My Tremec TKO arrived yesterday, my son had UPS put it in the garage cuz I wasn't there. When I got home, I immediately noticed that the input shaft and tail had both bonked through the ends of the box. I put the trans on my bench, and looked it over. There is some lateral end play on the input shaft, I don't know how much is acceptable. But grabbing the input shaft, in neutral, I can not turn it. It rotates a few degrees, clunks solid against something, and the same thing with a twist the other way. That's just with my hands, as hard as I can twist. Shouldn't I be able to turn it reasonably freely? BTW, I have installed the shift lever and have moved the shift forks through all positions multiple times. I definitely have it in neutral.

There are some pleasant surprises. I ended up buying my kit from Classic Chevy 5 Speed. Some other guys said they put a spring in their shifter to help with center feel. Based on that, I thought the stock Tremec would be vague. It's pretty darn crisp, and snaps back to center from both sides in neutral. It is much crisper and precise than our Subaru 5speed. That's cool!

Anyway, should I be able to twist the input shaft with it sitting on my bench?

No, Gibbons (you should put you name in the "User CP" section, top left so we know what to call you) the gears should be tight. That is why they do the break in procedure. Mine was real noisy and shifted hard until I did the break in with the wheels up and it gradually got nice and smooth. The main shaft has gears on it and I imagine that it's a job to turn them by hand. Be sure to call "GM Jim" at Classic Chevy if you have questions. He knows his stuff and is very helpful.

The sloppy shifter thing came from an east coast vendor who built the first offset shifter. I had one and it was very sloppy. The factory stock, centered, shifter and the McLeod offset shifter feel just like a new car and have a very positive feel. I have the offset shifter in my car and I love it.

Be sure to remove the black, groved rubber ring from the rear shaft. It's easy not to see it and it took me an hour to fish it out when it got pushed in past the rear seal. Good luck. You'll love it.

Chuck

oh and dont forget when you're taking out the rear rubber protection peice dont rip the rear seal like i did. The rear seal has a dust boot, put a flat head uder it to lift it up to grab the rubber peice with pliers. You can see how i messed that up here...http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=196181&highlight=700r

I finally got time to start reading some documentation with the trans, and came across this on a sheet called "Installation Tips"...

>> "Pre-Installation.. While unlikely, the transmission may be stuck between gears if the transmission was placed on end during shipment. (bold) Before installing the transmission into the vehicle (unbold), make sure that the transmission turns freely. Simply turn the input shaft by hand and attempt to shift the transmision into each gear. If you are unable to turn, or shift the transmission, please contact the distributor where you purchased your transmiioin. for further instructons.
>>

Hmmmm.... I think my transmission took a ride on end during shipment, even though it has big orange "Fragile, this end up" stickers on it. It looks like there was some chaos during shipping. Obviously it was up-ended multiple times, as the greasy mark from the tail shaft centers several places. Click the thumbnails and tell me what you think. The doughnut shipping seal on the output shaft is crammed in flush with the end of the shaft, way past the seal. So, it got banged around on the seal. That can't be good. Dang, one of the reasons I was swapping from the TH400 was so I didn't have to deal with its leaking rear seal! :)

My supplier doesn't open until Monday, but I am kinda queezy today. Comforting opinions out there, anyone?

mine looked the SAME WAY when i got it and i was worried. I could not turn it by hand. I put the shifter on and went through all the gears. I could barely get it into 5th. Slide the yoke on the tailshaft and try to turn it while someone goes through the gears. once you get in all the gears it should free up.

Ken-
Your transmission is likely fine. On Monday we will help walk you through the steps to make sure it is OK.
To provide further comfort, in the off chance that something was jarred during shipping, we will be there for you. We ship out hundreds of these each month and while UPS damage does happen, it is VERY rare. The way your box looks is typical after a one way trip with UPS.
Evreything will work out fine in the end.

After looking closely at your picture of your box i just looked in my box and it looks alot worse. I drove my cars through all the gears and they worked fine. I have a terrible vibration but thats in the works of getting fixed. I think its from the flywheel being out of balance but we'll soon find out.

like Jeff said, you'll be fine

How about that for good service on a Sunday night! It's stuff like this with these guys that reinforces my confidence in my vendor choice. Thanks Jeff.

How about that for good service on a Sunday night! It's stuff like this with these guys that reinforces my confidence in my vendor choice. Thanks Jeff.

That's why I bought mine from Jeff too. You will be ok. These are pretty tough trannys.