Falcon Tranny questions

[ask0329]

Just put in a new (to me) falcon transmission. I've never had a racecar with a falcon. Always used powerglides. I have the bell housing and tranny all mounted in the car. The new shifters and linkages are all in. The car is on jack stands, tires and rims are off and the driveshaft is out. With the car not running, should I be able to drop the right hand shifter into reverse? Same with lo on the left. Should they be able to go into gear with the car off?

[RACR_73s]

Yes it should shift into all gears with car off and low and reverse with car running. Check your linkage and make sure it is not binding. My Falcon is hard to shift into gear, it is easier if you are sitting in the car and not reaching throught the window opening. Mine is setup so the hi/lo shifter is on the right away from my knee.

[sj valley dave]

With our Brinn, yes we can put the tranny in 1st gear..then pull it back into neutral and then put reverse in engagement...You should be able to put it onto 2nd (direct) also...

[ask0329]

racr73s wow your right, they do shift hard. Just gotta be a man about it i guess. didnt want to force anything as its new but wow. Far cry from shifting the powerglide. I could flick the powerglide with a finger and it'd shift.

[JHobbs26]

one way to make the falcon shift easier is to remove the side cover. There will be 2 springs and detent balls, one for reverse and one for low. These springs are held into the housing by the side cover. Grind these springs down with a bench grinder until they just barely stick out past the housing.

This takes almost all the pressure off the detent, which in low and reverse you really dont need that much pressure. My tranny has been like this for 3 years and have had zero issues with it coming out of low/reverse.

[lazermod3]

one way to make the falcon shift easier is to remove the side cover. There will be 2 springs and detent balls, one for reverse and one for low. These springs are held into the housing by the side cover. Grind these springs down with a bench grinder until they just barely stick out past the housing.

This takes almost all the pressure off the detent, which in low and reverse you really dont need that much pressure. My tranny has been like this for 3 years and have had zero issues with it coming out of low/reverse.

JHobbs26 is absolutely correct!This transmission,along with the Brinn are all copies of the Bert 1st generation transmission..Grinding or cutting the spring down creates less preasure on the detent ball's,hence the trans.shifts alot easier.

The new 2nd generation uses one shifter to control the placement of all gears,and there are no issues with this unit.

[sj valley dave]

Are you sure about who was first? I thought Brinn was first...

[lazermod3]

Are you sure about who was first? I thought Brinn was first...

I am 150% sure,Brinn was a distant second!followed by the Falcon.Bert now makes the 2nd generation transmission,which is used by Moyer,Bloomquist,Madden,Owens,Davenport,and a host of others.

[sj valley dave]

I know they weren't a distant 2nd! LOL They have been doing it since 1988...Bert claims 1985...Falcon was really recent...Brinn had their "Pro" series out long before Berts 2nd generation tranny..Both are good trannys...We have had them both at one time or another

[ask0329]

The grinding when shifting between gears is going to take some getting used to. Reverse to low and vice versa. Gotta imagine lo to hi will be the same way. Just pulled it in and out of the garage a few times last night to make sure everything worked for tonight. So far so good.