t5 transmission

Asked by gscjeep Feb 02, 2011 at 10:44 PM about the 1983 Jeep CJ-7

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Have a 1983 CJ-7 with a straight 6-258 engine. Has a t5 transmission which I just had rebuilt less than 2 months ago because the teeth on the third gear broke off and caused some damage to other gears as well. Now less than two months later teeth on third gear broke off again. Mechanic says it is nothing he did wrong and won't back up his work. Keeps saying it's cause the parts are made in China or something. I have just been using the Jeep to go back and forth to work and am not placing to much stress on it, haven't even gone 4 wheeling since the rebuild. Are the parts in the t5 really that cheap or is my mechanic just ripping me off?

8 Answers

1,825

I don't know if I would say the transmission is cheap, but there is a huge difference between parts made in china and parts made here. In my opinion they don't use very good base materials, it seems like anything I've ever got that was cast in china isn't the same quality as something cast here, I broke 5 harbor freight pitman arm pullers before I bought a made in USA one to get the job done, it looked identical but definitely performed better. Typically if its a part under stress I look for domestic made parts, but if its something easy to change i'll go with chinese ones. I don't think I would ever use chinese gears to rebuild a transmission in my cars. I'm not going to say they suck at building parts, because they are all within tolerance, they just use crappy materials. I know it sucks, but I'm going to have to side with your mechanic on this one, unless he chose to put chinese gears in it. If he had the option of good gears and chose the crappy ones I would at least try to get him to cover the labor to re-repair it with the right parts this time.

3 people found this helpful.
20

I have an 83 cj, within 50k miles the 5 speed transmission went out twice, I found a borg warner t-18 trans 4 speed granny low off an old pu truck and used a novac conversion (not as hard as it sounds) and 20 years later never any trouble and can climb and pull 100% better

2 people found this helpful.
30

I had a problem like this a while back. After having mine worked on under waranty twice in two months I was also told it wasnt the rebuilders fault and i was doing something wrong.Long story short my housing was worn and had slack on that shaft in the journals.I found a place that did exchange for a good core and my core was bad but i had no more trouble after that.

1 people found this helpful.
20,015

I built a bunch of t5's back in the day.....3rd gear and cluster gear. Cruisin speed in low range....weak trans for the job. They should have gone more heavy duty. What did they think it would be used for? Just drivin to the store?????I dont think so......

4 people found this helpful.
110

Hi I just bought a cj7 1984 with 4.2 LT 5 speed all stock im having problems going into 2gear and 3rd gear also there is some grinding metal noise. I took it to a mechanical shop and they told me that the transmission and clutch are bad.what would be the best option to rebuild it or buy a new one ? What can I do to have more speed /power ? Thanks guys Fabio

11 people found this helpful.
70

have information on my 83 CJ7 w Pontiac 4 cylinder engine, w a 5 speed transmission, is the 5th gear an overdrive, my book says it has a five-speed transmission with an overdrive. Is the 5th gear supposed to be an overdrive

4 people found this helpful.
70

I have a question is the 5th gear in a 83 cj7 an overdrive as dubiously referred to in a book I have, I am very confused at this point

3 people found this helpful.
10

unless you live in a pretty flat area youll hardly ever b able to put her in 5th and just go. i have one in a 83 and unless im on a flat i dont even try it,it is refered to as "overdrive" but fairly unusable in any kind of hilly area

1 people found this helpful.

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