Trent McInturff

I'm finishing a restoration on a 68 327 4 speed for a woman after her ex quit working on the car many years ago. I know he rebuilt the engine, not sure about the transmission.

Anyways, I put a new shifter and linkage in the car and adjusted it according to information I found online. However, when I turned the motor over for the first time it was turning the wheels backwards, even though the shifter was in neutral.

Yesterday I got some time to work on it and tried manually moving the levers to the neutral position (notches on the sides of the shift lever studs facing vertically from what I understand). This made no difference, and if you put the car in a forward gear and try to bump the motor over it is stuck.

Do any of you think that the shift fork might not be in the groove for the reverse gear? I imagine if this is the case I would have to pull the trans and remove the tailshaft. Hopefully it's not too involved, and I'm really hoping I don't have to order any replacement parts just to move the shift fork back into place. Any suggestions would be great.

MelWff

are you sure you cannt remove the tailshaft with the trani in the car?

Wee

I had the same thing happen to me when I installed new linkage on mine....I didn't have enough movement in the reverse shifter rod and it would not come out of reverse. I would take the rod off the reverse lever and then move it by hand to see if it will come out of reverse.

Brian

Trent McInturff

I MIGHT be able to, not sure if it would be a giant pain or not. I guess I could try that first. Will know this weekend.

Trent McInturff

The new shifter seems to have that problem as well. It doesn't appear to be pulling the reverse lever far enough. I moved the lever on the trans to put it into the neutral position, but it's still in reverse...

oledave60

It's kind of tricky getting the tail housing on and the reverse shifter fork in the right place.The shift shaft needs to be pushed out with the holding pen removed, then by looking and feeling you line up the fork with the gear as you slide the housing forward. This will be very difficult with the trans still in the car. Good luck, Dave

4speeds

First: You cannot remove the tailhousing on ANY Muncie while its in ANY car. Don't attempt that. Besides the risk of dropping the forward reverse idler and thrust washer in the case you risk breaking the gasket seal between the forward part of the mid section and main case.

Second: Complete remove all linkage arms from the transmission and make sure the rectangular bosses of all 3 shifter shafts are straight up and down.

If they are and you have still this issue then the Rev fork more than likely was not properly connected to the reverse gear.

If the issue clears up then it may be as simple as a backwards installed reverse linkage arm.

Thanks,
Paul

Trent McInturff

Looks like I'm pulling the trans then as I just tried that. Ever get one out without pulling the motor? Don't have an engine hoist handy.

blue427

you don't have to pull the engine to get the tranny out. Just put a hydraulic jack with a piece of wood under the oil pan and lift it slightly up,then remove the drive shaft,linkage,clutch linkage,exhaust if necessary(I have side pipes so I'm not sure if the exhaust gets in the way.Take the tranny bolts out,pull back,lift the rear of the tranny and tilt it to the left and the input shaft should clear he bell housing and come down. You might need a helper.

Jebbysan

This is MUCH easier with a helper.....you need like four hands to sneak it in the right spot...then one on the input shaft as it clears and drops down.

Jebby

Trent McInturff

Guess I'll tie a string to a six pack of beer and see which of my friends bite

Wee

Trent...Before dropping it make sure you really have a problem....I went thru the same issue getting it un-stuck out of reverse and took a little doing. Best way I can describe is I had to have the car up on jackstands with the clutch pushed in and spinning the rear tires to get it to move out of reverse. I also had the reverse lockout cable to deal with which I think isn't installed on a 68.

Here is the way Paul (4speeds) describes checking the shifting in the youtube video below....Fast forward to about 40:30.


Brian