hi ive just put a 126 gearbox in my 72 500. the gear lever goes in all the gear positions and the clutch pushs in and out however its as if the car is stuck in 4th all the time. If you select neutral the car is still in gear. If you jack up you can spin the wheels and they go opposite ways as they should.
Ive fitted a new rubber link from gear lever to box. Anyone any ideas please?
Stocky

Stocky,

the way the linkage works I would expect that you should at least be able to select first, third and neutral or second, fourth and neutral. I think it odd that for it to be in gear (you note 4th) but not be able to select the even pair of 2nd.

If you know the gearbox internals are OK then lets keep it simple. Have a look at my dodgy photo. The rusty 'lump' on the RHS is the gear lever housing. My blue tipped pencil is pointing to where the short shaft from this housing joins onto the long shaft that runs back through the tunnel and exits under the car. After that, is the rubber link that you have relpaced and then the selector shaft that sticks out of the front of the box.

I can't help thinking that:
The rear rubber link has come adrift.
The bolt that joins the short shaft from the gear lever housing to the long shaft that runs through the tunnel has let go.
The bolts that hold the gear lever housing to the right side of the transmission tunnel are loose. This is my first thought. (You can see the 2 mounting holes in my photo.)

We know you replaced the rubber link, did you loosen any of the other parts of the linkage?

If all of these are OK then we have to look further. Let us know whow you get on.



Regards

Joe R

Joe
sorry probably not being very clear, the gear lever feels like it selects all the gears ie 1-4 and reverse however when you put in neutral its still as if its in gear ie if you try and push the car its still turning the engine. The gear lever to the gearbox is all connected fine Ive been under and checked.
Ive also had someone push clutch pedal in/out while i was under and i have adjusted the link to ensure the clutch is moving in/out.
Im stumped - not that Ive worked on a 500 before.
Any ideas appreciated
Stocky

Linkage wise you seem to have covered it all apart from the bush that is at the back of the gear lever box which guides/.supports the long rod (there should also be a similar bush where the rod exits the rear bulkhead) If the bush is damaged or missing you will have trouble with gear selection. If it is not that you have got to start asking questions about the gearbox itself.

Is there any way to test the gearbox while its in the car or does it have to come out?
If it has to come out how do I test it then?
Thanks for your advice

Well the ultimate test is to try and drive the car but I am guessing that you are unable to do that. Apart from that I do not know of any other way of testing the gearbox in the car. However you can bypass the the gear linkage with the flexible coupling disconected and putting something like a phillips screwdriver through the selector shaft hole . Then you can try engaging the gears that way. I have never tried that with the gearbox in but only on the bench. If you have to take the box out then the first thing to do is to try that proceedure with the steel top cover removed so you can see what is going on. I have stripped a number of faulty gearboxes and apart from normal wear come across a whole range of faults from stripped gears, sheared bolts , broken springs & bent or broken selector forks. If you do have to strip the box to find the fault then what I always do is just follow the Haynes manual. If you find the odd missing . bent or busted bit I have got a big box of spare parts here. As long as you do nos ask me for a 1st & reverse idler shaft as my son used to wreck those at regular inervals.