[redSVTsnake]

well as some of you know, my transmission went out on me. I just bought the car about 4 months ago. Before i bought the car, the tranny didnt feel right so the dealer agreed to put a new tranny in. A tremec tranny was put in. I think it was the tk3550 (or something like that). Now i have had the new tranny in for about 4k miles, and the input shaft is destroyed. I have not really gotten on the car hard at all and i am amazed that in only 4k miles a strong tranny would just go. The dealer who put the transmission in, said the warranty is voided b/c the only way that a strong tranny like that would go is if it was abused. They are opening the rest of the transmission up today and looking at everything to see if it was a manufacturers defect. I dont really know too much about transmissions like this, but is it normal sometimes for a strong tranny like this to just give out? Thanks for any help!

 

[CMcCarthy]

Your best bet is to try and get Bob Cosby's advice on the subject. He's the manual tranny expert around here.

 

[turbo54]

No way should it have broken. Even abusing it, it will live a long happy life.

To me, it seems clear there was something wrong with the trans from the get go.

 

[Quick Snake]

A dealer would never install a 3550 without you paying for the trans outright. Most likely you did not get a 3650 either as those are usually only used in the 99+ cars. Its probably a good old T-45 tranny. The 98+ T-45s say Tremec on the casing because Tremec bought out Borg Warner and the trans were slightly upgraded and rebadged. These are not the strongest trannies around but should have lasted 4 months without any problems barring extreme abuse like Cosby, myself, and many others have put them through. I would wait to see what the dealer says when its apart and ask them to see what broke and explain to you why.....I blew my T-45 and had to go to directly to SVT to get the dealer to replace it...

 

[redSVTsnake]

A dealer would never install a 3550 without you paying for the trans outright. Most likely you did not get a 3650 either as those are usually only used in the 99+ cars. Its probably a good old T-45 tranny. The 98+ T-45s say Tremec on the casing because Tremec bought out Borg Warner and the trans were slightly upgraded and rebadged. These are not the strongest trannies around but should have lasted 4 months without any problems barring extreme abuse like Cosby, myself, and many others have put them through. I would wait to see what the dealer says when its apart and ask them to see what broke and explain to you why.....I blew my T-45 and had to go to directly to SVT to get the dealer to replace it...

Im pretty sure but not 100% positive that it is the 3550. The service manager was saying it is the 3550 and NOT a t-45. I also saw some paperwork with my name on it and it had tk3550 on it. I am going to go down and look at the tranny tomorrow when it is all apart and out to see if it is infact the 3550. If worse comes to worse, i guess i will have to go to SVT like you did. How did you go about contacting SVT by the way?

 

[BlackHawk]

easiest way to identify is the bellhousing. T-45 is integral and the 3550 would require a seperate bellhousing. IMHO you would not want a 3550 as they don't like shifting at high RPM.

Also a 3550 would be notchy and harsh compared to a t45.

 

[Quick Snake]

I can almost guarantee that it is not a 3550....A dealer would never replace your factory tranny with one of those. Like Blackhawk said they are notchy and most owners would not be happy with one for a normal use street car. If you still have the car pull off the bezel around the shifter. If it has 4 bolts holding on the shifter its a T-45 or 3650....If it has 6 bolts its a 3550 which again is very doubtful.....I believe it was 1-800-ford-SVT that I called. They approved a one time tranny replacement for me and compensated the dealer...

 

[redSVTsnake]

I can almost guarantee that it is not a 3550....A dealer would never replace your factory tranny with one of those. Like Blackhawk said they are notchy and most owners would not be happy with one for a normal use street car. If you still have the car pull off the bezel around the shifter. If it has 4 bolts holding on the shifter its a T-45 or 3650....If it has 6 bolts its a 3550 which again is very doubtful.....I believe it was 1-800-ford-SVT that I called. They approved a one time tranny replacement for me and compensated the dealer...

According to the dealer, the T-45 in my car was replaced with a 3550 by the previous owner. When i bought the car something was wrong with the tranny so they said they were going to replace it with the same kind of tranny that is already in there, and according to them (the dealer) they put in a new 3550. I am going down there today b/c they have my car and i am going to check everything out. Thanks for the number BTW.

 

[BlackHawk]

Is the trans notchy at all? I hated the the 3550, T45 shifts like butter.

 

[redSVTsnake]

im not really sure what you mean by "notchy" but it was a little tougher to get into gear sometimes compared to other t-5's i have driven. Especially first gear, sometimes it seemed like the shifter wouldn't go into first gear unless i jammed it up there. (no i never had to actually jam it into gear, but it seemed like thats what it would have taken)

 

[Bob Cosby]

I'd bet a soda that the last owner installed a tk3650, not a 3550.

To make it work, the 3550 needs a different bellhousing, a modified crossmember, a longer driveshaft, and a different shifter. This is something that drag racers do on occasion, but that's about it.

 

[BlackHawk]

Can the 3650 handle a mechanical speedo though?

I'd bet a soda that the last owner installed a tk3650, not a 3550.

To make it work, the 3550 needs a different bellhousing, a modified crossmember, a longer driveshaft, and a different shifter. This is something that drag racers do on occasion, but that's about it.

 

[Bob Cosby]

No, it probably can't, unless it has been modified. That's a real good point.

 

[Quick Snake]

Thats why I said above thats its probably a good old T-45.....Or it was traded in with a 3550 already in it and the dealer had a connection to replace that one instead of re-modifying everything to geta T-45 back in there

 

[CMcCarthy]

It literally takes 5 minutes to remove the console boot and check it out. Why don't you just do that?

 

[JIMS SVT]

It sounds like everythings already apart.He can prolly just check it out while its on the floor.