Bent Shift Forks????

Someone told me I may have bent shift forks. My trans (83 915) is very difficult to pull down into 2nd gear during mid range RPM's. It never grinds and never pops out of gear, so I've been told it probably is not my syncro's.

Where are the shift forks and how does one go about replacing them? Do you agree with the diagnosis???

I have an 83SC with this exact problem.

I thought it might be bad shifter bushings,
but replaced them (and threw in a short-shift
kit) which did not solve the problem. Nor
has fiddling with the shift-coupler adjustment.

It shifts into second fine if the rpms are
low, but if I am accelerating hard, I can't
pull it into second gear. Other gears enter
normally.

Thanks for any feedback. Tim

Hi Guys,

I have had that problem on a 1972 915 trans. The shift forks are in a little box hanging on the trans. They are actually little forks taht can come loose with age. In my case, I was lucky and they just had to be tightened up. In some cases, however, it might not be the forks. I was lucky enough with another 915 trans to need new bushings to alleviate the hard shifting. The bushings that I am talking about are the ones behind the front seats under the black plate on the tunnel. The linkage back there could need some serious adjustments. Take your time with any trans diagnostics. What might seem obvious, might be furthest from the truth.

The application of sound diagnosis would make it obvious that this can ONLY be a problem with the 2nd gear synchro and dog teeth, since the problem only occurs under a narrow set of circumstances. If the shift forks or bushings or any other part of the shifting mechanism was out of spec, the delay would be present in all gears, not just 2nd. Slow shifting into 2nd is indeed a ubiquitous problem almost always attributed to worn 2nd synchros and dog teeth. I would suggest you speak with a couple of people that regularly service transmissions like Gary Fairbanks or Roy at Motormeister. Don't bother with the bushings or any other band aid fix.

Toad, could you please e-mail me. I was trying to e-mail you and I kept getting invalid or returned mail. Marcw@pipeline.com

My SC had symptoms of hard shifting into second gear at times .I had to fiddle with the adjustment of the coupler behind the seats (took many times to get it right) it needs to be adjusted just right once I finally got it right the car shifts like butter in all gears

I agree with Jryerson. He described exactly what I had experienced.