Steve Row

Below is a link to a page of pictures which I took while my transmission was being repaired.

http://temp.corvetteforum.net/c5/steve_row/index5.shtml

This has been a long and drawn out affair. For the time and money spent by GM and/or the dealer, everyone would have been better off if they had just put a new transmission in. However, someone in the chain of command said repair it. I know it was not the mechanic, Joe Hughes, who fought from the beginning for a new trans. The car was at the dealer for a total of nine weeks starting last June. Parts cost was in the neighborhood of $3,000.00. There are 26 different parts listed on the service invoice. I can only guess at labor costs since the trans was reassembled three times due to the wrong parts.

I have only about fifty miles on the car since the repair, but it seems better than new. They put in a new clutch, too. I really think the clutch was the problem. IMHO, it is the weak link in the drivetrain. The new clutch feels great, much less pedal pressure and great feedback compared to the old one. The trans feels very solid. No noise, even in neutral. The shifter falls into gear now. Before the repair, I had to push or yank pretty hard to get it into gear. Fourth gear always ground at high RPM and third gear was beginning to do it. End the end it would not go into fourth at any RPM without grinding horribly and then it would pop out.

I give Joe Hughes and the service writer Bill Buckly a lot of credit for sticking to it, getting the job done and putting up with a lot from me. I was constantly bringing information to them from a variety of sources including this forum. One of the best things was about the shift forks. I think it was Crashed 94 who said that the shift fork wears at the shift rail causing the fork to rock back and forth. This means that the gear never becomes fully engaged unless you sort of "throw" it in by shifting very hard. Quite a difference from throwing it to having it fall into gear.

A couple of other tidbits:

GM part number for the M12 trans - 12561852

Price - GM list price $3564.29, GM Wholesale price $3029.65, GM Performance Parts $2895.00, {Non-supporting vendor} $2495.00 (plus handling charge).

Tremec homepage -
http://www.ttcautomotive.com/English/home/home.asp

A complete transmission rebuild manual is available for download from Tremec's site.

Luk Clutches homepage
http://www.luk-us.com/index_flash.phtml

Luk is the supplier of the Corvette clutch.

While I hope no one else has to go thru this battle, I am sure there are many more with transmissions and clutches going south on their Vettes.

Happy Holidays! :D


[Modified by Steve Row, 1:08 AM 12/21/2002]

Chris@East Coast Supercharging

Great informative post.. Merry X-Mas :cheers: :cheers: :seeya

Steve Row

Check out the pic's of the Z06 rear and the parking brake, too.

brent eb02

steve....great info hope all is well now...

i know mine was better than new after my rebuild also...

hope to see you at the track soon......