Ugh... stuck in reverse - question
 

I know this is a fairly common thing and I have read the a lot of posts. Like many, about 200 miles ago I replaced the shifter bushings and the car was shifting fine. Pulled out of the driveway the other day and the car was stuck in the middle of the street. i can go through all the gears by shifting. I had to put the clutch in and have my son push it back in the garage.

So I tried the trick of taking the reverse light switch out and push the little pin in and it wasn't moving. Actually it was loose but now way was it going back in. Any ideas or suggestions? Should I be moving the wheels as well? It's on my car lift at the moment.

Thanks,
Jim

Try rotating the wheels and then pushing the pin. That may help it a bit.
It takes a bit of force to move the pin back in.

You'll be able to tell when it's right as the wheels will turn freely.

At least you were not 60 miles away like I was last year when this happened to me. I forgot to kill the ignition in all of the commotion and the car fired up, in reverse, and tried to drive up the tow truck!!:eek:

It takes a hard push. Try to get the rest of the gears in neutral first, so that the transmission is not locked in two gears at once. Then while pushing on the rod, try to rock one of the wheels back and forth to help relieve the load on reverse. If your car does not have limited slip, you'll need to have a helper to hold one wheel while rocking the other.

you have to push hard. use a punch or wooden dowel and rap it with a mallet.

+1 ^
Wooden dowel is a really good tool for this.

Thanks for the replies. You guys are talking about the little pin correct? Not the entire shaft that the reverse gear is on?

right the pin

I had the exact same thing happen to me 2 weeks ago. Out of the drive in middle of road, no forward gears. had it in the neutral spot and there was revers, so back into the drive. There was a very good looking blond coming in the opposite direction and the road is narrow, this is in Germany, so she just stated yelling at me, Would not go around me. my German is ****! I fixit the problem by re adjusting the cupeling in front of the rear seats, now after a few go's at getting it right it is as good as ever. While I was there I changed the clutch cable and what a difference. But a real pain in the ass, to do in a right hand drive car. The blond now gives me a smile and a wave when she go's past.

Did you get the pin back in yet?