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First Gear Shift Difficuties

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RAC68

RAC68

Darth Vader
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Hi All,

A good Healey friend is having difficulty shifting into 1st gear and indicated that the shifter seems to move further to the left (towards reverse) then the line between first and second. If he moves the gear shift more to the right to place it back into the first/second line, the shifter goes easily (as easy as a Healey standard can) into first and from first to second gears. What could be happening or warn that is allowing the shifter to move more to the left and how can he correct/adjust it? He has already replace the busing on the bottom of the shift ball.

Thanks,
Ray(64BJ8P1)
 
I'd say there's something wrong in the 1st/2nd shift fork, but you'd expect that to affect both gears. The only thing I can think of is the set pin that secures the fork may be loose--if so, he has a potential major problem--but, again, I would expect that to affect shifting into second as well. If he has a centershift box (you didn't specify), it would be worth pulling the top cover for a look.

I've seen instances where people didn't properly safety wire the set pin--just making a loop through the pin--that, at best, would only keep the pin from falling into the gears if it worked loose. Safety wiring has specific requirements in order to be effective, I tried to follow those rules (and I used threadlock suspenders to go with the belt):

Gearbox.JPG
 
Hi Steve,

The transmission is a center shifter in a 1966 BJ8. Since entering into reverse requires a slap to the left of the shift lever, where is this spring mechanism located and is there an adjustment?

I did go thought my transmission in detain and wired the fork bolts and replaced all bearings. I did know how all worked back then (mid 1980s) but didn't know enough to understand I should have put goop on the through-case transmission bolts like those fixing the bell housing.

Thanks Steve,
Ray(64BJ8P1)

Ray(64BJ8P1)
 
You can see the spring-loaded reverse lockout plunger at the bottom left of the picture I posted (depending on how your browser orients the photo). There isn't an adjustment, per se, but I suppose you could shim the spring.
 
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