Can’t get into gear

[Anonymous]

So I had just returned home from a 30 minute drive last night, rolled into my parking spot, and wanted to back up just a bit. I could not get into reverse, or any other gear for that matter. The shifter will go over towards the reverse/1st side, and get part way to those gears, but will hardly go over to the 2nd/3rd side at all. This happened once before, but it was on a steep hill at a stop sign so I thought that might have something to do with it and as soon as some helpful people had pushed me onto a flat spot the transmission worked normally again. My parking spot is completely flat so that can’t be the issue.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

[Anonymous]

……….

[Anonymous]

But gear selection was working just fine until it wasn’t. After further investigation, It is possible to select gears by manipulating the linkage in the engine bay, so I suspect it’s something at the shifter below the dash.

[Anonymous]

It’s possible that the levers that are engaged by the shift handle are misaligned, or their springs may be bent. the springs that are rivetted to the levers must point straight forward and if you are in first or reverse then the spring for the 2-3 lever must be in the centre slot in the H-gate on the front of the shifter mechanism, and vice-versa. In neutral, both springs should be in the centre of the gate. Crawl under the dash with a light!

[Anonymous]

………….

[Anonymous]

Another possibility is simple adjustment of the two rods that pass through the bulkhead into the gear lever mechanism.

If the short arm on the other end of the lever is not perfectly aligned with the horizontal (neutral) slot in the housing it can lead to the lever becoming “trapped”. I had a similar experience in that it would be fine for ages then, just when you really needed to select a gear – usually pulling away and changing from first to second – it was as if the gearstick was locked and no gear could be selected, not even back into first.

This had been a nuisance for some years despite adjusting everthing else under the bonnet so this spring I spent a pleasant hour on my back under the dash adjusting those two short rods. Not only did it cure the “locking” problem but gear selection in general became smoother in all gears.

The book is of no real help but the aim is to get the “pockets” at the ends of the two rods aligned perfectly with the neutral slot so the gear stick travels smoothly from one to the other.

Noah.

[Anonymous]

Actually, I occasionally have a problem shifting from 1st to 2nd on my Light 15. The gearshift will stick and not go into second. I’ve learned that the 2-3 lever can stick just below the neutral gate. I reach under and push it into place, It moves a tiny amount, click and all is well for another 6 months. I really should adjust it. Next year for sure.

[Author]

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