It's a 26 Model T roadster in stock condition. It won't roll. 3 pedals/one lever. Neither of the forward or reverse pedals are depressed. The brake lever is in the back position. The car seems like it's "in gear" and the linkage from the pedals is intake. By turning the hand crank the car will move forward. Is there a "nuetral" positon on the transmission? It hasnt been driven in quite some time. Any ideas?
By pulling the lever back toward the seat the high/low pedal goes down. It seems like its doing what it should, there's good spring tension on the lever and the pedal. But i've never been able to get it to roll no matter what combination I try. Unloading it off the trailer was a royal pain
pull the handbrake part way, with the floorboards off you can see the mechanism that moves the high low pedal to the center position, this is neutral more or less. Even though you have the hand brake part way on, the brakes shouldn't drag unless they are adjusted way tight.
No luck there.. I've got the car up on jack stands. I can reach the lever and move the drivers side wheel with my other hand. I tried slowly pulling the lever back and forth while rocking the wheel back and forth. Still wont come out of gear
When a model T sits for a while, the lining on the bands swell up from the lubricant in the transmission. Thus the bands engage, or put the car in gear. The bands will need to be loosened, car started while supported the rear wheels (safely), so that the rear wheels won't touch the ground. Then after the bands and lube warm up after running in for a little time, they will be needed to be readjusted. This was a very common happening for Model T owners. There are now new bands manufactured, made of material that does not swell from the lubricant in the trans.
Don't loosen the bands it is most likely the clutch discs for high gear are stuck from sitting, jack up one or both back wheels and start the car throttle up to a fast idle and step on low pedal, it may grunt or stall but it will free up.
Is there any way to free it up other than starting it? I'm not quite to that stage yet and may need to move the car to anouther garage.
Try pulling the plugs and let it turn the motor to move it... shouldn't be a huge amount of drag...and you never know... it may free itself up in the process! Good luck Zach
T doesn't run? Put lever in the middle position clutch/low pedal should go down about 1/2 way this frees the e-brake and puts transmission in neutral. Take out all the spark plugs. Jack up one wheel and "jump on the spokes switching directions and it should free up the high clutchs. If the starter works do the first couple steps then just hit the starter and it will free up.
i would remove the transmission cover and check if the bands are stuck to the drums or that the clutch is releasing. some pb blaster mite free things up if its been setting a long time also a few raps on the clutch fingers mite unstick it
Will try this next. To day I did take the spark plugs out and cranked it over with the hand crank for about 15 minutes taking a break here and there to rock the wheels back and forth. Still no luck. I'll pull the trans cover off tomorrow and see what I find...
Did you have the wheel(s) off the ground when you were cranking it? If yes did it (they) turn while cranking? If wheel turns try putting the car back down and cranking it to break the clutches loose. If the wheel(s) don't turn when you crank it you have a different issue. Often when you find a T that appears to be in pretty good shape and wonder why it was parked you will find a split pinion in the dif has jammed every thing up it was a pretty common reason for just pushing it into the nearest bush.
This may be what's wrong...Yes, when the car was jacked up - by turning the hand crank the back wheels did turn also. I was able to roll the car out of the garage easier by taking the spark plugs out. THEN, I tried to roll it back in... It came to a dead stop. Jacked it back up to see more and now when I rock the wheel back and forth (it'll go about 2-3inches either way) it feels like it's binding in the diff. I also removed the top cover on the trans and nothing seems to be holding on, the bands release when the pedals release. So, the next thing i'm going to try is pulling the rear end out and splitting it. And i'll be damned if i'm going to lay under the car, i'm taking the body off!
Hello Edelbroke: The u-joint is pinned in place, I have seen where the pin drops and contacts the inside of the torque tube. The car will roll forward and back some but not much, because that pin is stopping it. There are two plugs one on the top and one on the bottom, remove both and with a good flash light look to see if that pin is the problem. 2nd guess is the 25 clutch discs are stuck inside the brake drum. There are 6 lug on the inside of the brake drum and notches form from wear will not allow the discs to release and the car will remain in high/direct drive. Gary in MN
Hello Edelbroke: Here is a link that may be of some help. Transmission is chapter 6. http://www.mtfca.com/books/Course.htm Gary in MN
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