Shifting problems after messing with transmission

[el_minkey]

I have a 620 with a 5-speed (pretty certain it's an FS5W71B).

My brother-in-law and myself dropped the tranny the other day to replace the clutch. Well, to make the dropping easier, we tried removing the striking guide, which turned out to be a bad idea apparently. Not only did we find out you can't remove it without disassembling the tranny, but it appears that we messed something up. I'm not really sure what all we did wrong, but with the transmission now back in place, the only time we can get the stopper guide pin back into it's place is when the control lever is in the third gear position (though I'm guessing that the tranny is not actually in third gear). Could we have disengaged the striking lever from a shift rod? Can this be corrected without dismantling the tranny? My knowledge of transmissions is very limited, in case that isn't obvious.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Skib]

paging DatzunMike..........

[datzenmike]

Yeah, I was out.

 

The internal end of the striking rod has a finger on it that slides side to side through the neutral gate. When the transmission is in neutral the striking lever is in the neutral gate, like below...

 

1 gear.. 3 gear.. 5 gear

 

NEUTRAL GATE

 

2 gear.. 4 gear.. Rev. gear

 

 

 

It has likely jumped out of the neutral gate and has come in from behind and pushed the 3rd / 4th shift rod forward. I don't see how you are going to be able to pull the 3rd / 4th shift rod back into place. Even if you did get the 'striking lever' (finger) on the striking rod back into the neutral gate you would hit the 3/4 shift rod if you try to move it to the right.

 

----------3 gear

1 gear ----------- 5 gear

neutral 4 gear gate

2 gear ---------- Rev.

 

 

 

If this was in a car you could possibly remove the rear tail stock and reset the forks into the neutral position and wiggle the case back on... but because it's a car it's easier to remove it completely and do it right. On a truck this would be virtually impossible with the crossmember in the way. I think it would be best to pull the transmission out and do it on a bench.

 

With the tail removed and the transmission vertical, set the shift rods in the neutral position. Lower the rear case down over the transmission while holding the striking rod rotated clockwise (hard over to the 5th/reverse side) but held in the neutral gate as well. Striking lever should now be able to slip down beside the aligned shift rods and enter the neutral gate between 5th and reverse. Do several practice runs to get this down first before you put the sealer on the mating surfaces. Hope this helps. It's a bitch, but totally fixable.

[el_minkey]

Thank you, Sir, for your help. I really appreciate all the info and the quick response time : )

I do have a question though: Will it be obvious where the neutral position is for the shift rods? I suppose just having the case off may answer that question, but I thought I'd ask just in case.

[datzenmike]

Yes it will be obvious.

 

This is the only clear shot of all the shift rod ends. Naturally it's in a gear (5th) :lol: Anyway if the bottom one was moved forward one click the neutral gate would be lined up and the striker rod would be free to slide over to the 3/4 rod, and further right to the 1/2 rod.

 

 

The striker rod is obvious at the top. The striking lever points down to the left 8:00 o-clock position. It has to fit into the neutral gate above.

 

Holding the striker rod hard over in the clockwise direction as you lower the case should position the 'finger' just to the left of the shift rod ends and down beside that large nut on the mainshaft. With a little wiggling of the case as it bottoms out against the adapter plate the striker rod should slip into the neutral gate and you're away. Be sure the shifter end stays clockwise and in the neutral position. Maybe have someone hold it in place with a screwdriver or something.

 

I put a diesel tail on my zx 5 speed and test fit it twice and must have just been lucky. Put the sealer on and lowered it into position about 7 times and could not get it to line up. Had it bolted up only to find it jammed in 5th. Took apart cleaned it off and took a break. I probably failed to hold the shifter end in neutral and it bumped it back. I sealed it and got it on the next try. Sealick on here got it figured out and had a way to get it on.

[el_minkey]

Well, I dropped the tranny again, popped the rear case off (that was quite a chore), got all the rods lined up in neutral, put the striker rod where it looked to be neutral and just a little further clockwise the fifth/neutral column, slid the case back on while keeping an eye on things inside through the mainshaft outlet, got it all set and moved the shifter over, and VOILA! IT WORKS! I hope it wasn't just luck getting it the first try. I'll definitely try a another one or two times before I seal it up just to make sure I've got it down. Which brings me to another question: Is there a certain sealer that I want to use, something specific to transmissions? Or will plain old RTV silicone do the trick?

 

Thank you again for taking time share your knowledge. This has been a great learning experience : )

[datzenmike]

I see rtv used all the time but it isn't really a 'sealer' as such. Look for the word sealer. I used Permatex Not sure if this was it but it was gray in color and slow setting and flexible. This gives plenty of time to mate the parts.

 

I did seal a differential with a Permatex that was clear blue like toothpaste but very thick.