Trans only goes into 3rd and 4th HELP!!!

[SOCALRANGER]

I got a 1986 2.9l 5speed manual trans 2wd. The little ball on the bottom of the shifter lever fell off down into the trans. I could see it but could get it with the pliers so I moved the socket that the ball sits on down towards the seat. Fixed the bottom of the shifter so the little ball won’t fall off anymore. Now I can only shift into what I believe is 3rd and 4th gear have absolutely no side to side movement. Transmission was shifting just fine prior to the little plastic ball falling off. Did I screw something up when I moved the socket that it sits in? To wear it’s not aligned properly? Any help is appreciated. Also can anyone tell me what trans this is?

 

[franklin2]

I don't remember seeing that little plastic gear laying there when I had mine apart?

 

[Curious Hound]

I don't remember seeing that little plastic gear laying there when I had mine apart?

Looks like the speedo cable gear. In the second picture you can see the drive gear below it.

to the OP; when you moved the ball socket, you must have gotten something out of place. Im not the expert on that. But you normally want everything to be in neutral when you remove/ install the shifter.

 

[SOCALRANGER]

Looks like the speedo cable gear. In the second picture you can see the drive gear below it.

to the OP; when you moved the ball socket, you must have gotten something out of place. Im not the expert on that. But you normally want everything to be in neutral when you remove/ install the shifter.

yeah that’s definitely the speedo gear down there and is where it’s supposed to be. That’s what I’m thinking is that I moved something out of line. Just trying to see if anyone had any suggestions to get it back to zero so to speak

 

[SOCALRANGER]

Bueller...... bueller..... bueller....

 

[Curious Hound]

Bueller...... bueller..... bueller....

Patience please. We are all just volunteers and truck enthusiasts, plus its new year’s eve, basically still holidays. Response times may be slower than normal due to travels, family events, etc. it sometimes takes a while for the right person to see your thread.

 

[RonD]

You need to put the transmission in NEUTRAL before putting the shifter back in

So block the tires and use a screwdriver or ?? to line up the 3 shift rods so they are centered(this give you the side to side shifter movement when in neutral)
Vehicle will roll when you are in Neutral so you can use that to confirm Neutral
And you make need to rock the vehicle back and forth to get it "out of gear" and back into neutral

One of your shift rods is not centered, so you can't get neutral so can't shift out of 3/4(one shift rod)

 

[SOCALRANGER]

You need to put the transmission in NEUTRAL before putting the shifter back in

So block the tires and use a screwdriver or ?? to line up the 3 shift rods so they are centered(this give you the side to side shifter movement when in neutral)
Vehicle will roll when you are in Neutral so you can use that to confirm Neutral
And you make need to rock the vehicle back and forth to get it "out of gear" and back into neutral

One of your shift rods is not centered, so you can't get neutral so can't shift out of 3/4(one shift rod)

I am able to get into neutral by moving the forks from the covers on the drivers side. Once I have it in neutral and put the shifter lever back in I still don’t have side to side movement. Is there a specific way to line things back up or??? I’m pretty sure that I misaligned something but I can get neutral

 

[SOCALRANGER]

Patience please. We are all just volunteers and truck enthusiasts, plus its new year’s eve, basically still holidays. Response times may be slower than normal due to travels, family events, etc. it sometimes takes a while for the right person to see your thread.

My apologies not disrespect intended

 

[SOCALRANGER]

So I was able to get into neutral and now have all 5 gears except for reverse shifter won’t let me get it all the way over. Could it have anything to do with the way I repaired the shifter? It’s definitely much tighter now not really any slop. Found a nut that was close in size out it on the drill press and rounded it down then tacked it to the bottom of the shifter. What do you guys think?

 

[Uncle Gump]

maybe put some machinist blue on the weld and rounded nut... put it back together and work it around a bit. Then see if there are any marks on the weld that are causing your hang up.

 

[SOCALRANGER]

maybe put some machinist blue on the weld and rounded nut... put it back together and work it around a bit. Then see if there are any marks on the weld that are causing your hang up.

That’s a pretty good idea I was thinking maybe it has something to do with my Mickey Mouse repair. Maybe needs to be ground down some more or something. I will say that there is virtually no slop in the shifter now so that’s cool. Just sucks no push it back for my reverse haha

 

[franklin2]

When you are working on something, you constantly have to be aware of what's going on and how what your working on reacts. In other words, the tranmission broke and it acted a certain way. After you worked on it, it presented another set of problems. So it's obvious that whatever you did was part of the new set of problems. Coincidences do happen, but not very often. I am sure you will finally get it fixed.

 

[Shran]

I feel like the fact that the bottom is not spherical anymore is causing it to bind up. I would try to fully weld the piece on and then round it off and polish it.

 

[Curious Hound]

My apologies not disrespect intended

No problem. I just didn't want you to get discouraged if it took a bit longer to get your information. We love helping each other, solving problems and sharing information... among all the joking around.