Technical gearbox stuck in gear help????

[jcstuckinmuck]

Hi all i was getting ready for mot as it failed on a tiny bit of rust (didnt come as a surprise there), so i got the car home and backed it up to the garage, and switched off, now i need to move the car to work on it and it seems its stuck in gear, lever is in neutral and it whants to go forward, i cant shift into 1st,2nd 3rd or 4th but i can get 5th and reverse, but feels like the gearbox is looked up, i did have the box out last year as it had the same issue, and took the box apart but couldnt find anything wrong( i fact the previous owner had done the box himself, all new gears and bearing through out, what could be wrong???, now seems ive got to take the gearbox out again, its getting to be a chore, all gear linkages are new and fine,any ideas anyone

 

[multipete]

Will gear lever move normally from left to right in neutral? If not, Possible cause could be the inter locking pin that goes throu the selecting shaft has been lost in strip/rebuild. The pin pushes the inter lock balls to inhibit two gears being selected at once,which sounds like it could be your problem. Even if you got it into neutral,the box would have to come out and stopped to stop this happening again.

 

[multipete]

pin 1 goes throu (3rd/4th) selector shaft,while the 2 balls sit in between the shafts. As you select a gear, the ball pushes against the pin (1) and in turn pushes the other ball to stop another gear selector from moving (so stopping two gear engaging at once) which sounds like it has on you gear box.

 

[multipete]

showing pin,balls and shafts.

 

[multipete]

If you cant move gear lever from side to side in neutral,its stuck in gear. If you can move side to side in neutral,you have a fork issue. IF YOU CANT move gear lever from side to side in neutral,as you have nothing to loose,one possibility would be to remove the gear box end plate,inside is 5th gear/5gear fork,connected to 5th gear is 5th gear selector,under this shaft are two more shafts(3/4+1/2 selector shafts.) From memory,when in neutral the bottom 2 shafts should be flush,if 1 sticks out of the gear box,you in luck,push it back in flush. To make pushing shaft back easier,as you look at shafts from the end plate,there are three 13mm bolts(pointing left to right one above the other)that have spring and ball detents(one unit) to hold shafts in correct place,slacken the detents off.this will hope fully get it back in to neutral after pushing flush. PLEASE NOTE......,this is last resort,because if you push too far,THE BOX WILL HAVE TO COME OUT AND STRIPPED TO GET BACK IN TO NEUTRAL.

 

[multipete]

Just noticed,it's a plate,3 springs,3 detention balls. (5th/reverse Spring is harder than the other two)

 

[jcstuckinmuck]

Thankyou multipete, sorry for long time in replying,work issues, yes you were right, i cannot move the gear lever left to right, so i have done as you said and removed end casing, and one of the selector shafts were stickng out, i left the detent balls and springs in place and pushed the shaft back in untill it clicked and hey presto we have gears and its not stuck in gear, so your saying that possable inter lock pin is missing???, so thats gearbox out and stripout, funny though it never did this while driving or on the mot test, if it does it again it may be a stripout again ?????, gets tiring removing the box again.

 

[multipete]

Unfortunately,as it has happened before,It could happen again. Yes,the gear box needs to come out to cure.Either the pin or one of the balls is missing.Also check for excess play in the selector fork and arms it engages in to when box is out. One check you could do,is take the plate off and check there are three detent balls and springs in place. 13mm spanner,and a small magnet to pull balls out. Can't go wrong(but don't loose spring or balls)reverse gear Spring is stronger. It may be the cause but doubt it,and you don't need to take box out.