Zf5
 

I have a zf5 for my truck that I'm going to use when I swap to a 4x4 frame. It seems to grind in reverse and the shifter was very sloppy. Do I dare open this up I've heard they need special tools and what not but I'm curious about and I'm not sure if the clutch or the slave cylinder were good.

Honestly, I would just take the transmission to a good shop and have it rebuilt. The gear and synchro tolerances are EXTREMELY close in the ZF's so bearings need to be set dead on. I was going to attempt it myself but after reading the procedure I said the heck with that and took it to a shop. Mine cost $1800 to rebuild but then again, 4th gear and the input shaft were destroyed..... That was 500 in parts just for those two alone. With just Bearings and rings/synchros your probably looking at around 1300 - 1500 depending on the shop. I would just get a new slave and masher cylinder, they don't cost that much.

Maybe I'll throw a new clutch and slave cylinder in it and see how it does and if so I need it to be rebuilt I will have it rebuilt

I think that's a good idea. Hey, you may want to get the flywheel re-surfaced if you put a new clutch on. Often times they won't wear correctly due to the existing wear pattern and can cause the clutch to slip early in it's life.

Okay is that expensive or should I just buy a new fly wheel?

Oh not at all, I had my girlfriends 92 Jeep Wrangler Flywheel surface for 40 bucks at our NAPA Machine Shop, they did a good job to. I guess it depends on where you take it. But it shouldn't cost more than 60 bucks for an f150 flywheel.