FG140 shifting gears

[biggoolies]

Hi:
I have bought a 2006 fg140 and I am finding the 5 speed standard a bit difficult to shift. Shifting gears is not smooth and sometimes there is a bit of a "clunk" when I shift. Is this normal? The dealership said that since these trucks have a heavy duty rear end and the shifting is not like a car to shift but a bit more difficult. Is that what you experience with your truck?

Thanks in advance.

Darcy

 

[kerry]

I find no significant difference in shifting my FG and an automobile. FG's are known for having syncro problems.

 

[mog]

My FG is a little older as a 2002 (60K mileage) and it shifts like a hot knife through butter. Very smooth and nice. No 'clucks' ever.

 

[2500ak]

Have you tried double clutching? If a manual trans has bad syncros then they usually shift better when double clutched (like you have to do with a non-synchronized trans).

1) Put the clutch in
2) Drag the shifter into neutral
3) clutch out
4) Clutch in again
5) Next gear

Repeat for next gear, if the trans has no problem doing this then it could definitely be syncros.

 

[biggoolies]

shifting

Hi I drove it today and I was more gentle with the shifting. It seems better as I get used to it but it certainly isn't knife through butter rather knife through cheese.

 

[kerry]

Make sure your clutch is releasing fully.

 

[DzlToy]

typical tool bag at the dealership... A heavy duty "rear end" has absolutely nothing to do with how your transmission goes from one gear to another.

wow.....

 

[biggoolies]

rear end

Your right how can a rear end have anything to do with shifting. What was I thinking. I was talking to the service manager who really was an idiot. IMHO

 

[kerry]

I'd definitely get it figured out as you don't want to damage the transmission. There's an adjustment to the clutch at the pedal under the dash and also an adjustment at the slave cylinder I think. How many miles are on it? There is no syncro for first gear by the way. Put it in another gear before going into first.

 

[biggoolies]

Thanks for the info Kerry. I noticed I had to come to a complete stop to put it in first. I will look at the adjustments. The truck has 20000 miles on it. Also, after driving it yesterday for quite a distance, when I came to a full stop, it rev'd up to about 2500 rpm on its own. Once I started off again, the revs slowed down, but once I stopped again, it did the same thing. Another thing. When I was driving down the highway I looked at the guages and to my surprise, the temperature guage was near overheating but it would drop back down. When I turned the heater fan on hot or cold, the temperature guage would surge up. :Wow1:

 

[kerry]

Check your manual throttle switch to make sure it is off. Sounds like you have a short or bad ground in the instrument panel.

 

[Amesz00]

things to remember if it is a dash-mounted gearshift, is that the shifter linkages run forwards under the front of the cab (for the pivot), then backwards about 5ft to the gearbox. possibly what the guy at the dealer meant when he said 'heavy duty rear end' was that the gearbox is a heavy truck box not a light-duty passenger vehicle gearbox? i dunno.
also i find the boxes on these trucks (new or run-in) seem to like being double-clutched, they just seem to slide into gear so much easier than when clutched once.
Andrew

 

[biggoolies]

Ahh I was adjusting a button while I was driving yesterday. I guess is the manual throttle switch as Kerry mentioned. Anyways, I turned it off. So much to learn about these trucks yet. I got it past the border today and it is officially in Canada. Now to do the conversion.

 

[westyss]

congratulations on the truck and good luck with the build, Im in Abbotsford with a 2007 fg.Really pretty simple trucks, the only other thing that some times cause some confusion is the vacuum brake, the manual says to not leave it on while driving but to flip the lever when braking or needed, otherwise not much to it.