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Shift Pad Buttons

Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:14 am
by jplante4
The buttons on the Allison shift pad are getting harder and harder to push far enough to engage a gear. Is there a quick fix like contact cleaner or do I need to replace the pad? If I'm replacing the pad, is it the entire VIM or is the pad separate from the VIM?

Re: Shift Pad Buttons

Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2021 4:29 pm
by Ozium
Depends on shifter pad. Some you can get replacement board for the gear selector which is half the price of a new one. But most are a sealed unit and the whole assembly needs to be replaced. ~$900us 1500cad

Re: Shift Pad Buttons

Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2021 7:56 pm
by wolfe10
Contact John-- this is what he does for a living:

https://www.transmissioninstruments.com/

Re: Shift Pad Buttons

Posted: Sat May 22, 2021 10:39 am
by jplante4
I wanted to update you on the shift pad issue. I sent it off to Transmission Instruments in TX and they turned it around in a week. $395 and it looks and works like new. Highly recommended. And another tip 'o the hat to Brett for his excellent advise as usual.
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Re: Shift Pad Buttons

Posted: Sun May 01, 2022 11:18 am
by dorismullinsagent@gmail.com
I am having a problem with my 99 Safari Zanzibar shifting like it should after my dog got in my chair while I was dumping and pushed all the buttons on the panel. When I got back in and started driving, it was making a loud scrubbing noise as if I was driving over grades or metal bumpers in the street. The higher the speed, the louder the noise. I tried turning all the button on the panel off but it continued no matter what I did. It felt like pushing the paddle was forcing the transmission to engage. I also notice the engine in high idle when my dog did this. After reading the manual again, I remembered something about not allowing the engine to idle, so every time I stop for any length of time, I should be turning my engine off correct? Please help, the noise is loud and annoying.

Re: Shift Pad Buttons

Posted: Sun May 01, 2022 12:35 pm
by wolfe10
dorismullinsagent@gmail.com wrote: Sun May 01, 2022 11:18 am I am having a problem with my 99 Safari Zanzibar shifting like it should after my dog got in my chair while I was dumping and pushed all the buttons on the panel. When I got back in and started driving, it was making a loud scrubbing noise as if I was driving over grades or metal bumpers in the street. The higher the speed, the louder the noise. I tried turning all the button on the panel off but it continued no matter what I did. It felt like pushing the paddle was forcing the transmission to engage. I also notice the engine in high idle when my dog did this. After reading the manual again, I remembered something about not allowing the engine to idle, so every time I stop for any length of time, I should be turning my engine off correct? Please help, the noise is loud and annoying.
Sorry, I am NOT clear on what you mean. Did your dog mess with the Allison shift pad (topic of this thread) OR jack pad? The scraping noise-- could the jacks have been down??? Did the noise quit? If so, what did you do to make it quit.

And, if engine is above idle RPM, the Allison will not shift into gear-- it will just flash "D".

And, yes, no reason to idle a diesel more than a few minutes to allow the turbo to cool down.

Re: Shift Pad Buttons

Posted: Sun May 01, 2022 2:49 pm
by dorismullinsagent@gmail.com
wolfe10 wrote: Sun May 01, 2022 12:35 pm
dorismullinsagent@gmail.com wrote: Sun May 01, 2022 11:18 am I am having a problem with my 99 Safari Zanzibar shifting like it should after my dog got in my chair while I was dumping and pushed all the buttons on the panel. When I got back in and started driving, it was making a loud scrubbing noise as if I was driving over grades or metal bumpers in the street. The higher the speed, the louder the noise. I tried turning all the button on the panel off but it continued no matter what I did. It felt like pushing the paddle was forcing the transmission to engage. I also notice the engine in high idle when my dog did this. After reading the manual again, I remembered something about not allowing the engine to idle, so every time I stop for any length of time, I should be turning my engine off correct? Please help, the noise is loud and annoying.
Sorry, I am NOT clear on what you mean. Did your dog mess with the Allison shift pad (topic of this thread) OR jack pad? The scraping noise-- could the jacks have been down??? Did the noise quit? If so, what did you do to make it quit.

And, if engine is above idle RPM, the Allison will not shift into gear-- it will just flash "D".

And, yes, no reason to idle a diesel more than a few minutes to allow the turbo to cool down.
Yes, he did step on the shift pad and the jacks were extended when he stepped on them but I caught that before I drove off because the buzzer was on when I got back in the RV. I'm not sure what above idle is, nor do I know where it would flash D? My pad is below. I had to label it because when I bought it i did not know what these button were for.
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Re: Shift Pad Buttons

Posted: Thu May 05, 2022 10:20 pm
by astrnmrtom
What you describe is very odd. The Allison keypad is pretty foolproof. The brain won't let "bad" inputs damage the transmission. One example is it won't shift into gear when the engine RPM is faster than a normal idle. If the engine was set to high idle, pressing any of the gear buttons won't do anything other than flashing the gear indicator. If you push the D button, D will flash a few times, and the indicator will return to showing N. Same if you try to shift into reverse with the engine on high idle. That's what's meant by "above idle" - an engine speed faster (above) normal idle. I occasionally forget to drop my engine out of high idle, press D and wonder why it isn't shifting. Then I realize my mistake.

If you were outside dumping your tanks and the rig was shifted into gear by thew dog you would have noticed. Even if it didn't overcome the parking brake, you'd hear the transmission shift and the rig would move a little.

Something else is going on here. Is the parking brake releasing? Is the shift indicator flashing any codes? Does the strange vibration and noise happen in reverse too?

Re: Shift Pad Buttons

Posted: Thu May 05, 2022 10:29 pm
by dorismullinsagent@gmail.com
astrnmrtom wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 10:20 pm What you describe is very odd. The Allison keypad is pretty foolproof. The brain won't let "bad" inputs damage the transmission. One example is it won't shift into gear when the engine RPM is faster than a normal idle. If the engine was set to high idle, pressing any of the gear buttons won't do anything other than flashing the gear indicator. If you push the D button, D will flash a few times, and the indicator will return to showing N. Same if you try to shift into reverse with the engine on high idle. That's what's meant by "above idle" - an engine speed faster (above) normal idle. I occasionally forget to drop my engine out of high idle, press D and wonder why it isn't shifting. Then I realize my mistake.

If you were outside dumping your tanks and the rig was shifted into gear by thew dog you would have noticed. Even if it didn't overcome the parking brake, you'd hear the transmission shift and the rig would move a little.

Something else is going on here. Is the parking brake releasing? Is the shift indicator flashing any codes? Does the strange vibration and noise happen in reverse too?
I did hear the transmission, it sounded like an airplane taking off and the coach did move a little because the back jacks came all the way out, the coach was leaning to one side when I got inside to get the dog off the buttons. No the noise is not in reverse.

Re: Shift Pad Buttons

Posted: Wed May 18, 2022 7:03 pm
by dorismullinsagent@gmail.com
Update, they changed the air bags, $2400 cost parts and labor. called me after they drove it and said it is still making the noise so they pulled the rod out the rear end and drained fluid. Now because there was excessive metal in the oil from the rear end they will have to replace the rear end. That is another 2500. Good news is this all happened before we left for vacation.