901 trans unable to find neutral
 

I have 68 912 that I am returning to the road after a long slumber. When I picked up the car it was in gear and I've been unable to find neutral. The shifter had a lot of slop so I replaced the shifter,shaft and coupler bushings(all the bushings were shot).
As I can't seem to get it into neutral, I have tried a number of shifter adjustments and then tried to get it into neutral. The shifter moves and it appears that it will move into different gears(not all of them). I have jacked up the rear and tried moving the wheels while playing with the shifter-no luck.
Any thoughts? Thanks.

Clutch disc stuck to the flywheel?

The clutch actually seems to be OK as that is the only way I can move it-by pushing in the clutch

If it is going from one gear to another it would hit neutral in between. You are sure you replaced all of the bushings?

The cup under the shifter.
The bracket bushing just behind the shifter.
The coupler bushings.

Is the shifter itself tight? If all of those things are good, the only thing I can think of would be loose or broken internals. Maybe a slipped shift fork?

Do you get any side to side movement in the shifter or just front back?

I have a 70 and on mine, the only way this would happen (assuming trans is functional) is if the shift coupler between front and back seat is so out of adjustment, in or out, it is stuck in that gear it seems to be in. Also, watch the coupler and the movement of the shift rod going into the trans to see how much it is moving, in and out and forward and back. Good luck. Kind of having same problem but cannot hit 4th and 5th. Pelican has a good write up on how to adjust the whole assy. So does Dr. Evil from evilwerks, check out his website. Steve

Yes, all of those bushings were replaced. There is side to side movement-like it was in neutral-but not. Moving forward and back, sometimes you can tell it clacks into gear, sometimes not.

I have tried different positions on the coupler and watched the shift rod moving in and out. I'm sure its not adjusted properly, but I would think I could eventually find neutral so I could do the proper adjustment. So far no luck. The only posts I could find referred to 915s.

I second what bgyglfr says.

I have a 902 5 speed, and it has slop in all the gears. When my friends drive it they can't tell what gear they are going into. It might feel that way since you haven't driven it in a long time. The reverse and 1st gear (dog bone) are the only gears that locks into place.

Do you have a 4 speed or a 5 speed?

Where in Orange County are you located?

My advice is to jack up the car, release the linkage and see if you can change the gears manually, finding 1st, 2nd, neutral, etc. That will give you a good indication if it's linkage or something inside the tranny.

^^^

What he said. Try removing the linkage at the coupler and see if you can get it out of gear by moving the shaft through the access hole.

What John says is what can happen, happened to me years ago with my 72
was in Storage 5 years New Zealand, while i was in US, same thing.To release it
start the car, clutch in get some one to push car about 5 mph, with revs at about
2000.then lift clutch while doing this,it will release clutch disc from flywheel.

Its a 5 speed. The shifter itself is in good shape and now I know all the bushings are good.

OK

Kind of an odd problem. My first thought is that the clamp just upstream of the shift rod coupler is loose. But if you've verified that the coupler is moving fore/aft and rotating, and that this is translating movement to the shift rod in the trans. nose, then the next step is to inspect the selector shafts.

Remove the oval cover/guideplate from the lower side of the transmission (the oil will drain out!). When in neutral the slots in the three shafts will obviously be aligned. If they are not aligned, you can move the one thats out of alignment by levering with a big screwdriver. If its not in neutral after you've aligned the shafts, then you have an internal problem, probably a broken shift fork. If it does go into neutral OK, then look for problems with the shift rod in the transmission. Possibly the pin holding the selector finger to the shaft is broken or fallen out.

Ok, I'll give that a shot(with fingers crossed!) Thanks.