The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Sticking in Reverse - '61 manual 3 sp Transmission

Looking for a good place to start troubleshooting a little problem.

This happened once a while back, a month or so later. Yesterday, again, now it's time to figure it out.

When backing down the driveway to park, in reverse (stock, column shift, 235), while fine-tuning the truck into position, the clutch pedal will be in and out, as needed, alternating between brake and gas. When it came time to finally stop and shut down, I depressed the clutch, applied the brakes and attempted to move gearshift lever from reverse to neutral - but the lever was stuck, it would not disengage. I pumped the clutch and felt a loss of pedal. As the truck was still in gear and moving backward, I turned off the key. I pumped the clutch again, depressed the pedal and the lever moved without resistance into neutral. Pedal pressure returned.

Never any problems in forward gears. No sticking, popping out of gear, stiffness or grindng. Always smooth action going through the gears, up and down.

Master cylinder is full. Original master and slave, on truck.

I haven't owned a manual trans in years (though have driven a lot of them). Looking for a good starting point to solve this problem.

Thanks,

AD8

Generally worn bushings on the shift linkage components are the first thing to check and the easiest parts to replace. However, since you have the original clutch master cylinder and slave cylinder, they are likely candidates. That truck also has a hydraulic hose as part of the configuration. As in any hydraulic system a partially collapsed hose can cause problems.
Fred

The 1st and Reverse do not have a synchro on them, so my guess is the teeth are possibly damaged on your Reverse, the reverse slides on the 1st gear as I recall.

Other than making sure your clutch is in decent shape, you might need to check that Reverse gear or the gear on the counter shaft. Often when a synchro sticks it can be the shift fork, and can hard to get out of gear. Since there is no shift fork for non-synchro gears, you don't have too much else aside from the gear.

Yes, first and reverse are not syncronized but they are still operated by a shift fork on the side cover. The L/R slider gear slides on the outer sleeve of the syncronizer drum and either engages the low gear on the cluster gear or the reverse idler which is on a separate shaft in the case. In this situation it is more than likely a clutch related problem.
Fred

It is possible that the fork is damaged, if it does have one. No way to know unless you open it up and can get a good view of the gears and fork. Not a lot to those little boxes.

I guess when you rebuild over 100 of these transmissions you will know "if it does have one".
Fred

I hope I never reach that point. I want to rebuild one single T5, and possibly 1 3-speed, but I will most likely sell the 3-speed cheap and not do anything to it. I have a 2nd one in my truck at the moment. I do primarily only plan to rebuild my T5.

I would rather spend my time behind the wheel, not under the hood...

Carry on!

Sounds to me like a hydraulic issue. I would replace any hose first, as it may be collapsing on the inside. If that doesn’t work, it’s time to rebuild the master and slave cylinders. I would start with the master since I believe you may need to remove the tranny to service the slave. Maybe a fellow ‘bolter can chime in to verify.

Thanks to all for your time insight.

Not much time over this last weekend to do very much. I checked the bushings, alignment at bottom of steering shaft and did a little lubrication.

I took the truck out last night. No issues backing out of various parking spots on the short trip. Upon arrival home, when backing down the driveway into the garage, from time to time, I would move from reverse to neutral, just to check function. All was well, until the last maneuver. Inside the garage, cutting it tight to the wall, I was parked and ready to shut down. The lever stuck in reverse once again.

Then I recalled... the only instances where this problem occured was when the wheel was cranked hard, at low speed, one way or the other. Could there be some bending or flexing at these extremes that is interfering with the normal function of the linkage, as it is tied to the steering shaft?

I have a friend coming by later in the week to operate behind the wheel while the invetigation continues.

Thanks again!

Loose or worn out motor mounts may contribute to the problem.

Fred