Ok, I'll start at the beginning... I was racing a buddy and when I went for my fifth gear shift, it felt like I missed the gear so to speak. So I kept the clutch in as to not damage anything further and I tried to pull the shifter back into the neutral position so I could reshift. Well it was stuck halfway. I couldn't pull it back to neutral and I couldn't push it further into the 5th gear position. I stopped the truck and left the clutch in and kept playing with the shifter until finally it returned back to neutral position. I thought all was fine after that. After talking to the friend about how I just raped his 02 HO with Edge Comp and about my "misshift", I go to take off and get through second ok but when I shift into third it feels a little loose. I let out on the clutch and the engine just revs.. its definately not in gear. So I just shifted into fourth and got home. I'm sitting in the driveway with engine running and clutch in and messing with the shifter some more. I tried third again and it wouldn't grab. Kept playing and I finally got it to grab in 3rd. So I put it back in neutral and let my foot off the clutch real fast and the engine died because it wasn't actually out of third gear and it was in the neutral position. I hope I'm not confusing anyone. What do you guys think? I'm guessing its something in the shift linkage. That's the only thing that makes sense.. but then again I don't know jack about getrag internals. Thanks in advance guys
Dan

 

The shifter is a top-loader. If you take off your shift boot you will see that the shifter goes directly into the transmission with no external linkage. There is a snap ring that holds the shifter in place. If you don't have snap ring pliers it is possible to get it out with 2 screwdrivers, it just sucks that way. Another thing you might want to do is take off the PTO covers on the sides and try to look at your gear clusters and check them for excessive play. I had mine rebuilt because the aft bearings on the output shaft disintegrated and found that my throwout bearing was junk too. I hope this helps you some.
Bubba

 

Yes that does help! I at least have an idea of what to look for now. I'll try to muster up some snap ring pliers too. I'll have my gear head dad helping me also so he'll be able to help some. Any more thoughts fellas? I know its late...

 

If it's not making terrible noises when you drive it, the problem is confined to the shift cover. The trans is going to have to come out to deal with the problem, unless it's something stupid like EdwinSmith found on his truck - the PO had left the snap ring out. It's worth popping the shifter out for a look, there should be two pins that come into the side of the shift tower, you may have broken one of them.

 

Alright thanks Dave. That makes me feel a little better. Haven't had a chance to tear into it yet but here in about 20 minutes I will be starting. It doesn't make any sounds and I drove it home ten miles last night. I just have to make sure its not in 2 gears at once. It was stuck in 3rd last night for awhile and i was trying to back up and it wasn't going in either direction... just pulling down on the engine. Just made myself a transbrake basically lol. I'll repost with my findings once I get it tore apart. Thanks

 

Same thing happened to mine several months back and it was a roll pin that backed out of the shift rod. I popped the shifter out, and was able to fish the old pin out through the PTO cover. I lined up the rod and put the pin back in. All through the little 2 inch hole with the spring in the way. Fun stuff.

 

Well I took the boot and cover off and looked at the 2 pins on the shift tower. One of them is broken for sure because a piece fell off of it when I touched it with the screw driver. The remaining piece is loose but I haven't put a real effort into trying to get it out. I'm hoping that this is the ONLY problem. As soon as my friend gets here with snap ring pliers, I'm going to pull the shift tower out. Anything I need to know before I tear into it? Thanks for all the help and keep the replies coming please.
Dan

 

On mine, the reason the PO had it apart was to reshape the end of the shifter by welding/grinding. I think the end will wear down so it can slip in between the slots or it will not pull one gear completely into neutral before the shifter slips sideways and tries to move into the next gear. There is a mechanism which prevents you from getting into 2 gears at the same time which prevents catastrophic damage but it also causes this problem. IN my case, the PO either lost or broke the snap ring and tried to beat the trans housing down to keep the shifter in. and the shifter wasn't down into the slots properly and would slip out. The screws on the sides keep the shifter from turning but if you take them out you can turn the shifter sideways and sometimes get things lined back up but it will happen again. I suspect the proper fix is to get a new shifter or reshape the end of yours to be the proper shape. I have never seen a new one but I would guess it should be a rectangular shape about 1/4 inch wide left/right and about 1/2 to 5/8 inch front/back.

You'll need to have somebody hold the shifter back down in the hole while you get the snap ring back in unless you have 3 arms.

The Getrag manual is about worthless on this and I have never seen it illustrated properly anywhere. But imagine 3 rods that can move forward and backward in the top of your tranny. Then imagine they have an apendage on top that forms a slot about 5/8 inch wide. Each rod has this slot and the 2 on the outside have a button with a spring behind it that hold the shifter in the middle slot for 3/4 shift. 5/R is on the left and 1/2 is on the right. The end of the shifter goes in this slot and moves in the H pattern. If it gets worn it will only pull partway out of one gear before it moves sideways and tries to go into the next gear but the safety mechanism prevents it from doing that and in the meantime the detent pulls the rod back into the previous gear and the gate is now closed so the shifter can't get back into the proper slot. BY taking out the screws and turning the shifter sideways you can get it back over in the other slot and pull it back to neutral and get back going but the proper fix is to get a new shifter rod or reshape the one you have.

Edwin

 

Good explanation, Edwin.

 

Thanks. In my other life I was a tech writer.

 

Yes thank you very much edwin. I'll get some pictures taken of how my old shifter looks and see if I can get you guys to help me out more on what to do. I do have a pretty good understanding now. I'll be driving my Dad's 93 LE around for a week or two until I have time to work on this more. As usual, this couldn't have come at a worse time. 2 Hours from where I live at and go to school. O well. At least I'll have transportation. I'll be posting back about this soon and thanks again everybody.

 

FWIW, once you have the shifter out, try not to mess with the pattern, or play with it, moving from one gear to another and so on.....I did this and took me FOREVER to get it back into the proper place. I also had one we totally tore apart and never could get it to shift into first gear. Luckily we had another one to put in and worked fine. Could you have bent a fork during all of the gear jammin?

 

Worn shift forks will cause the same problem Edwin described.
When I bought my Getrag it woudn't go into first or second at all.
1/2 fork had worn so much,heat galled, that it was sagging to one side. Just as Edwin described, the interlock prevented 1/2 shifting since it was still engaged in 3/4 at the same time.
My fix was a new 1/2 shift fork.
If you take the cover off, look at the shift fork curves. If a fork has two different curves in it, its worn out.

 

This has got me trying to decide if I should pull the trans now. I've never ever had any trouble with shifting this thing. Hmmm... Give me an opinion. Do you guys think I should pull the trans and check everything? If I do then I'll post pictures of my findings and get the opinion of the best first gen guys in the world. Wow I don't know what to do. I have a clutch waiting to go in this thing too. Just need time and an excuse. I guess this could be it. I'd also like to get this thing rebuilt while its out and before anything breaks and costs me a lot of money. Another question. I know some of you guys are really good at rebuilding getrags... Anybody interested in doing this for me? (Dave let me know if this breaks rules) Shoot me a PM if you are. I'd rather have one of you guys do it that's done it before and knows the proper preloads for everything etc... than have a transmission shop do it and charge me double. Thanks again gentlemen. You guys are awesome

 

Pull the shifter and have a look at it, make sure the two pins in the tower are there. If everything there checks out OK, it wasn't a waste of time because it's easier to pull the trans with the shifter out.