Shifter tower blues

[Mac VP]

We go through this with every transmission shifter housing and every core shifter housing that comes through our shop. Each one is oven baked and media blasted to clean away all the grease, oil, dirt, and rust. Sometimes, they look okay after we take them apart, go through the cleaning process, and then we discover the hidden problems. Believe it or not, the corroded tower actually looked useable before we cleaned it. Sadly, the corrosion also entered the detent plug holes where the threaded section holds the plugs.....badly damaging the threads. The other tower came through the process looking fine...…..until we saw the crack in the casting where a shift rail passes. Both towers had to be rejected for rebuilding purposes. This cleaning and inspection occurs with each and every casting we handle.