Gear Selector stuck in reverse

[Captn Karl]

I shifted the bus into reverse and I backed up, and when I went to change gears it felt like it never came out of gear but the stick shifter wobbles all around like I'm in neutral. So I pulled the tranny and took the nose cone off and I can clearly see that the middle(reverse) gear selector is pulled out. I inspected the hockey stick, gear selectors, bushings. Nothing looked like it was excessively worn or broke, no chunks of metal only fine shavings. It all looked pretty good. So I tried to push the middle gear selector in so it would be at neutral, but I can't. So I put the hockey stick in and gave it some serious force and it won't go in. I dont want to break anything. The specs show it should be between 33 and 40 lbs of force to move the selectors, I feel I put more than that on it. I noticed that the 1/2 and 3/4 selectors are solid and dont rotate if I twist them, but the reverse selector does rotate about 5 degrees CW and CCW. Should I give it a hammer tap to see if that can move it back into neutral? Is there some trick I can use to get it back into neutral. The engine is still attached to the transmission.

[esde]

Middle rail pulled out is second gear. Bottom is reverse
Something is wrong, don't hammer anything. It should all click in and out of gear like clockwork. There are little steel pills that keep you from engaging two gears art once. When you engage a gear, the pills gets pushed to the side and lock the other shift rails in neutral. If your shift rails get twisted, it could be binding up this action.
Maybe mcmscott will see this, he would know what to do
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[jsturtlebuggy]

Since your not saying what year your Bus, I am presuming it is a 1968 and later Bay window
Yes the middle shift rail is reverse if so.
Problem is deeper inside transaxle. Will need to be taken apart to see what has happen.
It may be time to take it to someone who rebuilds transaxles.
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Joseph
Fair Oaks/Orangevale, CA
Elrod Motorsports
Motion Tire Motorsports
Having fun with Dune Buggies since 1970
Into Volkswagens since 1960

[mikedjames]

I had the front main bearing eat into the nose cone, moving forwards maybe 1/16" . It would lock in 4th and sometimes reverse. The trick for 4th was to slip the clutch and let the bearing move back into place. With reverse, lifting a wheel off the ground with a jack and rotating the wheel backwards may pull the bearing back into place..
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Ancient vehicles and vessels

1974 VW T2 : Devon Eurovette camper with 1641 DP T1 engine, Progressive carb, full flow oil cooler, EDIS crank timed ignition.
Engine 1: 40k miles (rocker shaft clip fell off), Engine 2: 30k miles (rebuild, dropped valve). Engine 3: a JK Preservation Parts "new" engine, aluminium case: 26k miles: new top end.
Gearbox rebuild 2021 by Bears.

1979 Westerly GK24 24 foot racer/cruiser yacht Forethought of Gosport.
1973 wooden Pacer sailing dinghy

[rugblaster]

Take the fill plug out of the side of the trans case, use a large flat-blade screwdriver, and shift the 1-2 slider back into neutral.
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'69 Karmy, '69 Camper, Meyers clone, '65 drag bug, 10.78 @ 128 (sold it) '51 Dodge farm truck,
'09 MB E350 '18 MB E400, '65 Plymouth Valiant convertible and a '19 Ford F250 King Ranch (nicer, but dirty, farm truck)

VWoA factory trained line tech 75 till 90 or so
ASE Master Certification
VWoA Assoc. of Quality Technicians inductee (One of 25 in the five state southwest region)
La Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (San Angelo Chapter)
TCU ......GO FROGS!!!!!!

[67rustavenger]

[rugblaster]

Maybe........Shouldn't have pulled the trans to start with.
_________________
'69 Karmy, '69 Camper, Meyers clone, '65 drag bug, 10.78 @ 128 (sold it) '51 Dodge farm truck,
'09 MB E350 '18 MB E400, '65 Plymouth Valiant convertible and a '19 Ford F250 King Ranch (nicer, but dirty, farm truck)

VWoA factory trained line tech 75 till 90 or so
ASE Master Certification
VWoA Assoc. of Quality Technicians inductee (One of 25 in the five state southwest region)
La Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (San Angelo Chapter)
TCU ......GO FROGS!!!!!!

[Captn Karl]

Its a late bay window bus. When I took the nose cone off I did notice the selector rod was about 45 degrees jammed in there. I'm thinking that the hockey stick may have come jumped out of the selector rod. Here are some pics of the selector rod and forks, do they look badly worn. I noticed on the forms there is an angle to middle(reverse) one, is that normal? Also how would the 1/2 gear selector screw driver fix my reverse issue? Is there some relation between 1/2 and reverse?

Here's a video of the middle fork twisting, is that normal?
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOehvE1M9pryK...VURHlGMlhn

Thanks