Hey guys and gals ... I have a 51 merc with the stock running gear with the 3 on the tree overdrive tranny. Tranny stays stuck in 1st all the time and the shifter flops around losely with no risistance. When I get under the hood and put everything back to neutral and get back in the car and shift there's risistance in the leaver again untill I shift then it get jammed in 1st gear with no risistance in the leaver again. Is the problem in the column or the tranny ??? ... totally stumped here.
It sounds like the same thing that happened to my 51 when I was 16 and had just bought it a few months before. The shift tube breaks right around the piece that the shift lever goes through to shift it. Mostly due to metal fatigue. We tried to braze mine (that was in 1963) and it didn't hold up very long but a good tig welder might be able to weld it up so it would hold and be good for a lot more miles. Otherwise you have to replace it or install a floor shift.
Ours is real loose too. Every once in a while it will jam in 1st. I do the same thing as you and it will be fine for quite a while as long as I use the proper "English" on the shift handle when going from 1st into 2nd.
hey there Mr48 ... thanks for the info, I'll check that out, like your truck brother ... I own a '54 chev truck also. Anybody else ever have this problem, just want to confirm before I go in knee deep.
Doing a '50 with 68,000 miles for a guy ... tube & levers so worn it won't engage low & reverse, just 2-3.
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