Transmission blown or bad linkage

[LiveFreeOrDie]

Hey family-

While I was cruising the land of the brave and free, my reverse seemed to get binded up out of nowhere. Was working fine then all of a sudden it started to bind up and took a lot of jostling to get it out of reverse and into first.

I thought maybe a spacer tab got knocked loose and was the reason. That was not the case. Tabs are in place and fine. I changed the box and shifter lever that goes into the van to shift but now it’s even worse and will NOT come out of reverse no matter how much jostling.

Now I need to verify if it’s gear box or the linkage. Is there a technique to shift at the transmission with out shafts and linkage in the equation? Has this happened to you?

Thanks for reading!

[Aryana]

Probably not the transmission. The linkage is very long and fraught with potential problems.

Chock the wheels and get underneath the van on the right side of the transmission in front of the right rear wheel. While someone is shifting in the cabin, look at the linkage where it goes into the transmission.

If there is any lost motion or looseness, that is most likely your problem.

These vans are very old now.

[LiveFreeOrDie]

I’ll try that. However it’s newer linkage with a lot of updated bushings and new nylon ball arm thingy with the aluminum receiver.

But just to easy my anxiety is there a way to verify transmission by hand shifting or something.

Also it’s literally stuck in reverse so I can’t budge it from there to even find any looseness

[vanis13]

yes, unbolt the last linkage mounting point (2 bolts to the transmission) drop the aluminum thingy and move the ball by hand in various forward/back/in/out directions. make sure at least one wheel is free to rotate to remove any binding force fixed wheels could be causing in the transmission/differential.
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83.5 Westy with Subaru 2.5, 4 spd manual, center seat, COLD A/C on 134a!, Winter camp heated with an Espar B4 gasoline furnace

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[MarkWard]

What year? Air Cooled or water cooled? There are external differences that the above directions may not be exactly correct. If you have the early trans, there is a pin at the end of the shift rods that supports it at the trans. Unbolt the pin and the rod should drop out of the way to manually shift it. You might be able to shift either version without disassembly. An adjustable wrench will give you some leverage to pop it out of reverse. The external linkage shouldn’t be holding it in gear.
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[dobryan]

Yes you can shift directly at the trans by hand but please post a pic of your linkage at the trans and we can direct you.
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Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD

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[danfromsyr]

the linkage is ridiculously sensitive to adjustments.. like 1/32" at a time..
so if you've had it apart and back together. you'll have to set it at a baseline per the Bentley manual and start over with adjustments.. scribe a line and adjust the splined part in very small increments.
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[MarkWard]

It needs to be in neutral before you start adjusting. If it's physically stuck in reverse, you need to get it unstuck before you start looking at adjusting. Either transmission, the transmission arm must be pointed straight down in neutral. Also, the nut that holds the arm can come loose. The arm is indexed so it should only fit one way. Make sure the nut is tight.
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[dhaavers]

[The Carrot]

Achtung!

Be careful not to strip the threads on the end of the shifter shaft in the transaxle. 18 ft. Lbs. Max. You really should have a new Lock nut for attaching the lever to the shaft.
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1990 Orly Blue Carat

[ThinkingD]

If you detach the linkage at the transmission and you cannot get it out of reverse by shifting it at the transmission with the clutch in, your transmission may be toast unfortunately…