6T2Vette

Got ready to take my '62 out for a spin. Backed it up for about 30 feet, and I tried shifting into first . The shifter seemed locked up in reverse but when I let up on the clutch it began to move forward but in high gear like 3rd or 4th,
First I tried turning it off and shifting, no luck. I took off the boot plate and squirted some WD40 into the shifter mechanism and tried forcefully to get it to unlock...no luck. I then jacked up the car and got the levers to move and got the transmission in neutral but the shifter stayed locked in same position. I can get the shifter to move a little by jiggling the lever with the long link (reverse?), but it won't unlock.
I read in an earlier thread that rocking the car might work. others provided some other suggestions, but none of them seemed to provide the answer, My plan now is to drop the xmission and take the shifter apart and clean it and check for worn, loose, or broken parts.
Any other ideas???
Bob

MikeM

Look at the pin going through the handle and cross shaft. It may be sheared.

65GGvert

If I read it the way I think you wrote it, I think your reverse lever on the transmission is stuck in reverse. Move both 1-2 and 3-4 levers to neutral and then move the reverse lever to neutral. The car should be in neutral, if not you have an internal transmission issue. If that puts it in neutral, but locks up again when you try to shift to reverse and then back forward, you probably have a shifter issue. As long as that reverse lever is not in neutral, the forward gears won't move you.

6T2Vette

I played with the levers and managed to get the xmission in neutral but gear shift lever doesn't budge.
Bob

65GGvert

Did you disconnect the rods from the levers on the transmission?

65GGvert

The transmission doesn't have to come out to remove the shifter. and for the record I wasn't asking you to "play with the levers". I was asking you to physically place all three levers in the neutral position.

MikeM

To get in reverse, the shift lever goes to the left and forward. Are you saying the shift lever stays in this position with the transmission levers in neutral?

Or is the lever just leaning to the left and won't pull back to straight up neutral gate?


Here's a link that may help you:
http://www.socalsacc.com/4-spd-shift...chip-werstein/

6T2Vette

I don't know where the neutral positions are so I had to "play" with the levers until I found neutral by moving the levers and starting the car and letting up on the clutch.
I don't have a lift so I had to jack up one side of the car to get under it. I couldn't see any way of removing the shifter. I will have access to a lift on Monday.

6T2Vette

Yes, it stays stuck in the left position as if in line to shift into reverse. My shifter does not have the "T" bar. It is a '62 4 speed.
Bob

MikeM

Does your shifter look like the pictures I posted? Or do you have an aftermarket thing a ma jig?

CorvetteMikeB

Shifter Stuck In High Gear

Could be worse. Could have been stuck in Low-Gear.

6T2Vette

Good question, and one which I can't answer because it is the one in place when I bought it five months ago.
No, it doesn't look like the one in the picture of the link you provided. The tower is flat with a sight curve, and it doesn't have the "T" bar. It has the ivory ball with the shift pattern engraved in it, and it has a jam nut below the ball to lock it in the correct view.
Sorry about the bad pics of the shifter. They were taken a couple of months ago (I have new carpet for it). I replaced the steering wheel with a 15" version. Much better fit for me.
Bob

65GGvert

You've got a Hurst aftermarket shifter. The stock is round and has the lock out and looks like this:

63 340HP

This sounds like a prior owner removed the T-bar, if it is an original shifter.

Nothing major should be damaged.

This is the likely situation, the dowel pin sheared with the transmission in gear. The pin may have partially sheared in reverse, and then part of the pin held long enough to allow the cross shaft to shift, to release reverse, and then spring into a 3/4 gear, when you moved the selector out of reverse.

The dowel pin allows the selector stalk to move sideways to slide the cross shaft sideways into the reverse lever and 1/2 levers under the shifter (dependent upon on how far you move the stalk). When the pin shears, the cross shaft springs back to only engage the 3/4 shift lever (if everything is clean and free with the cross shaft and levers).

With the boot plate removed, you should be able to see the cross shaft move sideways by watching the spring end of the cross shaft move in and out of the passenger side of the shifter frame as the stalk is pushed sideways. If the cross shaft is not moving you confirm the dowel pin is sheared (although friction can move the cross shaft some even without an intact dowel pin).

With nimble fingers, the dowel pin can be replaced by manipulating the pin out, and the new pin in, through the boot plate access. If you were in a bad spot miles from home anything would do to substitute for the sheared dowel pin. Since you are home, it is probably better to remove the shifter and replace the dowel pin with a bolt and nylock nut on a bench.

The link MikeM provided in post #7 is excellent.

.

Decades ago my 63 shifter sheared the dowel pin. I replaced the pin with a grade 8-bolt and nylock nut. While the dowel pin may have been designed to be sacrificial and shear under abuse to protect the shifter, I figured the person abusing the shifter would be me, and chose the hardened bolt and to avoid slamming the selector lever with breaking force. I found the nylock nut & bolt allowed me to tighten up the slop between the stalk and cross shaft just enough for better shifting, without being too tight that it would bind. This greatly improved the shifter feel, and makes much more sense with the shifter in a vice on a workbench.


.

If you have a Hurst shifter, the assembly is much more complex. After rebuilding one once, back when I was young and dirt poor, I advise it's much easier to purchase a new shifter than trying to rebuild all the friction plates and pieces that make the Hurst feel so tight and precise.

Good Luck.

65GGvert

If you look at the pictures he provides, he does have a Hurst shifter.

MikeM

That's what I thought as well. Those Hurst's have an awful stiff spring to keep you out of reverse gear. There's plenty of Hurst experts here. I'm not one of them..

6T2Vette

OK, I went back to my car and confirmed I have a Hurst Shifter, and it never had a "T" bar. So is it worth fixing? Should I look for a good used one? Or should I look for a good "aftermarket"? If the latter, which one?
Looking at two of the bolts holding it is place, it seems the only way to remove it is by dropping the xmission.
Bob

62-C1

Bob,

I have a Hurst Shifter that I removed from my 62, it works great. I installed a 5 speed if you are interested i'll take $125 plus shipping from Cincinnati, OH. Includes rods, If you have an interest I can send pictures.

Marty

MikeM

Just to refresh my memory, I did a little looking around. This link just might explain why your shift handle is stuck to the left in the reverse position. Pat attention in this video where the guy talks about the "plunger pin". I believe that's what forces the shift handle out of the reverse position and back to the neutral gate. Yours could be stuck from corrosion or hard grease.

Go to the bottom of this thread for the video(s)

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...t-shifter.html

I'd think your shifter is well worth taking apart, cleaning and lubing it and put it back in. That's if you want a Hurst shifter. Personally, I prefer what the factory used.

63 340HP

Mike, thank you for the link to the videos.

The reverse spring in the subassembly that captures the forked base of the handle is the area I remember that was/is a bear to get apart and back together. The first Hurst shifter I rebuilt was for a 69 Javelin with a broken handle that had to be removed and welded before fighting it back together. My father helped me get that reverse detent spring assembly back together (with a lot of grumbling asking why I took it apart). After that exercise in frustration we would remove the dust plate and soak the whole shifter in solvent, and only if it did not smooth out would we go further. Even then, we only stripped the shifters down to removing the shift plunger cross shaft, and we would throw the rest of the handle subassembly into a bucket with solvent for a day or two to dissolve the internal grease before blowing all the grit out (and if the handle was broken or stripped we would recommend a new shifter to avoid dealing with the heavy spring).

The thin stainless shim plates have to be installed with the correct side up or the gates will not line up correctly.
The video author's spreader bolt is a nice tool (after that first rebuild we used a vice, with hardened studs in tapped holes in the jaw plates, to spread the case).

Besides broken handles and handles with stripped threads, sometimes we would find the roll pins that index the fork end of the handle bent, crushed, or sheared, creating side to side slop (from corrosion of the roll pins and a heavy hand abusing a reluctant shifter that was full of grit), and otherwise the Hurst shifters didn't show much damage except from grit scoring the shim plates and the large plunger hole. If the handle is damaged and has to be replaced, however, the R&R labor is likely the cost of a new shifter.