Have a rebuilt 4 speed top loader out of a 390 Fairlane that is now in my '36. The car is up on jack stands with no driveshaft. Put the trans in gear to see if shift lever would clear bottom of dash and now trans is stuck in gear. Any suggestions, maybe try & turn trans yoke somehow............just guessing here.
Improper lingage adjustment ? Picking more than 1 gear at atime.. If you can access the top of the trans pull the cover for a look see.
Same thing happened with my top loader and jeep shifter. The original 1-2 fork is brass, it wears out to where the shift handle disengages from the fork. Aftermarket forks have steel insert to prevent this. Google Jeep T176 transmission to get a diagram of shifter housing set up. Remove the housing cap and take out the shift handle, should be able to look inside and see if fork is worn. Worse case remove entire shifter housing from transmission.
With the engine off, have someone roll the car forward and back as your jiggling the shifter... Not a lot of forward and back pressure, just to jostle the tranny enough to let it pop out of where its stuck. That's what I used to do on an old tranny.
The Jeep top shift mechanism has a few issues. The forks can become loose on the shift shafts. The fix for mine was to have the forks silver soldered to the shafts, as you cannot weld or braze them. Next, since the housing is aluminum, there is no way to compensate for wear, other than to refit the support bars. No matter what I've done, I cannot get the thing to shift rapidly. But I still love it.
Jimmy, had I known the short comings of the Jeep shifter I would have gone with a 5 speed like everyone else and saved myself some headaches. Thanks for your input.
Have been unable to unstick it; if I remove shift cover housing with it stuck would that be a mistake? How do I find neutral with cover & shift lever removed?
Remove the shifter assembly and slide the forward gear that the fork fits into until you find neutral. Make sure forks are in the neutral position on the shifter assembly.
Okay, removed shift lever and poked big screwdriver down the tower & got gate realigned and now it is back in neutral. Reinstalled shift lever and now there doesn't seem to be a problem, keeping my fingers crossed. As for a new shifter complete the cost is almost prohibitive as far as I'am concerned. Am in over $300 in my used one now. Thanks everyone for your help, don't know what I would do without the "Barn."
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