Replaced the O/D in my car with one from my donor car. The new O/D works great, but ever since the swap I'm getting stuck in reverse gear. I found a missing spring that was keeping a lock engaged on the shifter, and put it back. However, now I can't get it back into neutral. The level slides forward and back just fine, but I have to give it a whack with my hand to get it back into neutral, and it will 'pop' back in. It goes into reverse with no issues, it's only getting it out of reverse that's the trouble.

The new O/D unit is about 1.5 inches longer than the old one. Since the reverse gear is in the O/D unit, and that's what was swapped, could that be the issue? I'm assuming it is just misaligned now, and going through the neutral alignment procedure should fix it? I had no issues with this before the swap. Again, the gear engages/disengages perfectly, the problem is moving the stick left/right out of reverse into neutral.

I want to be reasonably sure that's the issue before I pull everything apart as the alignment procedure is pretty involved.

Thanks!

 

Does it help if you pull up on the lock collar/lock rod first before pulling back from R into N? I think the lock collar/lock rod should stay in the up position while in R and then drop down with a pop as you move toward the 1-2 gate but I might have to jump in the car and check myself. In my car, it helps if you pull it out of reverse quickly/forcefully. It doesn't like to be babied. If I let somebody else drive the car, they always seem to have trouble getting stuck in reverse. Lock rod might be interfering with going into Neutral somehow. Its been awhile since I had the shifter apart, so a little fuzzy on the details.

With the ign interlock and reverse lock collar/lock rod complexity, shifter can be finicky even when well aligned. Maybe the shift rods are clashing with each other underneath and preventing full range of motion.

With the lock rod pulled up, the shifter should be able to move laterally between the the reverse, 1-2 and 3-4 gates easily. The bias spring should pull it over to 3-4.

You can adjust the alignment by feel without taking anything apart, but easy to get lost on which way to move things when crawling in and out and under the car over and over. Got a helper available? Good luck.