Transmission rebuild- can’t get reverse

One thing I haven't mentioned is the detent beans themselves. The ends of these can get deformed and not ride smoothly in their bores or in the cut-outs in the shift rail. The rails themselves can also get buggered.

Good luck. As you are learning these transmissions are tempermental. Most everybody ends up opening them back up at least one on their first try.

There are people here with units I built that I told, during the build process, that I wasn't happy with how it worked on the bench and had to go back into it. I would bet that its 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 that I open back up for some reason. Often simply because it just didn't work smoothly.
 
Sorry for the delay in updates, but I'm happy to report that we had a successful test-drive last night. It shifted smoother than ever, and I didn't even need to keep my hand on the gearshift in reverse!

I'll write more later to share a couple more observations, but wanted to share the joy and say 'thanks again' for all the help along the way.

Brian
 
Russe11 said:
Sorry for the delay in updates, but I'm happy to report that we had a successful test-drive last night. It shifted smoother than ever, and I didn't even need to keep my hand on the gearshift in reverse!

I'll write more later to share a couple more observations, but wanted to share the joy and say 'thanks again' for all the help along the way.

Brian
Click to expand...
Brian - good luck getting things sorted out. I’ve finally gathered all the parts for my transmission rebuild. You naught have seen my posts of going through several transmissions, gleaning the best parts and ordering new when I needed to. I’ll be assembling things in the next couple of weeks and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a bit anxious. I’m looking forward to hearing what the issue has been with yours.

Ryan.
 
Ryan - you started off with a much larger assortment to harvest parts from, but our goals were similar. Drive the car with what's in it while rebuilding one to swap in. My plan derailed when a crack was discovered in the case of the one I planned to rebuild. So, the car was parked for quite a with both transmissions disassembled. Fortunately for me, the transmission with the cracked case contained synchos that were obviously recently replaced, and I think the 3 & 4 gears were replaced as well. I bought new sliding gears for 1/2/R and 3/4, as well as a new reverse idler gear and shaft. Of course, all the gaskets & seals, too.
When I opened it back up the last time, I spent some 'quality time' coming to understand the linkage better. Everything looked like it was functioning properly when the trans was open. When I closed it back up, 5th was somewhat hard to select, and reverse was very hard. I swapped the spring for the detent ball on the 5/R shift rod with one of the softer springs from the other transmission, and everything was smooth and easy. 1-2-3-4-5-interlock-N-R.
I expected that when I put it back in the car and had the linkage connected with the right leverage (instead of moving the shaft directly with the PVC T-Handle), I’d opt to put the stiffer spring back in the 5/R spot. But when had it back in the car, it felt fine with the softer spring, and when I swapped in the stiffer one, I couldn’t get Reverse. I put the softer spring back in, and everything feels beautiful.
Right now, the only thing to sort is that the reverse-light is not functioning. That should get sorted out tomorrow night. I’ve only put a few miles on it, but it is dramatically better than it has ever been. I'm hoping to gain enough confidence in the next couple weeks to make the 1200mi round trip to the Midwest Bayless Open House.

Brian
 
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Russe11 said:
Ryan - you started off with a much larger assortment to harvest parts from, but our goals were similar. Drive the car with what's in it while rebuilding one to swap in. My plan derailed when a crack was discovered in the case of the one I planned to rebuild. So, the car was parked for quite a with both transmissions disassembled. Fortunately for me, the transmission with the cracked case contained synchos that were obviously recently replaced, and I think the 3 & 4 gears were replaced as well. I bought new sliding gears for 1/2/R and 3/4, as well as a new reverse idler gear and shaft. Of course, all the gaskets & seals, too.
When I opened it back up the last time, I spent some 'quality time' coming to understand the linkage better. Everything looked like it was functioning properly when the trans was open. When I closed it back up, 5th was somewhat hard to select, and reverse was very hard. I swapped the spring for the detent ball on the 5/R shift rod with one of the softer springs from the other transmission, and everything was smooth and easy. 1-2-3-4-5-interlock-N-R.
I expected that when I put it back in the car and had the linkage connected with the right leverage (instead of moving the shaft directly with the PVC T-Handle), I’d opt to put the stiffer spring back in the 5/R spot. But when had it back in the car, it felt fine with the softer spring, and when I swapped in the stiffer one, I couldn’t get Reverse. I put the softer spring back in, and everything feels beautiful.
Right now, the only thing to sort is that the reverse-light is not functioning. That should get sorted out tomorrow night. I’ve only put a few miles on it, but it is dramatically better than it has ever been. I'm hoping to gain enough confidence in the next couple weeks to make the 1200mi round trip to the Midwest Bayless Open House.

Brian
Click to expand...
As far as I know the stiffer spring for reverse and fifth is due to the lack of a reverse lockout mechanism. So the stiffer spring acts to make accidental reverse selection more difficult. Therefore I don't think it will affect anything to swap it with the softer one, so long as you aren't in the habit of missing shifts. :)
 
There actually is a reverse lock out mechanism. If you have selected 5th, the lockout prevents the shifter from moving directly from 5th to reverse.

The stiff detent spring is specific to the 5th/Reverse shift rail.
 
Steve Hoelscher said:
There actually is a reverse lock out mechanism. If you have selected 5th, the lockout prevents the shifter from moving directly from 5th to reverse.

The stiff detent spring is specific to the 5th/Reverse shift rail.
Click to expand...
Agreed. I was thinking more in terms of other vehicles that have a more traditional lock out - preventing going into reverse from any position without some sort of deliberate move like pushing the shifter down first, etc. To me the X's stiffer 5th/reverse spring is intended to be something along that line. :)
 
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