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BJ7 -lost reverse, then 3rd/4th - advice please!

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T

twas_brillig

Jedi Knight
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Picked up the grand daughter from school today and there was no reverse available when I backed out of our driveway - lever moved okay to the left, but only pulled back an eighth of inch or so - felt like there some hard rubber plug stopping it. Tried again later and lifted the clutch a bit and got 'grinding not fully engaged' noises. Drove down to the school fine, parked, played in the playground, then found no 3rd/4th on the way home - similar issue: lever moves to the right okay, but won't slide fore or aft. It's a centre shift BJ7 with o/d.
My Haynes manual says nothing regards diagnosing/adjusting linkages (I'm assuming that's the problem)and I'm off to borrow back my Bentley manual. Plan had been to drive it north (300 km) Monday for winter storage, but I'd prefer to have more gears.
As a back up to the Bentley manual, I'd sure appreciate some advice. It's quit raining here but we're hitting freezing at night, so these driveway projects are less fun. I drove it up on ramps yesterday for an oil change, so there may have been some stressors from frame flex.
Doug
 
At the very least, you'll need to remove the fibreglas cover over the trans, and then remove the top cover, lever and all.

I suspect that whatever's wrong, will start to be obvious at that point.

If you can take digital pictures of what you find, we can probably add more suggestions to help you out. If you can't post the pictures here, send them to me and I will put them up for you.

But I agree, it sounds like a control linkage problem.
 
Thanks for the thoughts Randy. Gonna head over to the shop that's borrowed my Bentley manual first thing tomorrow (they were closed when I got there today at 4:30, as was the shop I was hoping to maybe take the car into), then the repair shop, then home. Pull the carpeting; remove the trans cover; pull the shift lever extension; avoid dropping any springs and pieces, and look for a sheared pin or some such.
Doug
 
Doug,

My first check would be the split brass bushing at the small ball end of the shift lever before removal of the top cover.

Put the shift ball back on the shift lever after you remove the fiberglass cover, remove the snap ring retainer, the spring will pop up with washers/shims, remove the shift ball and retainer parts.

Put the shift ball back on the lever and pull up to pop it out, you'll see the split bushing held on with a small retainer.

Order a replacement to remove shift lever slop since it's easy to replace and a cheap part.

Tom
 
Thanks Tom - got the manual back this am; the repair shop will take the car first thing Monday am if I can't figure it out; the shop in Edmonton that did a lot of work a couple of years back suggested checking the 'Selector lever and change speed lever socket key', item 114 on page FFF.5, of the Bentley reprint and the original shop manual. So: off with the carpet; off with the trans cover; check item 114, then check the lever bush (item 116) per Tom, then maybe put it back together and let the professionals have a look. At least the shop mechanic is older than the car and has an aceent to match it.
Thanks
Doug
 
Resolved (I think!): pulled the carpeting and removed the transmission cover; removed the circlip/washer/spring that hold the shift lever solidly in place; and found that I had all my gears working if I lifted up on the lever while shifting. And accidentally pulled the lever right out of the housing!
The manual shows two roll pins that fit through the casting and into vertical slots on either side of the shift lever and presumably help locate it and prevent it from pulled straight out. I've got the two roll pins, but one of them was too short to actually fit into its matching slot and presumably allowed more play in the linkage than should have been there.
The manual advises that you can tap the roll pins all the way into a hole within the shift lever so that you can remove it - note that this hole is slightly above the bottom of the slots, so (should you need to pull your lever) don't just starting whaling away with the big hammer and small drift.
I'll head north tomorrow and plan on maybe having to fiddle a bit on my shifts, but at least it's not the gearbox. And thanks Tom and Ray for the thoughts.
Doug
 
Made it north to storage today; no problems shifting and the car ran fine, except the overdrive went away about a half hour from the end. Started off wearing a pile layer and goretex over that with a temperature of +9C (top down); down to shirt sleeves at the half way point and was darn near sweating at the end at 23C (73F) - it's been a cool, wet summer. So, will ask the shop to check out the o/d as well as the roll pins; if I ever put in the Toyota trans, I'm really going to miss flipping that little switch back and forth!
Doug
 
Shoot! I'm happy as a clam with your suggestions, and that I lucked out!
Thanks again,
Doug
 
Hi Doug
Check oil level in gear box to see if that is cause of your OD loss, mine needs to be run slightly over full to get OD reliably.

Ian Irving
 
Doug,

Had the od go out on me about 6 months ago. First thing I check is electrical and I pulled the flippin little switch out of the dash. Sure enough it did not have continuity when switched on. Ordered a new one and checked it with the multimeter before installing - didn't work. Ordered another and it now works fine.
 
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