[shorton]

Hi folks,
I've had a bit of unusual slack time lately, and I am making rounds to fix problems on my 96 F250 5-speed. I have a transmission oil leak at the top of the tranny at the shifter. I have pulled up the boot in the cab and have verified wet fluid there. Can someone please clarify the following:
- Removal of the shifter is only the 4 allen head screws? I noted some other bolts nearby and slight below the allen screws I believe. How deep do I need to go?
- Can someone recommend the gaskets that need to be replaced? Or is some other sealer used at these joints?
- I thought I would replace the fluid at the same time. Is Mercon automatic fluid still the wisdom on what to replace it with?
- Any other issues to beware?
Thanks very much to the folks who follow this forum.
regards,
stephen

 

[Bernhardt]

Can't answer you on where the seals are/how deep you need to go. The mercon is fine, but I use the RedLine D4 ATF - it's basically a runny gear oil made for manual trannies that want ATF. I've got about 200k on my truck with it in it, and it shifts very nicely.

 

[K.N.94PSD]

Stephen,

If I remember correctly, you'll need to remove the the 4 phillips head screws attaching the shift boots to the floor of the cab. Then slip the boot up and unscrew the bolts attaching the shifter to the stub on top of the tranny. Now you can remove the 4 allen head bolts attaching the flange plate to the top of the tranny, which retains the smaller transmission shift boot. This boot is available from either Ford or ZF. There is also a paper gasket under the flange plate, which should be replaced when this stamped steel plate is removed.
As far a the fluid to run in this ZF tranny, only run a synthetic. Synthetic Mercon is required and Castrol TranSynd was recommended by ZF. You can get the Castrol TranSynd fluid from Allison Transmission dealers/service centers.

Hope it helps,
K.N.

 

[Patrick Feeley]

Here's what I found:

The boot is ZF# 1307 306 236 or Ford# F4TZ 7277A
The snap ring for the boot is ZF# 0730 505 093 or Ford E7TZ 7D152A
The gasket is ZF# 1249 306 426, but is only available as part of a kit so you may need to make your own if you need a new one (if the old one is OK, I'd probably just give both sides a very light coat of RTV).

There is also the gear shift housing that the shifter stub sits in that is sealed with a gasket (again only part of a kit) to the transmission case, so inspect that area too. Cheers!