Manual Transmission Not Shifting

[FLYBOY]

Suggestions on aligning the stick to get it to shift
Trying to align the cross gate adjustment nut
Can’t get it into 3th or 4th gear
1st 2nd and 5th and reverse seem to be fine
But somehow the middle gears (3-4) https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210324/41d39429395fc607ae9872247a9cd0c3.jpg
won’t budge

[Rich]

Good to have that photo.

Based on the photo your crossgate is adjusted with the shifter too far to the left. It's even possible that the 3-4 gate is accessible to you now if you use the shifter to feel for it a little bit to the right, somewhere between where it sits in the photo and the 5th gear gate. I mention this only as a test note, not that you'd want to drive it that way.

It would be easier for you to register the x-gate cable position if the roll pin that is supposed to be projecting from the front of your shift stalk casting wasn't broken or missing. Also, if the pin was still there then you probably couldn't shift into 1-2 or reverse without adjusting the x-gate, either.

Try referring to this explanation and how-to video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng6-l2fhPXw). You'll see the shifter lockout pin right away and you'll (sort of) see where you want the x-gate cable adjusted when it's set up correctly.

PS, without that pin the car has no reverse lockout, so be careful.

[WHO1DMC]

That is one nasty looking shifter.
If this were me if it needed this much adjustment. I would disassembled the shifter for a good cleaning. That much crud is going to cause problems in it self.



Dave B.

[Bitsyncmaster]

Get it working without the shift gate and then if you still want the gate you can make minor adjustments. The scratched shaft is the giveaway.

[FLYBOY]

Going to clean everything up, the reverse lockout pin was cut in half but I was able to move it forward so I have that protection.
Hopefully I can keep trying to adjust the cross gate adjustment nuts but nothing seems to work, just jamming on 3rd and 4th!
I’ll keep trying though
I’ve seen that video a few times but it seems its only
Dealing with one side of gears either adjustment left for 1st and 2nd or way to the right 5th. But that’s not my issue (those gears all work as well as reverse).
it’s the middle gears that won’t go in, unless I’m missing something?
Thanks everyone

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dn010]

Are you sure this is an adjustment issue, not an issue with the transmission?

[Rich]

I’ve seen that video a few times but it seems its only
Dealing with one side of gears either adjustment left for 1st and 2nd or way to the right 5th. But that’s not my issue (those gears all work as well as reverse).
it’s the middle gears that won’t go in, unless I’m missing something?


If you can see the pin now then tell us whether it is centered in that lockout slot when the shifter is at its center (rest) position. That's where the 3-4 gate should be. In your first photo it looks like the shifter sits too far to the left.

If you try to find 3-4 at all of the left-right positions of the shifter that you can imagine (and with the clutch disengaged of course) and it won't go in then the transmission is the next place to look, as mentioned in the post before this one. It seems your crossgate cable is working - or else you wouldn't catch 1st-2nd and 5th, plus R.

A dumb question to be sure we have all the data: You listed all the gears you CAN get. Is that report based on having driven the car in each of those gears or are you assuming which gears you are getting based only on where the shifter moves and with the engine off and the car parked? I realize that shifting from 2nd gear directly up to 5th is tricky but you'll only know you have 5th for sure if you try. What if the gear you think is 5th is really 3rd??

[FLYBOY]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210326/6612062c4aac1fd373088270465cd332.jpg
So I cleaned it up quite a bit
And yeah it appears what I thought was 1st-2nd was actually 3rd-4th
It appears Rich is correct’
Spot on
I see now it’s sitting to far to the left. Although the cross gate is very loose I just wanted to be sure I could actually find the gears
1st/2nd is right above Reverse so I’ll try tomorrow to adjust right. This is ALL assumed because I have NOT driven the car but atleast I think I have 5 gears
The reverse pin was broken in half but I did manage to get both pieces back in the hole.
Does anyone sell that just the shifter pin?
Hopefully I’ll have results tomorrow????


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dn010]

It's just a roll pin that you can get at a hardware store.

[Rich]

Good progress there so far. Thanks for the update/photo. So the shifter sits in the 3-4 gate, not in the 1-2 gate? You found (maybe?) 5th a bit to the right? Looks like you know where to go from there.

Two comments here.

A. Dan's right. Take what's left of your old pin to a local Ace Hardware or eq. Look in the fasteners area for the specialty bolts/nuts/knobs assortment drawers to find a steel roll pin with same diameter and similar length.

B. Guessing here that with the x-gate set that way - with the 3-4 gate way over to the left - the roll pin broke off due to jamming the shifter hard to the left every time. That smashed the pin against the lockout in order to engage gears 1-2 if they could be engaged at all without pulling up on the shifter to jump the lockout.

That won't happen after the crossgate cable is adjusted.

It's weird that the 3-4 gate ever got so far off. You may want to suspend much more work on this issue until you get the car running so you can verify the gear engagements.

[FLYBOY]

Wow all good Points Rich
Yes 1st thing in the morning. I’m going to ace
The car is ready to roll this is the last thing I need to do other than install the fuel closing plate.
So I’m anxious to see if I can get this working this weekend?
I’ll post update so check back if y’all can


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[FLYBOY]

Still can’t find 3th,4th?
Here’s some shots of 1st 1st picture then
Then neutral
(Note position of fork)
Am I missing something or is 1st really 3rd gear?
The car seems to pull forward in 1st and 2nd and reverse just fine
5th has a hard time (obviously) but hitting a stop on 3rd-4th
Only able to move it in the driveway due to rain/mud so can’t test it out

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalkhttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210327/34ec42ad429c814280161de2a886713b.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210327/e5399212c1b6e73b304e2b994e899fb8.jpg

[Rich]

OK.

Questions, assuming you don't want to wait for better weather to check the gear selections on the road.

With the current x-gate adjustment

1. Can you shift into R without lifting the shifter?
2. When you have the shifter in "5th" and notice the engine has a hard time have you tried to shift into "6th" (straight down from "5th")? In that case "5th" is really 3rd (which also lugs the engine from a stop).

The guess with these questions is that the shifter position is now better than before but the shifter now sits a bit too far to the right of the center position. Hard to tell with the black grease that's still in the left side of that notch the roll pin sits in.

See if you can get a small scale down into the shifter to measure the L-R location of the roll pin. Then adjust the x-gate to center it between the ends of the wide notch in the shift plate. That location should give you 3-4 without any L-R shift action and still leave room for 1-2 to the left and 5 to the right. It will not allow you to grab R without lifting the shifter so the pin clears the lockout.

[Bitsyncmaster]

It looks like that "L" arm has to much gap (play) so it would limit the amount of cross gate movement. I can't remember how mine looked but maybe someone can post a photo of theirs.

[FLYBOY]

OK.

Questions, assuming you don't want to wait for better weather to check the gear selections on the road.

With the current x-gate adjustment

1. Can you shift into R without lifting the shifter?
2. When you have the shifter in "5th" and notice the engine has a hard time have you tried to shift into "6th" (straight down from "5th")? In that case "5th" is really 3rd (which also lugs the engine from a stop).

The guess with these questions is that the shifter position is now better than before but the shifter now sits a bit too far to the right of the center position. Hard to tell with the black grease that's still in the left side of that notch the roll pin sits in.

See if you can get a small scale down into the shifter to measure the L-R location of the roll pin. Then adjust the x-gate to center it between the ends of the wide notch in the shift plate. That location should give you 3-4 without any L-R shift action and still leave room for 1-2 to the left and 5 to the right. It will not allow you to grab R without lifting the shifter so the pin clears the lockout.

I can’t get into R without lifting also No nothing below 5th I’m quite sure it’s in 5th gear but hey I could be wrong just nothing below and it’s way right where it should be
No grease in there it’s dried paint I’ll try and clean it up more but it’s actually really clean.
I’ll keep adjusting but I don’t think I ever had 3-4th with all the adjusting?
1st and 2nd are where they should be, same for 5th.

R 1st 2nd and 5th all work
Stumped
I don’t believe anything is broken because it did work before just very hard to get into and out of gears due to leaking (new) slave which I replaced and new lines just not the master


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[David T]

Jack up the rear wheels and try shifting while the motor is running. You should feel each shift. You may have to replace the rubber bushings in the shift linkage.

[FLYBOY]

Well I Drove the car today and after a few hours adjusting and getting what I thought was close
I can 100% unequivocally say I have NO 3rd and 4th gear!
There’s seems to be a lot play in 1st and 2nd almost to 3rd-4th so I drove it and was right unfortunately.
I replaced the bushing before this all except that one hard one
Suggestions cause I’m stumped


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[WHO1DMC]

Just throwing this idea out. But can a missing or broken pivot bolt cause this problem?



Dave B.

[David T]

If you can't fix it externally, the problem could be internal to the transmission in which case you will have to pull it and open it up. My last suggestion would be to disconnect all the linkage and try each gear directly at the transmission to rule out the external linkage.

[Rich]

Just throwing this idea out. But can a missing or broken pivot bolt cause this problem?
Dave B.

Unlikely. The p bolt is part of the fore-aft half of the shift linkage. No effect on cross gates.

The owner’s reporting good performance in the fore-aft department. Good 1-2, 5, and R shifts wouldn’t happen if that bolt was bad.

[WHO1DMC]

Unlikely. The p bolt is part of the fore-aft half of the shift linkage. No effect on cross gates.

The owner’s reporting good performance in the fore-aft department. Good 1-2, 5, and R shifts wouldn’t happen if that bolt was bad.

I'll keep that in mind.
I wasn't sure on that.

Thanks
Dave B.

[Rich]

Yes, as others mention it could be on the transmission end of the system, not the shifter end. And we still aren't completely sure which shifter position gives which gear but if you know how it used to shift in the past (do you?) then your reports are probably accurate.

Any history that might help us?

Did this car have shifting issues before? Am not aware whether we are looking at a mild repair job or a resurrection.

[FLYBOY]

Yes, as others mention it could be on the transmission end of the system, not the shifter end. And we still aren't completely sure which shifter position gives which gear but if you know how it used to shift in the past (do you?) then your reports are probably accurate.

Any history that might help us?

Did this car have shifting issues before? Am not aware whether we are looking at a mild repair job or a resurrection.

I’m sure about the shifter position 100.% As I drove it to verify
1,2,5 Reverse all work

It would shift in all gears but would be hard to get into and out of 1st and 2nd which I attributed to a leaking slave but would eventually shift
3th and 4th was never an issue but now I have the opposite problem
I doubt it’s a broken transmission issue since it worked before I started adjusting but I not an expert on manuals
No repair job, other than replacing the shifter bushings last year and Inly drove it a few times

[Nicholas R]

I’m sure about the shifter position 100.% As I drove it to verify
1,2,5 Reverse all work

It would shift in all gears but would be hard to get into and out of 1st and 2nd which I attributed to a leaking slave but would eventually shift
3th and 4th was never an issue but now I have the opposite problem
I doubt it’s a broken transmission issue since it worked before I started adjusting but I not an expert on manuals
No repair job, other than replacing the shifter bushings last year and Inly drove it a few times

I think you need to isolate the problem to either the transmission or the shifter.

You should be able to crawl under the car and shift the transmission by pushing the shifter arm in and out of the transmission and pulling it forward and backward. Depending on your results you should know if you need to be focusing on the shifter mechanism or if it it's something more severe like the gearbox.

[FLYBOY]

I think you need to isolate the problem to either the transmission or the shifter.

You should be able to crawl under the car and shift the transmission by pushing the shifter arm in and out of the transmission and pulling it forward and backward. Depending on your results you should know if you need to be focusing on the shifter mechanism or if it it's something more severe like the gearbox.

Ok should I disconnect the shifter Connector arm?
And how would I do that?
And what to look for as far as how to shift the tranny?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk