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I was backing the ’66 4-speed (stock Muncie shifter) out of the garage yesterday morning for the drive to work and it would not go into reverse. No prior indication that it was difficult to get into reverse, just a sudden failure. Feels like whatever provides the reverse lockout is not lifting when I lift the tee handle. What normally goes wrong with these shifters and is it just a matter of buying a rebuild kit
Unscrew the **** a couple of rounds and try it again and see if your luck improves.
If it doesn't, hold up on the tee handle and work the lever fore/aft and see if the lever will drop into reverse. Be advised, if it does, be prepared for the linkage to lock up when you come back out of reverse.
as above take the **** off completely and remove the lockout rod completely checking to see if tip of the rod is there and try going into reverse, see image in link
If you still cant get into reverse you will have to jack the car up and check the reverse rod from the shifter to the lever on the side of the case. Is the bolt/nut on the lever loose? Does the lever slide in and out of the case? https://willcoxcorvette.com/corvette...assembly-64-67
thanks guys. Seems simple enough. I actually have the original tee handle that I removed (and kept) when I rebuilt this shifter about eight years ago. It's all coming back to me now. I should be able to fix it without leaving the driver's seat
well if you removed the tee handle than the problem is under the car. Check that reverse rod going from the shifter to the lever including the alignment of the shifter gate due to a loose nut on the shift rod.
I have the same problem, I removed the center console to clean it up and took the **** off the shifter and when puling the console over it pulled the T handle and rod out. Now I cannot get the shaft back in so the lock out is working. Am I going to have lift the car and check the nut to make sure it is tight or can do I have to work the shifter around until the falls into place.
The bottom of the lock out rod drops into a hole at the bottom and prevents the shifter from moving left to activate the reverse lever. If it doesn't lift out of that hole, it won't go into reverse. The set screw could have come loose or the rod broke.
I had a similar problem a few years ago in that it was difficult to get the shifter to go into reverse even though the the T handle was working. What I found was the problem was the reverse lockout lever or shim as sometimes called that goes between the the first and second lever and the reverse lever. the ends of it are thin and had broken off thus preventing the gates to align and would prevent it from engaging the reverse lever. Because of where the reverse lockout lever is located, the shifting between the other gears was not affected. Once i took the shifter out of the car and replaced the reverse lockout lever I have had no problems. I would give you a Parts supplier catalog page that shows an excellent diagram of the shifter but am not sure if that is against forum rules. If want that information call me 843-610-9054
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I had a similar problem a few years ago in that it was difficult to get the shifter to go into reverse even though the the T handle was working. What I found was the problem was the reverse lockout lever or shim as sometimes called that goes between the the first and second lever and the reverse lever. the ends of it are thin and had broken off thus preventing the gates to align and would prevent it from engaging the reverse lever. Because of where the reverse lockout lever is located, the shifting between the other gears was not affected. Once i took the shifter out of the car and replaced the reverse lockout lever I have had no problems. I would give you a Parts supplier catalog page that shows an excellent diagram of the shifter but am not sure if that is against forum rules. If want that information call me 843-610-9054
Hi, I am having a very similar issue as you explain that it might be from a reverse lockout lever or shim. I am not sure where these are located and would like to check to see if thats my problem. You mentioned you have a diagram of them, is it possible to get a copy of it? If it is please let me know. My number is 903-530-6970. Thanks so much.
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Reverse Lock-out Problem
