Was in reverse before I starting working on the car. Put key in started the car--now can't take the key out because its not in reverse. Trying rolling it back and forth and shifting 1st--stop--then still can't get it into reverse. What am I missing. HELP!

 

how about details on what you were doing and what year the car is? do you have the steering interlock feature functioning?

 

Sorry about that. 1971 LT-1. Have completely replaced the front suspension; rear spring & diff housing--BUT this occurred before I did any of that. Removed and cleaned the clutch control arm, springs, bushiong etc--but again this occurred prior to that being done. Had the clutch and synco, etc rebuild about 1000 miles ago. Car has always been harder to get into reverse.. How can I tell if the shifter lockout is functioning?

Thank you.

 

Removed the shifter ball and lock out rod--still won't go into reverse.
What is the position of the linkage rods when its in reverse? Can I manually move the rods to see if will go into reverse?

 

If you disconnect the rod you should be able to use a wretch to move it around.

The 1st two should be straight up "neutral" Then reverse should be able to engage.

Also is the lockout still installed on the reverse paw?

 

 

1. What is the reverse paw?

2. What are the pink and green wiring going to on the trans?

 

Pink and green wires are for the backup light switch. Reverse pawl is the lever the reverse lockout cable connects to.

 

The wiring should be the reverse lights.

If you look at the picture about there is a small connector from the reverse switch to the reverse pawl. On the top you can see the cable that runs to the steering column.

Post a picture of yours.

 

I was able to force into reverse and then sprayed the linkage connection at the shifter with PB blaster and now it seems to shift into reverse. I'm going to drive it and will report if it still shifts into reverse. Thank you.

 

I know you got it into reverse...but I will try to answer this question that seemed to be overlooked.

'Shifter lock out' is when the car has to be in revers so you can get your ignition key out. And thus....you can not use the shifter until you turn you ignition key....if my memory serves me correctly.

The cable that is shown in the one photo that attaches to the lever on your steering column and goes to your reverse linkage and seize up or get really hard to move. This can cause for increased effort to get the shifter to move due to you fighting with this cable.

I have also encountered that when I removed the cable from the steering column lever at the firewall.. The cable moved easily when I used the shifter...BUT when I grabbed on the lever to move it. It was really hard to move...which means that the grease at the top of the column is hard and that is where it has to be corrected to get the lever to move freely.

I can 'say' that the 'neutral gate' has to be set so when you go to try to get into reverse...so you are not hitting a wall. I just had to adjust a shifter for reverse on a 1967 the other day for the same reason. Having a person on the inside to tell you what they feel and you will know that you have it RIGHT because the shifter will glide into the reverse neutral gate area and allow you to go into reverse.

NOW...on a few rare occasions..I have encountered wear and some play on the shaft that comes out of the transmission for reverse. AND what it was doing was not allowing me to get the reverse set perfectly due to the shaft would end up in a different position when I was pulling it out of reverse...and basically over shooting where it needed to STOP so I could get right in the neutral gate and get into the forward gears... and thus not allowing it to go back into reverse freely due to that little bit more of movement on the shaft. The remedy was the owner could NOT pull back hard when trying to get out of reverse so he did not over shoot where he needed to be...once he learned that...all was good...due to not wanting to get internally into the transmission to correct this issue of wear.

ALSO...taking a VERY GOOD look at the shifter and the plates where you linkage attaches to the arms where the linkage attach is important also. You want the shifter housing that goes around these three plates to not allow the plates to have a lot of side to side movement...thus meaning that the housing has gotten wider and can be closed back up so the only thing your shifter plates can do is slide front to back.

If the three shifter plates have a lot of gape between them....you can actually run into the problem where you can get the shifter to be in one gear...and when you go to take it out of that gear is does not...but the shifter handle can get out of the notch in that plate and go into another plate....thus you are in two gears at once...and this GENERALLY occurs with 1st gear and reverse.

I personally remove the entire shifter and take it apart and make all my modifications to it when I have a problem that seems to not be corrected by a simple rod adjustment...or I can see that the housing is not tight and the shifter plates have wobble to them. This way I can weld and repair the bottom tooth on the shifter handle where this tooth slides into the plates ( if needed) and also extend this tooth so my tool that I use to set the neutral gate will fit and thus allow me to have more material at the bottom of the shifter handle for years and years of problem free use.

DUB

 

Thanks for the great explanation DUB. I am definitely going to grease the steering cable. Everything else should be OK since it was all rebuilt--my problem is I haven't driven the car in the last 3-4 years because I have been restoring it. Corvettes don't like sitting. Again Thank You.

 

But I wrote what i did due to your stating that you have had this problem for quite a while.

If the cable lubing and checking does not correct it...then I would be getting under the and going but further. Hopefully it is a cable being seized up or a bit tight and needing to be lubed.

DUB

 

What is the best way to grease the cable or should it be replaced, if it is hard to move?

If I take some pictures of the plates, etc under the car can you tell by looking what is wrong? Can I email you the pics--I need to have some idea what I'm looking at. Never done anything with the shifter but willing to learn. Any good articles on the subject you would recommend--I will check to CSM.

 

I remove it....and when I do this I remove the bracket that the cable is clipped to that is bolted to the transmission...instead of trying to remove the cable from the bracket...and this is due to it being REALLY TIGHT down there. WHICH may also require you removing the lever off the reverse shaft and dropping it down so you can disconnect the end of the cable from it and any other parts that you can see are in the way.

NO...I more than likely will not be able to tell you just by looking at a photo. As I wrote....and it is simple...so do not make this harder than it is. All you need to do is when the shifter is being used and you are under the car...you are looking at the three plates and seeing if there is wide gaps between them. You can see how the housing of the shifter case is made to allow these palates to fit in it...and THUS..you should NOT be able to grab a plate where the linkage is attached and move it side to side and have a lot of gap. These three plates ONLY need enough space between them to allow them to slide without binding. Imagine these three plates are like a feel gauge tool. You ahve 30 feeler gauges that can slide out so you can get to one of them...but they are NOT loose and flopping around....they are packed tight...but NOT so tight that you can not slide them....does that help???

If you still feel like you do not understand....which is fine...PM me and I will give you my shop phone number and you can call me when you are under the car and hopefully me talking with you can help you see the picture I am trying to describe.

DUB

 

After disconnecting the cable and trying to move it, I decided it was time to replace it--probably not made to last 45 years. I will post the results when I get it installed next week. Thanks again for all the help.

 

Replaced the cable and lubricated the steering column--still hard to get into reverse. Must be the linkage and gates. Will try to adjust per DUB ad see what happens.

 

What you wrote needs clarification.

IS it hard to get the shifter into the GATE for REVERSE???? Meaning..all you are ONLY trying to do it get it to the point where you can move the handle into reverse.

OR...is it that you can get it into the gate for reverse...but when you move the shifter handle you feel a lot of resistance when you move the handle forward and backwards???

This makes a BIG difference... so you are not wasting you time.

DUB

 

It is hard or impossible to get it into the gate for reverse.

Pushing the gear shift into reverse is always harder than 1,2,3,or 4th--but than has always been the case.

Had my wife sit in the car and shift will I adjusted the linkage.
Now seems to go into reverse fairly easily but I have not driven it yet--battery was dead (ordered one 4 weeks ago---the reproductions are back ordered)

Will report back after driving.

 

Will wait to hear from you. It appears that adjusting the reverse linkage did the trick.

DUB