A833 OD shift mechanism
Again my rods are fine but my mechansim I think is jamming
If you are trying to shift this unit on the bench, then, yes it can jam;
But if no, this is not your circumstance; then you can skip the rest of this post.
>This jamming, with the A833, happens all the time and here's why;
the stinking brass gets in the way.
What I mean is this; with the input gear Not spinning, then neither is the cluster nor any of the M/S gears. So when you try to select a gear, the slider moves out, with the struts in tow. The struts push the brass ahead which very often instantly clamps the brake cone of whatever gear you are selecting, because it is not spinning. Now, if the brass has jammed a half-a-tooth off, the slider has no way to move it over, and there it stays. You the shifter-guy interpret this as having jammed.
Now, lets say you give up on that gear and go to select a different gear. It can happen that this different gear lines up somewhat perfectly, or the brass doesn't grab the brake cone quite as hard, so you get a successful bench shift. But it can also happen that the first gear that you earlier selected is still jammed and so, effectively, the trans is now sortof in two gears at once, and neither the Input gear Nor the M/S can be rotated...... until you force the brass to let go, by sternly rotating one of those two shafts. This will uncouple the non-selected brass from the brake, and now the input can be rotated.
I repeat, this is a common occurrence with this trans because in most cases, the brass blocker-rings do an excellent job.
I can assure you that once you install the trans, this will only ever happen if BOTH the driveshaft and the clutch disc have simultaneously come to a stop, which is sort of a rarity, unless you have a lot of clutch-departure; and it mostly only ever happens in First gear.
The cure for this is to select a gear before the car comes to a complete stop.
But, if this does happen atta stop, then just take your foot off the clutch, which will then spin up the input gear, then put the pedal down and try again; "snick", in it will go. Boy; there's a word you don't get to use very often!
>By the way. Most of your shifting problems will come from the levers shifting on the shift-studs where the nuts are. Those slots and pins, almost universally have been banged out over the years, and the nuts cannot hold an adjustment. The cure for me, has been to take the nuts off, and fill the cavity with red loc-tite, which dries hard as glass, then re-install the nuts. I do this with the cover on the bench so that I can lay the cover down on it's face in an effort to prevent the loc-tite from wicking up the pin, cuz if it does, it will be impossible to shift. Further, while the Loc-tite is curing, I go over and shift the thing to make sure it is not seizing. So far this strategy has always worked.
But I have also had to do this with the trans installed. My guess is that I have been pretty lucky cuz, again, so far no lock-ups have occurred, even tho, I don't spare the Loc-tite.
>As for biasing the shifter for a fast 2-3 shift;
I used to do that too, and It does work.
But around town , granny shifting, if the mechanism is working correctly, I found it to often be annoying.
>Oh yeah, the reason that the brass has sharp pointy teeth on it, is to steer the slider and clutch-teeth into alignment, for to complete the shift.
While driving, now,
If the brass grabs the brake before alignment occurs, then the shift, very often cannot be completed. or
If the strut springs are lazy, then the struts may not keep up with the slider and now the gear you are trying to select will not stop in a timely manner, but you don't know this is happening in these micro-seconds, until the slider smacks into the still-spinning gear and you force the shift with the shifter.
It grinds a lil, and at first, you don't register a problem.
But, over time, the teeth get all chipped off, and the slider is grinding more and more, and in frustration, you take the trans down, see the damage, and order all new parts as may be required. But say you do not replace the strut springs, and so now you are going down the same road again.
The cure for this, is rarely, replacing the springs.
The cure is to de-glaze the brake cones and prefitting the brass to make sure they bite, and sit high on the brake cones; and finally, to stretch those stinking strut springs out a ways, to create more pressure on the struts, so that they have to keep up to the slider, for as long as possible.
>Finally, as to oil.
My recommendation is to run 100% Dextron II. This will give you the fastest shifts, if the brake-cones are biting. However, that ATF is not particularly good for protecting the cluster pin from wearing ...... so I run 50% EPL, Extreme Pressure Lubricant such as 85/90 gear-oil, and now I no longer have to replace worn pins.
I also cannot recommend any full-synthetic lubricant, which IMHO, is just too slippery, and provides way more wear-protection than is necessary.
My experience goes like this;
I installed it and immediately ran into slow shifting, and at 7200 that sucks. Even at 6000 it was slower than the Full ATF.
I took the trans down, FOUR times that week, trying to make it work. I cut channels in the brake cones. I cut channels in the brass, I biased the polish on the cones. And finally, I ground out every second tooth on the Second-gear clutch teeth, and also on the sliders.This worked pretty good, But just for the heck of it, I took the trans down and apart,one more time, and thoroughly washed that Full-synthetic trans oil out, then replaced it with a fresh charge of 50/50,
Holy cow! Now it shifted like lightning.
I was so impressed, I took it down yet again, and slick-shifted Third as well.
I am a streeter, running 3.55s, So I didn't bother modifying "Fourth". Nor First, cuz who speed-shifts down into First, not me! And, top of Third gear for me is 113mph @7000, so I don't need to get into Fourth in any hurry. And it's a stinking lot of work cutting those teeth out.
Now; that was, IDK 2003 or maybe 4, and the trans has not been apart since. I'm a happy happy guy.