833 Rebuild - 2nd Gear Grinds Going Up and Bumps Out Decelerating

Duggie said
Next newbie thought, :poke: Why not adjust the linkage until neutral acts "dirty" and then shorten the linkage back up so its just clean again instead of jacking the car up over and over, and easing into it a turn at a time?

I may have just answered my own question today. I turned the shift linkage adjustment out one more turn, noticing the adjuster is about at the end of the threaded shift rod. I wondered too if I have the proper shift rods on the transmission, having come to the end of my threads. So many things have been wrong on this car!

So I shook the gear shift handle in neutral (engine off) and and say to myself, "Self - this neutral position feels great. No bumping against anything, swings left to right as good as it ever has. Time to put it back on the floor." Surprise! :eek: It now barely goes into reverse or first. I really have to work it to make it happen. The good news is I love jacking this car up and setting it on the wheel crib blocks. I love it so much, I'm doing it again around 6:30 tomorrow morning! And I may have learned what a dirty neutral is all about. :BangHead:

canyncarvr said
A dirty (not talking about the neutral gate...but dirt) shifter can cause shifting/grinding stuff as you describe. It's happened to me. I thought a small bit of resistance in the shift plates wasn't a problem. I took the shifter apart anyway, cleaned and lubricated (teflon) every shim and plate. Wow. Huge difference. Shifts now like the shifter rods are connected to nothing but air.

Douching the shifter down from above with cleaner/lube didn't do the trick. It had to be taken apart to be cleaned effectively.

You have noted a number of different symptoms with the same shifter/rod adjustments. Why would that be? Maybe something else is an input to the equation...like a dirty shifter.

You know, I did scrub a ton of crud out of the shifter, but I didn't take it apart. This has shifted "stiff" since I bought it. I was wondering just today if I was shifting old - outdated technology and maybe my '64 Impala SS from 50 years ago was the same, and I just didn't remember how smooth I thought it was.

I have to stop working on the car for three weeks, but will put a thorough cleaning and lube of the shifter on my 'top five list' for when I can get back into it. A smooth shifter has to be part of an enjoyable driver.
:steering:

Thanks!