While having my '59 3100 in a garage to get the 235 swapped out for a 283, I decided to have the rear seal in the 3 speed transmission replaced and possibly the front bearing. I had mentioned that it sounded like a bearing was worn. I went to the garage one day and noticed that the shaft had been removed from the front of the trans exposing the front bearing. About a week ago, I was back at the garage and noticed the transmission was put back together and waiting on the engine to be put in. Apparently they called in a transmission guy to replace the seal and gaskets, why I don't know because the mech I had been dealing with said he could do that.

The engine finally went in yesterday and so did the trans. Today when I was getting ready to do a engine rotation, I noticed the shift lever was at the 11:30 position. Well, I may be dumb, but I ain't stupid! The shift lever when in reverse or 2nd gear should be approximately in the 1:00 position. I moved the lever and it went to about the 3:00 position and it felt like the linkage was not attached. I brought this to the fella's attention that removed and reinstalled the transmission. he got defensive and tried to tell me the gear sector on the shift column was broken and that he didn't do anything other than put the trans in and hook it back up the way it was when he disconnected it. I let him know everything worked fine until the gaskets, rear seal and the front shaft were reinstalled. I told him it appeared the gear forks weren't engaging. The shift lever moved but the shift linkage from the column to the trans didn't. I spoke to the owner of the garage and informed him of the situation. Of course the mech denied any responsibility, even though he was the one that removed the front bearing plate and shaft. They called the trans guy to come fix whatever it is that's wrong, so tomorrow I should know what was wrong. Any ideas as to what could be the problem?

Last edited by Cablesmill; 07/09/2015 1:27 AM.

1959 3100 Apache Fleetside