1972 Series 3, manual transmission

greetings all,
I have owned the E for about 20 years with hardly any troubles at all… and certainly not transmission troubles…but here we go!

The transmission seems to work in every way except I cannot shift into first gear. I have all other gears including reverse. It feels like something is blocking the internal shifting fork from moving the synchro. I have the top off the transmission now. No obvious damage. The shifting mechanism seems ok as well. I have swapped another shifter onto it with no change.

the problem began when I was changing the gear oil. I made a mistake when filling and mistook the wrong bolt for the filling hole. I removed and then replaced the bolt that holds the reverse shifting arm in place. I put it right back in. Reverse is fine but no first after that mistake.

looking for your experience or advise on this one!

chemosabe

 

Greetings Chemosabe,
It would appear that when you removed the wrong bolt (which should have been staked) it allowed the yoke to fall out of position The yoke pivots on that bolt - it has been a while since I rebuilt mine but I recall the yoke pivots and slides a gear on a shaft to engage rear or forward gears. It would have been leaning and the removal of the bolt has allowed it to fall. You need to look down the tranny side and engage the bolt back in. Be careful not to lift the yoke up as it will lift out of the carraige in the gear. A simple enough fix.

Regards and good luck
Paul Rodman

 

Thanks rodmeister,
you are on point. I removed the wrong bolt! However, I did not release the lower pivot and slide! By the grace of God I was able to thread it right back in! My problem was that I inserted the bolt too far and it blocked the shift fork from going into first.

I created a good bit of work for myself in the process.

I need to rebuild that entire cover with o-rings, springs, and detentions. Which raises another question… I don’t know what all are expendable parts. I need a list of parts to buy. Tried to get help from sng but they were unwilling or unable to put together a rebuild kit for me. Has anyone done this rebuild before and can clue me in?

thanks,
chemosabe

 

Still have my doubts about the bolt reinstall - it is designed to be inserted until the bolt head is against the case. The washer on it has points that are to be bent up against the head to prevent it from backing out....How could you have inserted it too far? When you threaded it back in did it miss the pivot hole and bend the lever/yoke? That's all I can suggest.
When I rebuilt my tranny I took some videos planning on posting to utube. There is a lack of decent videos on a disassembly and rebuild. One video shows a bloke just destroying it on taking it apart with no follow-up on rebuilding it,.. and that was a professional shop!
I am no pro, thankful for the manuals!

 

rodmeister, thanks for the input. I am certain of my diagnosis and remedy! I have an “extra” transmission which I broke into to see what would happen if I removed the wrong bolt (which is exactly what I did in the beginning). Everything stayed in place and I was able to reinstall the errant bolt with a little finagling. However, the bolt inserted all the way blocked the rear movement of the 1/2 fork. The “keeper” you describe holds the bolt in place but I could find no spec as to how far to insert. I just know that all the way does not work. Ordered parts yesterday to rebuild the trans top with the shifter goodies in it. Thanks and merry motoring!