

I have the Mitchell, works fine besides just a little tranny oil leaking.
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Old 05-05-2018, 07:51 AM   #4
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Default Re: My Mitchell synchro trans experience

What I find amazing is why anyone would throw $2,000 at a tranny with NO 1st gear synchro. Apparently they never shift into 1st while rolling? I tried a vehicle with a Mitchell for about 10 miles in city stop-go traffic. Hated it for that reason.

You are absolutely correct about their lack of fitting the assembled tower they send to the box. A few simple Go / NoGo fixtures in their shop would fix this before it went out the door.

As to the plastic (likely nylon) fork fingers, this is common on many transmissions and if you are a constant city traffic shift banger you may only get 10,000 miles out of a set. Likely will last the 1st owner's lifetime in an A.
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Old 05-05-2018, 09:35 AM   #5
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Default Re: My Mitchell synchro trans experience

I bought an early overdrive unit second hand and had some questions so I called them,I didn't expect much given the age of the splitter and that I didn't buy it from them.

They answered all my questions as if I just put in an order for ten new ones,first class customer service..


plastic fork fingers reduce vibration and noise,they are common on late model stuff.
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Old 05-05-2018, 10:10 AM   #6
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Default Re: My Mitchell synchro trans experience

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Originally Posted by Railcarmover View Post
I bought an early overdrive unit second hand and had some questions so I called them,I didn't expect much given the age of the splitter and that I didn't buy it from them.

They answered all my questions as if I just put in an order for ten new ones,first class customer service..


plastic fork fingers reduce vibration and noise,they are common on late model stuff.
Agree, the best customer service from the mitchells.
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Old 05-06-2018, 08:59 AM   #7
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Default Re: My Mitchell synchro trans experience

Quote:
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What I find amazing is why anyone would throw $2,000 at a tranny with NO 1st gear synchro. Apparently they never shift into 1st while rolling? I tried a vehicle with a Mitchell for about 10 miles in city stop-go traffic. Hated it for that reason.

You are absolutely correct about their lack of fitting the assembled tower they send to the box. A few simple Go / NoGo fixtures in their shop would fix this before it went out the door.

As to the plastic (likely nylon) fork fingers, this is common on many transmissions and if you are a constant city traffic shift banger you may only get 10,000 miles out of a set. Likely will last the 1st owner's lifetime in an A.
I agree this could easily be fixed before shipment. Somewhere along the process a decision was made to simply let it go. Let the customer figure it out. There is really no excuse . This is not good business and insults the customer. No amount of good customer service can compensate for lack of quality control. The best products don't need warranty repairs.
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Old 05-06-2018, 10:31 AM   #8
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Default Re: My Mitchell synchro trans experience

What would have me concerned is there's .020 between it popping out of gear and staying meshed,that's a fine line,but they are stuffing two synchros in a case that wasn't designed for it.They ship without the shift tower on the transmission I assume,wonder why they don't set them up and dowel pin the tower/case so on final assembly you hit the spot dead on?.With a .020 variance pinning would give some peace of mind in my opinion.
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Old 05-06-2018, 12:17 PM   #9
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Default Re: My Mitchell synchro trans experience

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Originally Posted by Railcarmover View Post
What would have me concerned is there's .020 between it popping out of gear and staying meshed,that's a fine line,but they are stuffing two synchros in a case that wasn't designed for it.They ship without the shift tower on the transmission I assume,wonder why they don't set them up and dowel pin the tower/case so on final assembly you hit the spot dead on?.With a .020 variance pinning would give some peace of mind in my opinion.
a

Railcarmover,

That seems like the best solution. We do have to remember that many of the suppliers of Model A parts are small businesses and we need their products. I'm sure they would appreciate helpful suggestions to improve their product instead of angry calls.

I noted that the original poster said he ordered it through Snyders. I would think Snyders would have some responsibility as well unless they just have it shipped by Mitchell to the buyer.

Living in Southern California, I would rather drive up north to pick it up from the factory. It's a good excuse to continue on to Lake Tahoe!

Now that we know the problem, it might be a good idea to ask if they can ship it with the shift tower installed and tested.

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Old 05-07-2018, 01:40 PM   #10
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Default Re: My Mitchell synchro trans experience

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Originally Posted by MikeK View Post
What I find amazing is why anyone would throw $2,000 at a tranny with NO 1st gear synchro. Apparently they never shift into 1st while rolling?
That's a good point. In Australia we'd call it a "Clayton's syncro tranny", the syncro tranny you have when you're not having a syncro tranny.
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Old 05-08-2018, 10:56 PM   #11
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Default Re: My Mitchell synchro trans experience

Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeK View Post
What I find amazing is why anyone would throw $2,000 at a tranny with NO 1st gear synchro. Apparently they never shift into 1st while rolling? I tried a vehicle with a Mitchell for about 10 miles in city stop-go traffic. Hated it for that reason.
I have a 38 truck with a 4sp. All straight gears, love the Mitchell. Works for me.
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Old 05-10-2018, 10:02 AM   #12
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Default Re: My Mitchell synchro trans experience

Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeK View Post
What I find amazing is why anyone would throw $2,000 at a tranny with NO 1st gear synchro. Apparently they never shift into 1st while rolling? I tried a vehicle with a Mitchell for about 10 miles in city stop-go traffic. Hated it for that reason.

You are absolutely correct about their lack of fitting the assembled tower they send to the box. A few simple Go / NoGo fixtures in their shop would fix this before it went out the door.

As to the plastic (likely nylon) fork fingers, this is common on many transmissions and if you are a constant city traffic shift banger you may only get 10,000 miles out of a set. Likely will last the 1st owner's lifetime in an A.
Don't think it's amazing at all but to each his own. I really like mine as does my wife. I like it primarily due to ease of downshifting into second. Whereas with the original set-up we tended to either keep it in third lugging the engine or grind gears in second. While synchronized first is nice, we're stopped anyway and going to first. Even later than the Model A era, transmissions didn't have synchro first for quite awhile. I think we're lucky they could fit synchros for second and third within an original case.
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Old 05-05-2018, 11:18 AM   #13
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Default Re: My Mitchell synchro trans experience

... Found answer in post #1

Last edited by Benson; 05-05-2018 at 10:46 PM.
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Old 05-07-2018, 03:02 PM   #14
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Default Re: My Mitchell synchro trans experience

That's the main reason I went with the F150 overdrive solution. I not only got synchromesh in all gears, but got overdrive at the same time.
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Old 05-08-2018, 12:35 AM   #15
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Default Re: My Mitchell synchro trans experience

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That's the main reason I went with the F150 overdrive solution. I not only got synchromesh in all gears, but got overdrive at the same time.
That's the best move IMHO.
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Old 05-08-2018, 01:42 AM   #16
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Default Re: My Mitchell synchro trans experience

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That's the main reason I went with the F150 overdrive solution. I not only got synchromesh in all gears, but got overdrive at the same time.
X2 with what Carl said!
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Old 05-08-2018, 11:24 AM   #17
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Default Re: My Mitchell synchro trans experience

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That's the main reason I went with the F150 overdrive solution. I not only got synchromesh in all gears, but got overdrive at the same time.

I agree with you but probably many go for the Mitchell despite the price and no syncro on 1st because it fits without cutting the car up and without roaming ebay or car graveyards for a suitable tranny.

My preferred option is the syncro "55mph in 2nd gear" Ruckstell transmission, see:

https://books.google.com/books?id=n-...rdrive&f=false


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Old 05-08-2018, 01:13 PM   #18
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Default Re: My Mitchell synchro trans experience

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I agree with you but probably many go for the Mitchell despite the price and no syncro on 1st because it fits without cutting the car up and without roaming ebay or car graveyards for a suitable tranny.

My preferred option is the syncro "55mph in 2nd gear" Ruckstell transmission, see:

https://books.google.com/books?id=n-...rdrive&f=false


In my case, there was no "cutting the car up", nor "roaming eBay or car graveyards". The kit I bought was a complete bolt in kit, installed in a weekend, complete with no extra parts needed.
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Old 05-08-2018, 03:36 PM   #19
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Default Re: My Mitchell synchro trans experience

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In my case, there was no "cutting the car up", nor "roaming eBay or car graveyards". The kit I bought was a complete bolt in kit, installed in a weekend, complete with no extra parts needed.
Okay, sounds great. Where does one buy the kit you have? Price?
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Old 05-08-2018, 09:52 PM   #20
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Default Re: My Mitchell synchro trans experience

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That's the main reason I went with the F150 overdrive solution. I not only got synchromesh in all gears, but got overdrive at the same time.
I'd like one of those transmissions in my car but....
As I understand it, the cross member has to be cut some. Not allowed here!
Adapting for RHD isn't easy or cheap.
I've done well enough with the synchro tranny and O/D by Mitchell - a good combination.
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