Dana 20 detent springs

[bluesbish]

So this could get long winded as that is how I tend to be. bottom line is after I finished my 4 year frame off last fall I had problems with d20 popping out of rear drive high range. finally got it back into the shop to make some adjustments and sort out some issues that never got attention. The d20 is a t-shift that I pulled from a '70 bronco. I made my own twin stick for it but did not modify the shift rails to allow for independant shifting. This is my diagnosis so far. first thing was inspect the shifter for binding or any contact that might be causing my issue. It's not the shifter. in fact, the shifter being fairly tight was probobly the only thing that kept it in gear. didn't have the problem untill the first few times I shifted into low range. second thing was to remove the inspection cover and take a look. everything looks great. it goes into gear all the way, yokes are tight with no end play, very little play between the shift fork and the sliding gear. I ordered a new shifter from WH as I wasn't really satisfied with my home made one but haven't bothered to install it yet. I also ordered new detent springs and ball from JBG as I was leaning towards this being my problem. it does seem rather easy to shift from rear high to neutral compared to the other t-case on my bench(which if I recall is a perfectly good D20) I pulled the detent spring from the rail that I was having an issue with. ball and spring looked fine I guess. compared to the new spring, I found the old spring is damn near a 1/4" longer but not as stiff. I put the new spring and ball in and found that it is now even easier to shift that rail which is certainly not going to help my issue. I pulled one of the springs from the other t-case and it was the same lenght as the new spring but not as stiff. So, I am wondering if maybe someone put a longer spring in to bandaid this same problem. Either way, guess it is time to pull the case from the bronco. Not a big deal but was hoping to avoid this since it gets hard to find time and all like we all know. any thoughts?

 

[Bronchole]

The thing that fixed mine was to preload the output bearing set as apposed to setting it for some end play. mine has not popped out every since I did that.

 

[bluesbish]

mine has 0 endplay and most likely still has preload. can't imagine having endplay in a setup like that being ok. thanks for the input.

 

[Viperwolf1]

The factory springs are either red or white. Typically red is found in the rear side and white in front. They are different lengths.

You can also shim the springs a little. Use 1 or 2 tiny washers between the spring and plug. Too thick and you won't be able to shift it.

 

[bluesbish]

thanks viperwolf. I was thinking about shimming it just to get back on the road for now and then building the other case I have and modifying the shift rails and stuff and have it ready to swap in when I have time.

 

[hmh800]

you sure your rear drive shift fork and sliding gear are in good shape? I had the same problem and it turned out that the ends of the shift fork had worn to the point that it allowed too much slop and it would pop out of gear.

 

[bluesbish]

you sure your rear drive shift fork and sliding gear are in good shape? I had the same problem and it turned out that the ends of the shift fork had worn to the point that it allowed too much slop and it would pop out of gear.

No, I am not sure of this. I imagine there might be a spec that you could check with a feeler guage. I did pay close attention to this however. It has very little play and about the same as the other t-case. I cannot move the sliding gear enough to even come close to disengaging within this play between the fork and gear. Thanks for the thought.