Can't rotate the shift coupler
 

Reinstalling the engine and tranny, reconnecting the coupler, I can get the shaft to move fore and aft, but no rotation. I'm probably overlooking something obvious but I'll be damed if I can figure out what.

???

Forgot to mention, I have no idea what gear it's in because I'm brilliant, and didn't make note of it before I dropped the engine. I most likely parked it in first, so it's probably on the 1-2 plane, but no guarantee.

Wrap a rag around the shaft and clamp a pair of vice-grips on it. Pull and push till you find neutral. Not in neutral = no rotation.

I can push and pull with the gear shifter, with the coupler attached. I can feel it going in and out of 2 gears, but in between (where neutral should be) I can't get rotation.

was anything done to the trans when you had it out?

Opened to reseal, but nothing else. I'm concerned the shift fork may be out of position.

Any ideas?

how far is "opened" I mean if the front was removed there is a little tiny pin than falls out..but its pretty deep IMO

maybe you are moving it too far? try 1/2 the distance and rotate?

wait...you want to rotate the trans shaft or the coupler? if the coupler shaft wont rotate, use gear shift to find some sort of neutral, you might be in R or 5

what year car, this might help too

The top cone came off and the mid section opened to reseal all the parts. I made sure the reverse pin was put back, and int the correct orientation. I'm going to try messing around with the coupler and shaft some more and if that doesn't get it, I'll try the reverse pin.

not fun - but I have seen that be the cause before....

Not a huge deal - it happened when I rebuilt my tranny. If you jack up the front of the car, very little oil spills out. A really big allen wrench is a perfect tool for pushing the pin.

Well, it was in reverse. Had to take a break for lunch, so I'll see soon if that was the problem.

Got it out of reverse, and I can roll the car now, so it's in neutral, however the main shaft still won't rotate at all. Shift fork guide behind the cover plate?

Ok, back to this. Now that I've got the engine running, I can get 1st and 2nd, and move the car, but no 3rd/4th or reverse (4-speed tranny). The shaft from the tranny won't rotate at all. What do I do now?

With the coupler removed, car in neutral, if you grab the shaft does it move at all, left or right? When you shift the car using the shifter it feels like the it moves left and right a whole heck of a lot, but if you grab the shaft coming out of the tranny, it hardly moves left to right at all, does it move at all? Does the 4 speed have the fork cover that you can take off to check internally?

No, the shaft itself won't rotate at all. I do know how little it needs to rotate, but it isn't moving.

Yes, the 4 speed has the opening for the fork cover. I think that's the next step :(

Yep, that got it. Took the cover plate access thingy in the tranny off, and I've got proper rotation of the shaft now. I must have installed it wrong, which is weird, because I've had it off several times when I rebuilt it, then resealed it, then resealed it again. Yay loctite 524... :)

Unfortunately, I've never done it from underneath the car, and it looks to be much more of a PITA. I'm going to let it drain the rest of the afternoon, and I'll put it all back together this evening. It'd be nice if I could get the first drive with the new engine in today!

This has really got me stumped. I pulled the plate off the tranny, and made sure it was aligned with the fork on it when I put it back on. I did a few trials before applying sealant and doing it up tightly. What I'm consistently getting is ability to turn the shaft when the coupler's not connected, but as soon as I connect the coupler, even when the coupler's disconnected from the rod going to the gearshift, I can't turn it anymore. Furthermore, the coupler really doesn't want to go onto the shaft - I'm having to lightly hammer it to get it to go onto the shaft. So there's something weird there. But it was untouched from when I dropped the engine and tranny, when it was working fine.

:confused:

AWE...the enemy of "good enough"


BETTER!

sorry man, hope you get it figured out