how is the shifting in everyones stick GTs? mine sometimes is good, and sometimes is a little notchy. 2nd gear is the most noticeable. now this is the first mustang i have owned, so is this just kinda the personality of the trannys that are in these cars?

 

Mine is fine. All the time.

 

I actually noticed this too, 2nd gear on mine also.

 

Notchy in the shift lever or notchy in the gear box going into 2nd? How 'bout both?

 

mine kind of does it more when ur downshifting to slow down. i guess i should go complain to the dealer when i am in next time!

 

Good luck with that complaint...I have an 05 V6 and have experienced problems getting the transmission into all gears except 3rd. My dealer told me to press the clutch in further...if I do that, my foot will be in the engine bay.

The dealer says ford is aware of the problem, and it has to do with the design and use of rubber gromets in the transmission...who knows. If anybody gets this fixed, let us know how.

 

Mine was also like that until I installed a SCT2 tune & air filter. This is the biggest improvement with the SCT2, although I love the extra power too !

 

Well my Brenspeed SCT2 and JLTII are to arrive tonight, so I'll report back on that, probably in a new post as there are going to be other benefits to the tune and CAI than just that!

However, I also just installed the Saleen short shift adapter and Steeda urethane bushings this weekend. The notchiness in the gearbox going in second seems to have gone away, but the notchiness in the shifter got worse. I miss 3rd a lot more now, I never missed 3rd with the stock setup. I think I'll take out the adapter first and keep the bushings...

 

I found it's a little better if you consciously push the stick to the left while shifting to 2nd.

 

wow you need to return that saleen shifter, and get the steeda tri-ax. it is IMPOSSIBLE to miss third gear with it. and it makes a cool rifle botl sound every time u shift! i guess mustangs just kinda have clunky notchy gearboxes, but who cares i LOVE it, and i bought a mustang not a bmw, so i guess its not supposed to shift as smooth as a honda/bmw.

 

For what its worth I have had the same complaint 2nd and 3rd are the worst ... 5th is the best. Its not consistent, sometimes it engages the syncro blocker rings like a knife through hot butter. Dropping into 1st at a very low speed is worse than notchy ... it literally jumps the blocker rings sometimes. The dealer let me drive an 06 off the lot to compare ... its the same. I think this is a design characteristic Mr Ford expects us to like ... but don't feel too bad, a tech at TREMEC told me Corvettes were having a similar problem. This is strongly associated with this external shifter design. Why its problematic in this way is baffeling, its still a dead simple shifting mechanisum.

 

From what I've heard, this is just the nature of the transmission and shifter. I don't think it's a problem with your particular car. For what its worth, everyone with a manual 2005+ mustang that I've asked has the same complaint.

 

I've noticed notchy shifting from 2 to 3rd on my stock GT. I've also had the shifter totally pop out of gear from 3rd on a hard acceleration...this has happened 2 times. Anyone else?

 

if your car pops out of gear, it definetly has a major tranny problem. take that baby in a get a new tranny slapped in!!or you could do what i did on my 86 celica! the thing used to pop out of 2nd and 4th, so i took a bungy cord, put hook on the back of the center console to hold it, then i would just hook it onto the shifter when i was in 2nd and 4th! no more popping out of gear. lol but this was on a car with 289,000 miles on it that i was using for delivering pizzas. take that mustang into the dealer NOW!

 

Ive driven well over 100 05/06 mustangs now and for the most part the GT shifter is MUCH better then the sn95 with the tremec. I have had most of my stangs with modified shifters(mostly steeda tri-ax units) over time. But with the GT's shifter the harder you try to shift it the harder it gets to get through its gate. Of course when driving spiritedly-especially going for maximum acceleration-we intuitively shift harder to increase the speed of the shift. You either learn to shift gently yet quickly, which is hard to do, or get an aftermarket unit if you really wanna work it to its max potential. The factory tries to find a 'normal' balance of a smooth action for 'normal' people over a firm, positive, and often noisy shift that gearheads like. Its much easier to make a quiet yet snickety snick slick shifter in a 4 cyl engine then a V8. Overall I rate it the best overall stock shifter in a mustang to date.


The V6 on the other hand, is obnoxiously notchy under all conditions. Seing that its the older T5 used in GT stangs for years, I never remember it ever being that bad in older mustangs. Even shifting at moderately fast rates gets it tangled in the gate and it gets 'hung' sometimes in 5th where its a real pain to get it to wiggle back into neutral(or for a 5th to 3rd or 2nd shift) or do anything other then downshift into 4th. If you try to put your palm on the shifter and really slam 3rd home its like a brick wall. 60% of the time I take off briskly in mine or any other V6 I get to just over 60, attempt to bang 3rd home, bounce off the ring and just put it in 4th and give up.....

The T5 also nearly always required the ol' quick 2nd to reverse to get it to synchro into reverse on older GT's, yet its a royal pain to get it into 2nd clean from neutral let alone back to reverse. Its kinda annoying. When its really cold sometimes I have to put it in first and let the clutch JUST engage so I can finally get it to go into reverse. :angry: So unless you are shifting 1/2/3/4/5 you almost always have something that gets your attention to make a gear happen. You can feel how overly soft the rubber bushings are on the V6, it feels like the washers down there are like marshmalow hockey pucks.

 

Most tremecs only let you downshift (like pulling up to an intersection sign you intend to slow roll through) into first by holding light pressure against the ring until it finally lets you drop it in gear. Its been like that with all GT stangs for years. Other HD trannies used throughout the industry like the T56 are even worse.

 

Are you sure it was actually IN 3rd(i.e. you were accellerating in 3rd and THEN it popped out??).... The rather fussy 3rd shift with the long clutch travel and some people having to lean a bit forward to reach the shift at the same time invariably has you lifting the clutch as you shift. This was a lot more common on the old stang with the shifter 4"+ further forward then this car. The 03/04 cobras were super tough to hit 3rd with the incredible thrust and the rediculously long reach on an already notchy tranny. If you are IN 3rd CLEARLY accellerating and THEN popping out, that may be a serious issue.

If I was at a light getting ready for 'go time' or at the track, I would habitually blip the seat a hair forward to make sure I got the tiny bit of extra reach forward for the 3rd shift(and made sure I pinned the clutch pedal at the split second shift). The slightest bit of extra compression in the seat from hard accelleration and the tendency to push hard for third-that little bit of extra leverage (as small as a 1/4" seat movement) made 3rd much more consistant. Cobras with the 6 speed would become a grind-fest if you botched it at all-especially when it pulls like a freight train at the top of 2nd.

 

Could be a bad detent ball.

 

Hey Kevinb120:
Thanks for the insight. When this happened to me it really didn't feel like there was a "problem" with the tranny....I had an inkling that it was ME and not really the car and I think you have validated that.

I'm not all that tall (5'5") and have had a lot of FUN so to speak getting my drivers seat adjusted right. I think you totally hit my problem on the head with your info. That day I probably had my seat reclined back a tiny bit more than usual. I find that with the 2005 I do have to drive a little closer to the wheel than I have been accustomed to in the past with other Mustangs. I also find that I am having to "re-learn" my clutch-in/shifting pattern. I used to be pretty good at the clutch pedal in and shifting into the next gear at almost the same time (with other Mustangs and other cars). Now it seems that I have to retrain myself to get my foot all the way to the floor before shifting...before I had more lee-way it seems.

I do have a friend who races with SCCA who has told me about the performance enhancing aspects to having your seet a little bit more forward when shifting hard, etc.

THANKS for the info!!

 

This has nothing to do with the gearbox.

It's just because the clutch material and springs haven't been properly matched to the tremec.

Bottom line it needs a properly developed clutch plate, about 2 weeks work for a good engineer.