[rotorwrench]

The T-170 RTS is kind of a unique design transmission due to the placement of the overdrive gear on the mainshaft in the normal 3rd gear position with the actual 3rd gear being where the 4th gear would have been in a 4-speed application plus the rocker shift fork mechanism that allows the unit to be shifted from 3rd to OD in that configuration. Other than this overdrive modification, the unit is still a lot like the 4-speed transmission that is was designed from. It has a 1st/2nd syncho set with the reverse gear as the outer hub portion and a 3rd/OD gear synchro set. When you shift to 3rd gear the rocker fork mechanism reverses the movement to push third gear aft then the rocker moves the other way to push the synchro forward to engage the OD gear. This it the only way it would all fit in there and still work as a 3-speed with OD.

If you have what sounds like something bouncing around in there then that certainly could be what is going on. If that's the case, it could eventually go through an engaged gear set. The results would be catastrophic. The top will come off of these units much like any other 4-speeds so a person could take a look in there. I'm not sure who all does the conversions anymore for these. The guys that do this stuff likely know more about them than anyone else and they tend to hoard parts. They would be the ones to call. Parts are getting harder to source for them so a person should make an effort to try and preserve what they have.

There is also a possibility that the U-joint might be loose in the housing. I don't know how they set the U-joint up in these but the conversion guys should. There used to be a few guys that frequented the Ford Barn that played with these things so hopefully one of them will take note. Some have also be used in the V8 cars as well.