[father/son]

I have had my T-10 4 speed tranny in for about 10 months and one day it refused to go into 4th gear. I went underneath to make sure it wasn't a linkage problem and the shifter was fine. I took the lever off of the side of the tranny and tried to move it into 4th with a wrench; no luck. I goes into 3rd and neutral just fine. Any suggestions.
Thanks,
Father /Son

 

[father/son]

C'mon Fish. You always have some suggestions

 

[toobroketoretire]

Timing A Shifter

I have had my T-10 4 speed tranny in for about 10 months and one day it refused to go into 4th gear. I went underneath to make sure it wasn't a linkage problem and the shifter was fine. I took the lever off of the side of the tranny and tried to move it into 4th with a wrench; no luck. I goes into 3rd and neutral just fine. Any suggestions.
Thanks,
Father /Son

Whenever you try to shift it into any gear when it's sitting still it may not go in unless the drive shaft is turned a little bit. Are you sure the shifter is "timed"? The shifter must be timed because there is an interlock between the two levers that will prevent one from shifting if the other isn't exactly in the neutral position.

Sitting inside the car with the shifter in neutral the shifter must easily move sideways all the way without "snagging". If it doesn't move freely it must be timed.

 

[[email protected]]

I think Toobroke is on to it, theres a slot or hole in every shifter ,you put a bar or pin thru it, then adjust all linkage to neutral postion. if its not that, its internal, in which case, Toobroke is our transmission expert.

 

[toobroketoretire]

I think Toobroke is on to it, theres a slot or hole in every shifter ,you put a bar or pin thru it, then adjust all linkage to neutral postion. if its not that, its internal, in which case, Toobroke is our transmission expert.

The factory shifter in my '68 has a rectangular slot to time it and it's a real bear to get to. I had to make a special tool using some 16 gauge steel and then it was very hard to get the tool up into the slot. But like Fish said "every shifter has a means to time it" whether it be a round pin or rectangular slot.

The timing of a shifter is critical as it only takes a tiny bit of miss-adjustment to make it VERY hard to select a gear.

When it's timed correctly the shifter handle will easily move left to right (or right to left) without any sign of snagging something.

To time a shifter you insert the timing pin and then (with both shift levers in neutral) adjust the individual links until the clevis pins slide into the clevises freely. Then remove the timing pin (DUH).

 

[father/son]

Would the rest of the gear positions work if that were the problem? 1st, 2nd, 3rd and reverse work just fine, only 4th is the problem. I pray I don't have to pull the tranny.

 

[father/son]

Would the rest of the gear positions work if the neutral alignment were the problem? It shifts perfect in all other gear selections.

 

[toobroketoretire]

Would the rest of the gear positions work if that were the problem? 1st, 2nd, 3rd and reverse work just fine, only 4th is the problem. I pray I don't have to pull the tranny.

I think you would have trouble getting it into 3rd and 4th gear. Just take the side cover off and see if you have a bent or worn 3/4 shift fork (real common) and also manually slide the 3/4 slider into the 4th gear position (foreword).

 

[father/son]

I'll give it a shot tonight. Stay tuned.
Thanks,
Father/Son

 

[toobroketoretire]

I'll give it a shot tonight. Stay tuned.
Thanks,
Father/Son

Did you find out anything yet? It's very common for the faces of shift forks to get worn and it's also very common for shift forks to get bent. But like I said before the timing is very critical because it's it not perfect the interlock between the 1/2 and 3/4 gears will prevent it from shifting.