SC sticks in fifth gear

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

Occasionally, after my freshly rebuilt (totally--engine, trans, body, suspension) '83 SC has been in fifth gear awhile, it doesn't want to come out of that gear. I can pull it out, hard, and now I've found that if I push it "farther" into gear and move it around a bit, it comes out normally. It has only happened three or four times.

Question: does this sound like a shift-coupler adjustment problem, which I'm assuming, or is this a symptom of somethign I screwed up when reassembling the gearbox?

Stephan

[Orange SC]

I have an 83 SC with the same issue. I found that if I get out of 5th gear BEFORE I come to a complete stop, while the car is still moving, it slides out of 5th with no problems. I assumed, as you did, that it was a shifter adjustment rather than a major 915 issue. I'm going to adjust and see what happens.

[DJB]

My 86 has the same problem, brute force is required to remove it from fifth at some times.

[Early_S_Man]

It isn't a coupler problem. It is a worn operating sleeve. Because the transaxle is left in 5th gear for many hours, and shifts are infrequent compared to lower gears, and also because 5th gear is up front and the operating sleeve is higher if the oil level is a bit low, the 5th gear operating sleeve, which is made of brass, 'wears' against the steel dog teeth of 5th gear in a rather unique pattern and gets notched, and eventually becomes hard to disengage, and finally, stuck in gear.

[john walker's workshop]

warren, gotta call you on this one. the operating sleeve is steel. the fork is brass. the sleeve often wears a notch in the hub it slides on, making shifting difficult. i just fixed a 77 that had the same problem, but in his case, the trans had been low on oil for a long time and 5th was galled and pretty dark from being hot, as well as starting to bind on it's roller bearings.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

I'm going to put forth another theory--I'm going to guess it's your lockout mechanism on the shifter tower.

That's what it feels like when mine does that, anyway.

[Early_S_Man]

Yes, John, you're right, of course, about the slider, since it is part of the reverse gear reduction ... brass wouldn't make for a very strong gear!

I knew there was a 'notch' wear issue, and I guess you are saying it is worn onto the triangular 'spider' that the 'slider'/operating sleeve moves on! Brain fade ...

[old_skul]

I used to have this problem, and believe it or not, I found that I had cracked one of the bushings in my rear-seat-area shift coupler. At least take a look at it before you start digging in the tranny.

My transmission was freshly rebuilt as well.

[helgeson]

On my trip back from Parade in Milwaukee to Pittsburgh my 73 911 locked in 5th gear. In my case it turned out to be the shift coupler. What a difference and no more 5th gear lockups.