Manual Floor Shifter Issues

[biohazardbill]

My 65 has a manual 4 speed, im not too up on the differences in manual trannies so not sure which one it is, seems geared low though...

Anyway the shifter has a very small shift pattern and now im having trouble getting it in the neutral zone to change gears. I pulled it apart and still cant seem to get it into the neutral zone. It has progessively gotten worse as time goes on.

The shifter is aftermarket (clicky), wondered if anyone else has used this and had similiar issues. The shifter is by the seat and if i need to get a new one id like to keep it in same location.

ANy ideas or suggestions?

Shifter was in the truck when I got it.

[markeb01]

Almost all aftermarket 3 and 4 speed shifters are aligned in the same manner.

1. Place the transmission in neutral.
2. Disconnect the shift rods from the shifter arms.
3. Insert a ¼” drill in the hole in the arms near the bottom of the shifter housing (if there is one) (item 17 in the diagram).
4. Rock the shift arms on the transmission until they are centered in their detents (neutral position).
5. Adjust the threaded buttons on the shift rods until they drop easily into their respective arms on the shifter. If the arms aren’t threaded, the buttons probably slide and have some sort of locknut to hold them in position.
6. Remove the alignment pin from the shifter housing and try it out.

If the shifter is very old, the nylon sleeves may be worn and require replacement, and are available at any speed shop.

Here’s a copy of the Hurst Competition Plus shifter instructions for reference. If you can’t read the information let me know and I’ll try and make the words bigger.

[biohazardbill]

Let me see if I can explain the problem a little better...

Lets say you have 3 zones

L M R

L is reverse
M is 1-2
R is 3-4

Right now the shifter is in the L zone and i can move the shift lever forward and back.

The problem is I cannot get it to release so I can move the shifter to the M or R zone.

The shifter isnt in the truck at the moment so the rods arent binding, its weird... hopefully I explained it decent

[markeb01]

Is the shifter attached to the transmission? Is the shifter handle stuck full to the left and you can't get it through the neutral gate to pick up any gear other than reverse? And can you shift in and out of reverse? If this is the case, the levers on the shifter are not lined up straight across relative to the transmission. This is either because the rods need adjusting, or if the shifter is really old something could be broken or worn out inside the mechanism.

[biohazardbill]

No it is not attached to the trans, I removed it when it got stuck in the left zone to see if I could figure out what was up. It has a pin pressed in that holds it all together so its not easy to disassemble as it dont unbolt.

[hotrod66]

how new is the trans there might be some issues with the synchronizer
in the forward gears or the trans could be in two gears at the same time.
don't know for sure but it could happen .

[biohazardbill]

Originally Posted by hotrod66

how new is the trans there might be some issues with the synchronizer
in the forward gears or the trans could be in two gears at the same time.
don't know for sure but it could happen .

Not sure how new the trans is as it was in the truck when I got it however it is interesting you say the two gear at the same time thing. Before I started haveing these shifter issues id put it in reverse and when letting out the clutch the truck would bog down like the trans was stuck.

The old shifter is not non functional, tried pressing out the pin and it bent the chassis, the shifter is cheap so i will run to Summit tomorrow to see if they have one in stock to tide me over til i get the auto in there.

[hotrod66]

get under your truck and see if can get it out of revers then check the forward gears are in neutral turn the arms if they click once going ether front or back then it was in neutral then turn the arm back to the position it was in then check other .
before this happened could you should feel i click in to gear (NOT LIKE REVERSE) but feel it fall in to gear if you did not your synchronizers could be bad. it depends how hard the truck was hotroded

i went threw similar problems last week the cheep shifter ate up my trans since then i had mine rebuilt and bought a hurst shifter. cheep shifters are bad news, believe me a good shifter is cheaper than a new trans.