Ok Picked up yet another D24T with the 4-speed automatic transmission from an 85 760GLE. After starting the engine in the bed of my truck I applied a locking strap wrench to the tailshaft and put'er in gear to find nothing coming out of the back end and this leads me to believe the transmission is bad. Full of juice and the cooler lines are shunted together (garden hose cooling) however it does stink but not bad. Now is this transmission one of those haunted horrid ZF jobs or am I looking at something else here? I cant find any electrical connectors anywhere on the case and it has a cable driven TV valve and these oddball clamps holding the pan in place.

Is this something that I can rebuild or should I go with my first idea of using a 4+E overdrive in my diesel ranger project?

This engine was rebuilt 22k miles ago and the driver argued with a slow moving train and took out the back end and solved his tailgate rattle for good! I dont know how many miles are on the trans however its failure on the spot was the reason he was tagged by the SOO 4285 at about 9 MPH.

To rebuild or not to rebuild the tranny that is my question.

Thanks guys

988

Hi Badge:

My newly aquired 760 GLE Turbo Diesel has a ZF22 in it. It was rebuilt 25,000 miles ago by the previous owner at 155,000 miles. I have the receipts. It shifts beautifully and doesn't leak a drop. I've done some research on this box and yeah, there seem to be some concerns. But 155,000 miles? Try to get that out of some domestic trannies. This is a 4 speed tranny with a converter that locks up nicely at around 45 MPH. I didn't think I'd like the D24T with an automatic, but I do. I almost didn't buy the car because it was auto, but I'm glad I did. Good luck with your project.

Warren

Ok its a ZF transmission, figures as it says made in germany. Now my next question is can it be rebuilt and is it worth the rebuild? My issue here is with my ranger diesel conversion. Manual trans for the most part is out so I wont be doing the 4x4 thing so this makes drivetrain easier however the manual would be difficult with clutch linkages, ranger is hydraulic and volvo diesel is cable so this leaves me with the automatic trans option. Ive read several stories about the ZF coming unglued on a neutral gear rev-up and the hard use reliability is not that good. Being a truck for a new home it would get some hard uses not to mention the lighter truck with a more powerful engine and a teenager driving it might also be a factor to its life.

Thoughts ideas? I might just pull the thing apart to see whats inside!

Thanks guys

988

if you are hell bent on using an automatic, this will do. the problems of the earlier cars have been updated. any good trans shop should be able to get the latest and greatest stuff and it will do fine. do not sub a gas trans for the diesel, the gear ratios are different. this trans was used in the diesel lincolns in the mid 80s, with the bmw diesel motor. when i was at the volvo dealer, we stocked 3 zfs for the b230 in parts. we never sold 1 for a d24t. another possibility is to get an aw70 from a 240 d24. if you are worried about too much power from the d24t, then have it built for power. those trans when properly built can handle 250hp in a built twin-turbo supra. good luck, chuck.

The 200 series diesel never got an AW transmission.

As for ZF rebuild parts.. you mean like these:

http://www.bulkparts.com/MM007.ASP?pageno=965

I just did a quick google search for "ZF4HP22 rebuild parts".

As for its durability, I'd sure prefer an AW tranny.. however Porsche supposedly used them in some 911s, Volvo used them behind gas diesels in Europe, they're found in some Land Rovers too. Hmm.

- alex

yep, you're right, no aws with the d24, only bw55s. i've only driven about 6 of those and most of them were m46s. i just figured the aw landed in all 240s. good call.

i agree with the choice, too. i just don't know how to hang 1 on a d24t, now. and so it goes, chuck.

Er, I should just make this clear. I like the AWs.. but the ZF ZF4HP22 was offered Volvo, BMW, Porsche, Peugeot, yadda, yadda. I'm sure the ZF is nowhere near as durable as the AW, but then again.. nothing is.. save the classic Mopar trannies.

However VADIS does indeed list all sorts of parts one might use to rebuild a ZF, however they may have to be ordered from an overseas dealer. Given the identification markings on the transmission, specific part numbers can be conjured up.

- alex

Actually Im going to pull the thing apart and see what makes it tick, I have plenty of experience with rebuilding trannys and I doubt ZF has "reinvented the wheel" in terms of construction. Whats sad is I have found and purchased a small lot of 1 and 2 notch diesel head gaskets yet I find no one on the internet with rebuild parts for the ZF box, AW and JATCO parts seem to fall all over the place with small price tags... Go figure.

Im not bent on using the automatic in the project truck and I look at the conversion to diesel as an investment, I generally push my vehicles until the body rots off meaning lots of miles. Being in the city where moron drivers with phones in the ear crawling along the rush hours I get a little stiff from holding down the clutch, this would be the only real advantage for me.

I will be working on it this afternoon and maybe I can bring some tidbits to the board on these creatures. What an oily mess...

988

I have one of those transmissions which was in a D24T car which we got for cheap because it lost all drive power while the dealer was taking it to the golf course.
The only problem was the input shaft drive splines in the torque convertor had stripped. My buddy who wanted to drive the car found another tranny at the wrecker, and we put it in. Too bad it was dark, and we used the old TC..!
the second tranny R&R only took a few hours. My only bit of advice is to hook the kickdown cable in the trans before puttin the pan on, or installing the tranny to the car. it can be done after, but is a needless pain. My search for a replacement pan gasket led me to beleive that some MBZ diesels use the same tranny.
Happy wrenchin'

I too have heard about the ZF coming apart inside - something about stripped splines on one of the planetary gearsets. Never had one apart to see. The only other source besides early 740's that I know of is that some 81-85 5-series BMW's used the ZF22 as well. Possibly one of those could be found in working order.
Estimates I've heard for rebuilding run in the $900 mark not counting any installation work. A big bill for a project car. Perhaps a whole car can be found. The diesel engines are sometimes blown up by people trying to use starting fluid on them... if you found one of those, the trans would probably be good. Don't know what the differences are between the ZF22 used in the B230 engine gas models and the D24/D24T diesels. The gas cars can be converted to use a regular M46 manual or an AW70/71 auto, so perhaps the diesel can too. The difference I guess if any would be at the bell housing. I don't know if that's a separate interchangeable piece on the ZF or not. Think it is.

Good luck and you'll probably learn entirely too much about it in the process...
--
Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: '87 244DL/M47- 225K, 88 744GLE- 209K, 91 244 183K. Also responsible for the care and feeding of: 88 745GLE, 229K, 88 244GL, 146K, 87 244DL, 235K, 88 245DL, 236K

I have a 1986 740 GLE with the B230 engine and the ZF22 transmission, and I have had it for four years and put 60,000 miles on it without a hint of trouble. Just take good care of it.
--
Darius in Albany NY '86 744 GLE (175K, given to my mother-in-law); '91 745 Turbo (167K-my "Little Red Wagon"))

the d24t always had a zf22. and so it goes, chuck.