Freightliner transmission nightmare

[zorry]

The first few generation autoshift had a clutch pedal: 3 pedal auto's. The new autoshift's have clutches but they are computer controlled. Driver has no input. These are 2 pedal auto's. We're talking manual trans style clutches. Not a torque converter,fluid,cluthes and valves like a typical car style automatic.

 

[davekc]

ok...I thought he was doing a manual shift on it.

 

[usafk9]

If it's in the truck in the picture, it's a synchronized tranny, with a clutch pedal. No 'puter in it, Rich.

 

[zorry]

Yeah, he said he had a manual trans. Then he asked what an automated trans was. I was just explaining what an automated trans is. There's no doubt he does not have one. And he doesn't want to order one.

 

[tknight]

I can assure you all, it has a clutch, my left knee confirms this when driving in heavy Chicago traffic, and after a long haul, I just wish frightliner could get the names and numbers straight on this truck, comon, it aint rocket science, or is it just brain surgury? And yes it is the black beast in the picture, it only has 280k mile on it, so this is way premature for a transmission.

tk

 

[tknight]

ABPR26P660MECXC01 Parts at TruckPaper.com: Your source for parts for used trucks and trailers.

There is one with the matching part number (the first one you gave) in New York.

They list it but dont have it there has to be dropped shipped but its an option 3800.00 plus freight

 

[tknight]

UPDATE: Trans has been removed, first look see, was the main shaft is moving in and out 2 inchs, and the main front bearing has failed, as in all the bearings were floating loose in the bell housing, more to follow when I take it to columbus to the only place I could find who would tackle that designed and engineered german thing....so far $700 invested in towing and removal.

tk

 

[leezaback]

I put columbus freightliner on my-never again list ! truck 1 yr old-went in small problem came out 150 miles down the road-turbo burnt up.-thank goodness for warentee-I always seem to get the new guy! 14 hrs sitting on a plastic chair-not fun.

 

[tknight]

I put columbus freightliner on my-never again list ! truck 1 yr old-went in small problem came out 150 miles down the road-turbo burnt up.-thank goodness for warentee-I always seem to get the new guy! 14 hrs sitting on a plastic chair-not fun.

Not dealing with fyda in columbus, took the trans into goodale in columbus, seems to be the fairest and best i could find, 795 flat rate for rebuild + parts, which is the scary part, time will tell, I'll keep ya posted.

tk

 

[tknight]

My frightliner commentary of the day is as follows:
;$;:&/:&:$;$;&/@/@/$:$);$:$$:$$$/////:$;$($;$($$::;);$; so there it is!
Tk

 

[tknight]

The smiles are me trying to keep a positive outlook as i lose more jobs everyhour

 

[tknight]

The smiles are me trying to keep a positive outlook as i lose more jobs everyhour

I'm really trying hard to be positive on this, after giving in and spending 5 grand this morning for a new transmission, (factory rebuilt, was the only option) clutch pressure plate, and fiberglass plastic mounted throw-out bearing, I thought i was sure on the way to getting my truck back working by the middle of next week, The trannie has to be shipped from New jersey, no big deal, which puts me at monday to get it to dayton, oh to have it put in, I have to drive back to columbus, oh to recover my old trans, that the rebuilder couldn't even get a schematic, or find a source for parts, seems frightliner/mercedes, has put a stop to any parts being sold to anyone other than frightliner dealers, no parts are even available anyways, just rebuilt units. I now find myself hunting once again for another mysterious part, the clutch is made by sachs, in w. germany, and uses a spline unlike others, which have 10 splines on the alignment tool, and I need one that has 18 splines..! guess what, I've been searching high and low, NADA

Frightliner says to just make my own, I guess I'll start with a 1 5/8 dowel, and grind the end down to fit the pilot bearing, I'm handy, and frustrated, after I get over this hurdle I'm gonna ship it mercedes-benz in germany along with a small jar of vasoline, with sand mixed into it, with explicit instructuions for them to follow! I'm betting I can't find a dowel that diameter. Any ideas, I've even gone into the freightliner shop and asked if they had 1 could borrow, no one was willing to part with it, most said, hey didn't have one.

()_*%&%^#&%$#^#^*%#$*%^*&%^)(^*(^_(*&_)(&++()*+_*
NO SMILEYS HERE

TK

 

[pearlpro]

This isn5t a space shuttle, its a truck, a common truck and one they made THOUSANDS of so what has happened to the PARTS, The CORES rebuilders use to use were probably bought up at a good profit by Freightliner, and now you have this issue that shouldnt be costing your your Left N## but it seems they really have the parts market by the ball$. Its why I said switch to an Auto-trans and I think I would have looked to see what it would cost, Id make sure I have a written warranty and Id be sure who ever puts that in is a QUALIFIED and CERTIFIED Factory Authorized mechanic, no way for them to wiggle out .....its ridiculous that a fairly common repair, a transmission would be so PROTECTED, even Privatized to the point that no parts are available in the USA, No rebuilt unit, no rebuilder.......no company that can offer a decent repair , tow and price......its worse then ridiculous....it says allot about our country and whats happening here.....&^$#&^$*&^)&()*^

 

[tknight]

Well i just picked up the broken dead greasy old unit in columbus headed home fially got a dealer to loan me their tool and i now have to wait for the new one to arrive
I couldnt even get an answer if the hydrolic slave comesmwith it so i can pull it and clean it up. Clueless is the key herewish me well lets hope it shows mondayand i canthen just get it to dayton to be installedalong with new clutch and that darn plastic housing called a throw out bearing how cheap can they be? Total estimate now is around 6200 still less than the 8k+ stoops was saying

 

[tknight]

Ok, my next to last post on this is coming, I'm hoping to be back on the road late tuesday, or wed morning putting all of this behind me, too much stress for a short time frame. I did however confirm that the secondary bearing failure on this unit is very common and is the most cause for this massive gear chewing failure, happens pretty quick once it starts making a racket. The service guys at my dealership where I bought this truck new, coonfirmed they see many of these, and they are all the same, bearing start to go, and bam, kiss it all out the window, might be a reason mb/fl keeps it secret and in their control. I'm not real good at reducing pictures here, but if someone wants to see this, I'll send them a pic, and they can post it if ya want to. I was also told the original gear oil change was 250k, did my first change at 150 or so, and second one was at 280k a week prior to this incident, must not have helped, the fl service has issued a service bulletin advising changes should now be at 80k, and insist on mb syn gear oil only, gee find a problem boys?
A word to the wise, anyone with this setup, mb motor/drive train/rear end, better go change their lube!

wish me luck, and thanks for reading my posts

haha funny reading............Mercedes-Benz Transmissions Available in Business Class M2The 106-inch BBC Business Class M2 also is available with 6-speed Mercedes-Benz manual transmissions featuring hydraulically-actuated clutch systems. The direct-drive MBT520S-6D is for trucks up to 40,000 pounds GCW. The over-drive MBT660S-60 is for trucks up to 60,000 pounds GCW.

The direct-drive MBT520 transmission has an overall gear ratio of 9.20 for engines that produce peak torque up to 520 lb. ft., while the MBT660 is an overdrive transmission with an overall gear ratio of 9.18, for engines generating up to 660 lb. ft. peak torque.

MB transmissions offer an intuitive gear-shift pattern, fully synchronized gear shifting and reduced shift effort for easier driving in urban environments.

The Mercedes-Benz transmissions have a maintenance-free clutch actuation system and can run 160,000 miles between oil change intervals, for reduced service costs.
I only posted this because I'm still not sure this is even my transmission, I'm still very confused, will know when I finally see what they shipped me, I hope its correct, I'll post the true numbers when I know for sure.

tk

 

[tknight]

MOndays update, spent the day driving to cleveland to pick up trans, weeeeee nice and shinny and new, bought 18 pints of oil for it, gee you would think it was liquid gold, pints? Had to return the new clutch because my old flywheel had the Pilot bearing ($18.41)shift and spin in place, thereby tearing up the flywheel, so instead of going original, I opted for the much heavier duty newer clutch kit, ran me an extra 500, but I know it's better quality with many more pad surfaces, still comes with the same plastic mounted throwout bearing, hope it lasts longer than the original one, which melted slowly over 135,000 miles a few years back, this will be the third clutch kit, and hopefully the last, service nmanager says the originals were junk, and wore out quick, I concure!
Get this, there is a fix for the walking pilot bearing, it's 2 of the same flywheel bolts with washers welded to them, traps the bearing tight, so it won't spin or walk, normal flywheel bolts are 3.48 each, the modified bolts with the washer are....................drum roll, please, over 25.00 each, 2 required! Does it ever stop?

Tuesday update
So now I'm south of dayton, after dropping all parts off to be reinstalled, I find I can't wait at the truck shop, no where to nap, so I head for a hotel down the road, to chill, then comes the call...... pressure plate bolts are wrong size, have to get from dealer, well, no one has them, so have to order them rush, will get tommorow, another setback, and another 60.00 going back to watching Star Trek in spanish.................could be interesting. Wish me luck.

tk

A side note, for those of you who have this same drive train, mercedes motor/trans/rear end. If you take your truck to speedco, or TA, for that matter any shop, and they top off your trans, they will be doing wrong, they use the wrong oil, even if its spiralx shell synthetic, it's wrong, it will eat the syncros, burn up and turn black, stop lubricating, and you will copy my last 2 weeks. There is only 1 oil, and you have to get it from freightliner, 14.00 a quart, if they have quarts, or in my case it was 6.90 a pint! x 18 pints. Mixing synthetic oil is a very bad no no, and if they add dino it's sudden death, turns to sludge in less than 2000 miles.

I'm becoming a guru on the subject.


Use only the approved Mobiltrans SHC® DC fluid.
Do not mix fluid types. Adding SHC 50 RN 2952
E-5 fluid (used in Eaton and Meritor transmissions)
could damage the radial seals.

 

[cableguymn]

I think the one thing I have learned from this.

Stay away from benz powered/shifted freightliners.

 

[tknight]

I think the one thing I have learned from this.

Stay away from benz powered/shifted freightliners.

Its actually been a very good running and riding truck, but when it has it's problems, it's a real pain in the ***! Wallet included It's been now almost 2 weeks I figure I've lost about 7-8 grand in revenue, not to mention the cost I'm laying out, as it's approaching 6500, the adding machine tape is still pouring out of the machine.

 

[tknight]

Day 14 of no truck, Can this get any worse, well now transmission is in truck, driveline fitted and it's almost ready to go, when the phone rings in my hotel room, another setback! They didn't sell me enough oil, seems the rebuilt trans takes more than the stated 9.0-9.5 quarts, need to get more oil, no huge deal, I can drive it to a freightliner dealer and pay them 85.00 hour labor to have them add a quart out of their 5 gallon bucket, through a funnel, how primitive.

Then the kicker, mechanic tells me that the clutch slave cylinder housing is not fitting on the new transmission, seems some rocket scientist has changed the units mount in the casting, it's way off.
Have to buy a new slave housing to fit, hey guess what, frightliner, has no clue, a call to 10 dealerships produces no answers as to what fits this trans, all they can do is give me the part number of the one off of my original trans, NOTthe new trans, so a call to ftl-help gets me into a ****ing match with the person on the other end who is more clueless, she keeps telling me to give her my vin, then tells me to call a dealer and ask for parts.....................................listens up lady, parts at the dealerships are clueless! so are you, so is frightliner, so is mb!I'm beginning to feel like a fool argueing with these nitwits, who have no clue, someone shoot me, my frustration level is climbing. I have the part number for my old original slave, and if they give me a number, I'm betting it's the same one, the wrong one.

end of todays rant!

tk
anyone in Dayton want to go to dinner?

 

[xiggi]

Only 14 days, trust me that's nothing.

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