stuck in reverse.

[Wevster]

Hi Everyone,

Looking for some advice, I have recently acquired a 72 +2 130/5, after covering around 400 miles I've managed to get stuck in reverse gear. I have taken the gear lever out, along with the cover plate, to expose the selector link which has come off the selector ball/rod underneath. I can move the selector rod with my fingers but can't get it to release out of gear. Has anyone had this issue before, I suspect its an engine/gearbox out job and rebuild.
Any help appreciated.

Kev.

[john.p.clegg]

How did you manage to get the top cover off with the gearbox in-situ? The manual tells one to select a certain gear when removing the lever/cover just so this doesn't happen...I think it may be gearbox out.

John

[Wevster]

Hi John

Some of the fibre glass had already been removed,(maybe an issue before) small fingers and 1/2" spanner to remove the output shaft housing cover, just about do-able. Couldn't select an alternative gear as jammed in reverse.

Kev.

[john.p.clegg]

I know I have done this before using screwdrivers as levers but can't remember if the gearbox was in-situ at the time...

sorry

John

[saildrive2001]

For many years now if I tried to put the car in reverse before the gearbox had stopped turning I could get the box stuck in reverse. For some reason the end of the lever would jump out of the selector & get jammed. The solution was to remove the shift lever nut, then you can put the selectors with their slots all inline. Reassemble the lever & away you go. Just don't be in a hurry next time to put the car in reverse.

[prezoom]

I had this happen on my very first outing in my car. What I found was the gear shift lever could be pulled up too far when selecting reverse. I wound up making a spacer that slipped over the gear lever and below the metal dish that meshes with the screw on cover. I think the spacer was only .035 thick, but enough to keep the gear lever from being pulled up to the point of wedging itself above the selector shaft.

[Wevster]

Hi, yeh I think your right, I've since spoken to Graham Boulton and he suggests something similar, i.e. Putting washer/spacer to lift up the ball on the selector. But to facilitate that it needs to come out, too fiddily in sit-tue, + I still can't get out of reverse.

Kev.

[gjz30075]

I've just acquired a 5 speed box and have done the same thing but it also locked up the gearbox. I realized I could 'release' the gears by giving a slight punch through the backup light switch hole. Currently the box
is not installed and it has no backup light switch so I'm guessing the switch is a stop of some sort to keep
whatever rod from going too far. Just totally guessing here.

Although I see your shifter mechanism is wonky right now, you might try to remove the B/U light switch and
give a slight wack with a dowel or punch through the hole to see if that releases reverse.

[Wevster]

Thanks for the advice, I tried your suggestion but to no joy, it took ages to get the gearbox bracket off, as the two retaining bolts just spun and very difficult to get a spanner on, plus dropping the exhaust. I used a flat ended punch and gave it a whack or two but unfortunately still jammed.
Have to except its all gotta come out!

Kev.

[l10tus]

Kev,

Interesting topic - as I'm just about to install a 5 speed conversion.

Does the community know if all the 5 speed boxes are renown for doing this 'locking up' thing?

None of the previous write-ups appear to mention it ?

Also, if you are ripping the box out, are you going to alter the weight of the reverse blocker Spring, making it a little less strong, to assist the selection of reverse ?

I'm not sure where the revised Spring is obtained from - any ideas ?

Good luck, and keep us posted untill you manage to close this one out please?

Regards,

Phil.

[john.p.clegg]

as for the reverse blocker spring,a lighter spring does give a better feel,unfortunately the only way is by trial end error..

John

P.S While you're in there the depth of the spacer ring in the crossgate housing may need looking at..

[gjz30075]

I'm not sure where the revised Spring is obtained from - any ideas ?

.

Here in the US, we have a huge chain of hardware stores called Ace Hardware. Most stores have a
great selection of fasteners and such and this is where I obtained my spring. Nearly the same length
and width but half the coil wire size. My 'box is not yet installed in the car but the new spring seems to
work much nicer/easier than the 'stock' spring. I can obtain some if there's a market out there....for
the few of us.

[rgh0]

The lighter spring is to make 5th gear selection easier, you need to be careful it does not make selection of reverse too easy !!
. And I did the same and just took the spring to a hardware place and selected a couple of springs of the same diameter and length but lower spring rate and experimented until i got the feel I liked

cheers
Rohan

[Mick6186]

Hi,
I have recently had a problem with reverse gear on my 5 speed box in that it wouldn't engage. I tracked the problem to be the detent plunger inside the box which was jamming in the selector detent. The box has to be dismantled to get at this part, which without special tools wasn't an easy job!!
If you dismantle the box do not engage reverse or 5th before you put it back together as I found that the 5th selector shaft moves too far if you do, which causes the detent plungers to go into the wrong position. This can be cured by jiggling the 5th gear selector rod around, but its not easy.
Another part to be careful off is the workshop manual instruction is to press in the input shaft bearing by using the front cover and progressively tightening the securing bolts. Don't do this as the front cover is made of aluminium and if you're not really careful it cracks(mine did). This part is NLA but I repaired mine by using low temperature aluminium brazing, which is a godsend.
Good luck!
Mick.