I hear a lot of questions about the phantom grip tranny cradle so I hope to shed some more light on it. I already have one in my tranny in the race car but I thought I was so good id start working on the spares. Here are a few pics of the install and my thoughts on the phantom grip.


Heres the B16a donor minus the diff. (self funded cant afford 2 quaifes)



First step is pull the case and remove 5th gear. You just need to pull the one shift fork. This is what it should look like.




Next step is to place the cradle on the shafts. There is 3 shims provided with the kit. One shim goes below the cradle and the other two go on top. The cradle comes with the bearings installed and ready to slide down on the shafts.



Last step is to put the bearings and 5th gear hub back onto the shaft. This is what it looks like when its all completed. Its as easy at that.






My thoughts on the cradle are all positive. It comes complete with all parts needed, an instruction sheet with detailed pictures and best of all its inexpensive. I haven’t put the cradle to the test with some extreme launches yet but it held up to some very high horsepower dyno pulls. The cradle is made of aluminum, in not sure what grade but I would bet its aircraft grade. The bearings look good, not cheap pep boy’s specials. Installation only took me about 1 ½ hours and you can use basic tools, 10 12 and 14mm sockets with a 3/8 ratchet, and ½ inch ratchet for the case end plug , an adjustable wrench for the mainshaft nut, a screwdriver and a rubber mallet. I believe that the cradle with strengthen the Honda tranny quite a bit and for 300 bucks its well worth the money. I got mine from Nopi, it was in stock and at my door 3 days later. All in all it was a good deal.

Hope i shed a little light on the phantom grip cradle


Josh

 

good write up thanks

 

When installing mine we ran into a few problems of clearance between the phantom grip and the casing. ( countershaft). The C clip would not retain because the phantom grip was coming into contact with the case. Thus making the 1st gear assy. ride on the ring gear. After some proper micing and some machining on an end mill we were able to relieve the area for proper clearance. All and all it looks to be a good piece and should help streghnthen and improve the durability of the transmission for high horsepower and torqe applications.


Modified by jpenman50 at 11:24 PM 1/30/2005

 

we carry these and will be more than happy to get these out to you

 

yes! I am having that problem... We cant get the casing on completly(or the clip)
I can get it closed but then it wont allow you to shift...Dont know what to do now.

 

Tommy, what tranny are you running?

(Never mind Arturo cleared it up! hehe)


Modified by newgsr at 4:03 AM 1/29/2005

 

i was planning on installing the cradle in my YS1. we'll see how it clears. i haven't heard this problem before.

 

educate me please...main purpose of this ???

 

Sorry for my ignorance, but does the cradle replace the 5th gear all-together. Making the tranny a 4 speed?

 

yeap

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Modify &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">educate me please...main purpose of this ???</TD></TR></TABLE>
it holds the mainshaft and countershaft together and it prevents or limits flexing of the shafts. It helps to avoid breaking gears.

-DAVE O-

 

Is the cradles main use to take the stress of the gears when they mesh together instead of the casing taking the stress?

 

I dont know the physics behind it, ive heard that the way the gears are cut they pull the shafts together and other people say they push each other apart when they rotate. Either way this makes the shafts far more secure than with out it. The honda case is a thin casting and im sure it flexes under modest power levels. It this can restrict the flexing the tranny should function better. Im sure im not the only one who welds syncros together, pushes shafts out the clutch housing, or splits the cases in peices. This will help to fix the problems. I dont think by no means that this is the end of honda tranny problems but i think its a very good start.


ITR#1437 -yes this totally replaces the 5th gear on both shafts.

 

i'm getting one, then a couple more when i get my backup transmissions

 

you should'nt have to machine all the 1's i installed never had problems only thing is i used a 3rd shimm on top to lock in the retainer clip and i used 1 of the shims from the front of the input shaft just enough to get the clip to snap in place.

 

The purpose of the piece is to help hold the shafts together so you don't tear the teeth right of 4th gear on high horspower setup's. This should keep this problem to a minimal.

 

which trannys are having clearance issues???

 

So this gets rid of 5th gear?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by NAPIER &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So this gets rid of 5th gear?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Yeah

 

I'm ordering mine tomorow,took my tran apart saturday and the top bearing on the shaft was split in 2.
Hope this will help.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by trboCIVICWRX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">which trannys are having clearance issues???
</TD></TR></TABLE>

And can this work for cable tranny's as well?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jpenman50 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">When installing mine we ran into a few problems of clearance between the phantom grip and the casing. ( countershaft). The C clip would not retain because the phantom grip was coming into contact with the case. Thus making the 1st gear assy. ride on the ring gear. After some proper micing and some machining on an end mill we were able to relieve the area for proper clearance. All and all it looks to be a good piece and should help streghnthen and improve the durability of the transmission for high horsepower and torqe applications.


Modified by jpenman50 at 11:24 PM 1/30/2005</TD></TR></TABLE>

I am currently having this problem... what is the solution? I cant get into the machining process on my project. Anybody shed some more light on this??
The clip is SOOO close, but it wont clip onto the bearing... anybody?

 

your not putting it together properly...its real specific...sorry to say, but take the case off and stare at the inside and what your putting it on...it only goes together one way! Good luck!

 

You must do proper clearancing of the shafts. The 2 below and one shim above is a general guidline that will get you close if not on the mark. I have 2 that went together with 2 on the bottom and one of the top. The other one i had to use all 3 on the top, it will vary from tranny to tranny.

 

I heard some guys were grinding the top of the girdle in order to make the tranny case close. This seems to be a great addition for all racers that don't use 5th gear.