Transmission not shifting

[Flyer58]

Another AAArrgh.. I just rebuilt my AX-5 and have put about 60 trouble free miles on it but now it won't shift into 2nd gear. It's like the shift lever is hitting a wall and if I do try to force it in it grinds. The other gears mesh smoothly. All new synchros and bearings and the gears themselves look good. I must have forgot something.

Before covering it back up...

 

[Chris]

Oh wow, you're way over my pay grade.

There's a lot of things I'll do myself. Rebuilding engines is one of them. Rebuilding transmissions and re-gearing, those are two tings I won't touch, as the tools and skill required are up there.

Where does one even start with something like this? Everything looks fine, but obviously I don't know what I'm looking for.

 

[Flyer58]

This is the second manual transmission I've worked on and I must say AMC/Chrysler made it very easy by design to take apart and put together. The Factory Service manuals are a must and they do an excellent job explaining each step. The only special tools were a gear puller, hydraulic press, feeler gauge, small pencil magnet and a really good set of snap ring pliers.

For me the worst part id disconnecting everything and pulling it out or getting it back in. Once I had it on the work bench it was easy. You can see I made up a simple angle iron bracket on a wood base to mount the centerplate to which made it easy to move around and keep balanced. Just watch out for small springs and locking balls which tend to roll away faster than a 10mm socket.

 

[Flyer58]

Well I went through the service manual and it mentions hard shifting with the first recommendation being to check the fluid level and bleed the clutch. The clutch was ok but the transmission was way low, as in almost a quart low. I topped it off and drove it a bit and found it's a little quieter but no luck with the shifting into 2nd at normal speed. Crawling or stationary it's ok but not at a normal drive speed.

I recall when I initially filled it and used funnel with a very small tube. I was underneath watching for the filler port to overflow and had a helper above pouring oil in the funnel from a gallon jug but we didn't monitor how much actually went in. With the small tube it was painfully slow and took about 20 minutes before I saw oil coming back out of the hole.

Since there were no sings of leaks or dripping anywhere at this point I can assume it just wasn't filled properly. Maybe it takes a long time to flow through both halves of the case or it wasn't completely level when filled.

So now I have everything off the transmission and transfer case with fluids drained. I just need to get the jack in place and unbolt it and pull it away. The oil I drained sure looks dark for very few miles. When things settle out I look for gold and silver at the bottom.

The good news for the day was everything underneath looked clean and new and I didn't have a single rusty bolt or nut to contend with. Could not have been easier so far.

 

[Flyer58]

The hard part is done. The rest I can do standing upright until it's time to put it back in.

 

[Flyer58]

Well dang it. 100% my fault when I put it together last time I left off a retaining clip on the end of the main gear shaft at the end of the 3rd - 4th synchro hub. Without that clip the entire shaft shifted slightly causing the 3 & 4 synchros to bind and 1 & 2 synchros to have too much space.

I moved less than 1/4 inch and I'm glad to find no damage to any internal parts. It just made it hard to shift. Glad I caught it when I did. Gaskets on order, might be together next week.

 

[Chris]

This doesn't actually look too bad in all honesty. I'm used to seeing transmissions that look much more complex, but this one looks like something I might actually be wiling to tackle myself.

Anyways, glad you caught that when you did as well!

 

[Flyer58]

Assembly complete... I said that last time too. Just needs to be back in the case and back in the jeep.
I 'm feeling much better about it this time.

 

[Flyer58]

Finally got some free time to get the case on and everything back together.

Tip of the Day.. Before trying to align the bell housing to the engine block screw in a couple of long guid bolts backwards through the block fist so they extend out the back. This makes aligning the transmission 100 times easier than without them.

A few more hours and I'll be done.