The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Stuck in 2nd gear

I'm having a little problem with my '49 1/2 ton. Stock drive line. I can't shift out of 2nd while driving. Sitting still I can run through the shift pattern just fine but, moving it won't shift to third. Clutch, pressure plate, throw out are all new and adjusted per fact. manual specs. also, have checked shifter alignment per manual specs. Is the syncro going bad? Is this something I can check by pulling the side inspection cover? Or am I gonna have to pull the whole #@** thing back out?

Sounds like there's some kind of interference in the shifter linkage that only shows up when the tranny is under load. I'm not sure what you mean by "shifter alignment", but I would check the entire linkage system to make sure that it's tight, no slop, and that it works well in all gears. If you put it in third sitting still, and then try to take off, does it act like it's in third gear? Can you double clutch and get it into gear? Does it grind the gears when you try to shift?

Baldeagle,

The alignment I'm refering to is in the factory assembly manual under the heading trans. It tells the proper adjustment of the shift rods, etc. I can take off from a dead stop in 1,2, or 3 rd gear. I just can't shift from 2 to 3. I can shift from 1 to 3, then down shift to 2. But, then I have to come to almost a complete stop to shift back out of 2 (either to 3 or just to neutral). Double clutching doesn't work. It does not jump out of 3rd or anything like that. Like I said I can shift it smoothly through the gears sitting still. The linkage has a little play in it but, I've driven trucks with much worse. When driving in 2nd it grinds if you try to shift, kinda like if you weren't using the clutch at all. But, it will not come out of 2nd unless you are almost completely at a stop.

From your description, it sounds like there's something wrong with second gear. I believe I'd yank the tranny and pull the cover off and inspect the gears real closely. It may be that the synchro for second has a burr on it which keeps it from releasing easily. In any case, it certainly sounds like an internal tranny problem.

Sounds like a brass syncro may be going bad. On the other hand that column shifter linkage had 1000 different adjustments to catch all the gears. I would start playing with the shift linkage before I tore the tranny out.