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lost 1st and 2nd!

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R

rightlane

Freshman Member
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hello all, my '63 sprite has been having some issues popping out of 2nd gear on the downshift for about 3 days. today i can barely get 1st to grab and can't find 2nd at all. 3rd and 4th are working just fine. when i clutch out in 2nd i don't even get a grind and 1st, if i can find it, has a tendency to pop out. any help or advice on the matter would be greatly appreciated. thanks, Chris
 
Hi,
1st thing would be to check the level of the oil in the transmission. 2nd would be to make sure you have brake fluid in the brake/clutch reservoir in the engine compartment. 3rd would be to have a helper safely get under the car, and with the engine off and the body secured, and for you to push on the clutch pedal. The helper should verify that the clutch rod is moving correctly.
Good luck, there is not much else you can do, other than taking it out.
Scott in CA.
 
:iagree: Yep. Sounds like the fork all right.
 
I would suggest you hunt down a known "decent" gearbox (~$100) Pull and swap. Tear down and assess the old gearbox at your leisure, fix it up for when the replacement needs replacing. My '63 had a 3/4 slider go bad and I swapped gearboxes to get back on the road. Don't be put off by the engine pull and swap it is really quite easy.
 
Can't you access that from the side cover?

Been a lot of years, but I think I remember having to do that in a shop once or twice.
You access the pins on the forks through the side cover anyway for disasembly, right?

I think (therefore I am, I think) I dropped the trans as low as I could, drained, pulled the side cover and replaced the pin.

But, might just be scrambled memory banks.

Dave
 
You can, but best know what you are doing as it is all by feel work.
 
Well, at least I remembered correctly.

Oh, and it was on a hoist, not on my back.
 
i just pulled the engine/gearbox and accessed the box from the side. it looks like both shift selector forks seem very loose. is there a simple way to make sure they are adjusted right? thanks for your patience. chris
 
Of course, the bolts with the locknuts go into detents on the shift shafts.
 
Most of the time, the wear is on the inside of the fork and not readily visible from the side cover. These forks can be "Tightened up" in a vise, but this is a very subjective process and needs to be checked with the slide gears themselves and the detent locations. You might be able to peek at the inside of the fork using a small inspection mirror and light. If there is brass deposit on the sides of the slide gear, that is a sure sign of excessive/catastrophic wear and implications of the need for replacement.

HTH,
Mike Miller
 
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