Gear shift stuck

Got a problem... I bought my 85 Cab (ROW version) knowing that reverse gear was not working. Funds are bit tight, so it's not fixed yet. (When I park it, I always look for a way to head forward and not be forced to back-up!)

This has been going on for several months.
I jacked the car up for other maintenance the other day, and as a lark, I got in the seat and played around with the shifter. Lo and behold, it felt like it slipped into reverse! Elated, I took it down and rode around in it, then stopped and tried to repeat the same feeling. No luck. Instead, it went into 4th gear and is now stuck there. I ended up driving home that way, thankfully through mostly highway traffic... but I did smell the clutch burning as I peddled it througha couple of stop signs on the way home.... what a dolt!!

I'm about to give up and give it to a trusted local wrench, but thought I'd check here first for any possible answers. (I checked the "search" feature and found a number of posts regarding the ball socket and bearing bushings for the shifter, but they dealt more with the forward gears than reverse... still, could it be the same source of problem regardless of forward or reverse gears?)

Thanks for the help!


[This message has been edited by Cotton (edited 05-18-2001).]

If I understand correctly, you did get it into reverse and drove around that way. Good, that means your tranny is okay.

Sounds like you need to adjust the shift coupler. If you do a search on the archives, you will find several threads on how to do this.

Chuck

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'86 Cab, '77 Targa, Family Truckster

Yes, sounds like ball socket or shift coupler. If you cannot shift at all, I suspect the ball socket first. If your tranny was shifting before ynd you didn't have an "Explosion", its something in the linkage only.

Jens

Thanks for the replies, guys.

Clark (which is my surname, BTW!): I can't verify that I got in reverse; it just felt that way when it was jacked up. I took it for a spin to verify, and that's when I got in trouble with my 4th gear problem. In my own simplistic thinking, I was wondering if the effect of jacking-up the car would release gravity somewhere in the linkage, thus allowing reverse gear. I'd like to think I was heading in the right direction in my analysis of the problem (i.e., focusing on the shifter and not the tranny), but I SNAFU'd it in midstream!

Jens: Thanks for adding to my comfort level that it's in the shift linkage and not the tranny itself. Most instructions re: shift linkage repairs start out with it being in neutral, yet I'm stuck in 4th. Got any suggestions or warnings before I get more stupid than I already am?! (BTW, thankfully no explosions.... yet!)


[This message has been edited by Cotton (edited 05-21-2001).]

you may have to pull the guide fork plate on the bottom of the trans in order to pop the shift rod back into neutral.