dang it #2 no reverse - no amount of adj gets the trans linkage right

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J

jasonmrenda

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i dont know if i am just doing something wrong but i spent 2 plus hours trying all varo\ious ways to get the transmission linkage set up properly and i cant get it.

the car starts in neutral and park and not in any other gear so i know the safety switch is working right.

so to refresh, the car was a 67 /6 with auto transmission console shift. i replaced the engine and transmission with a 76 318 auto that was a column shifter. so i swapped the lever that attaches to the transmission (to which the shifter linkage attaches) from the 67 to the 76. didnt change any other parts of the linkage. so basically the 318 transmission has the lever from the /6.

i vaguely recall that the linkage on the /6 shifter went "up and down" and then connected to the linkage to the trans. now the link from the shift goes east-west through the coupler to the trans linkage. i apologize for the terrible wording.

the lever on the transmission goes into all gears smoothly and with a good "chunk" sound so i know the gears are all engaging. the shifter itself clicks in all the detents also and will navigate through all gears when hooked to the trans linkage. the problem is i still get no reverse. i know the trans goes into reverse when i move the lever on the trans manually. but the shifter is not actuating reverse. it almost feels like the linkage does not enough lever-action to push and pull the gears into place in the tranny?
 
i put the trans in neutral at the trans lever. started the car to be sure i was in neutral. yep. so then i put the shifter in the ""N position and tightened the adjuster nut on the linkage. car stars up. can shift through all gears but the shifter does not go back in to all the gears with a good click - more like it floats into the gear. i let the car run for 10 minutes and checked the oil level and it is dead on. tried the same thing with car in park and same results of o reverse.

am getting frustrated.
 
forgot to say - the donor car shifted into neutral no problems so i really think it is has to do with the linkage. would i need to swap anything else from the /6 trans to the 318 trans other than the trans gear lever considering the /6 is console shifted and the 318 was column shifted?
 
weird. you used all the 67 parts on the linkage right? the proper way of adjusting that stuff is to put the shifter in N and the trans in N and do the adjustments to make them able to mate. gotta be something really stupid. you sure the linkage is on all correctly?
 
hwy Joe
yeah i just tried again. i tried both Park/Park and Neutral/Neutral and same result. i never seperated the trans from the engine so i didnt mess with any of that. the 318 went into reverse no problem before. same with the /6.

i dbl checked the linkage and it looks as how my manual describes it so that is correct. i reread the manual and it said to do the adk with "no load" on the connector rod so i made sure to do that.

first i put the shifter into neutral inside the car. then put the trans in neutral using the lever on the trans. went inside car and started it up to make sure i was still in neutral. fired right up. the shifter detents seem to work except for reverse. yet if i manually select reverse using the gear lever on the tranny, it goes into reverse no problem. i must be missing something here.
 
man thats weird. gotta be something really stupid. if you were closer i would stop buy and see if i could help figure it out.
 
sorry to bump to top but anyone have any other ideas? i am calling a couple local mechanics tomorrow - 1 specializes in classics/muscles and is 2 miles down the road - because i need an alignment and the brakes checked anyway. as this isthe first car i ever worked on i dont mind paying a few bucks to have it looked over by a pro in order to feel better about safety issues.
 
1 more dumb question - does it matter if i used autozone transmission fluid for automatics vs, the chryser brand? maybe the weight of the trans fluid is different and thus not letting car get into reverse?

i have been reading all morning and basically everyone says that if the car starts in park and neutral only, that the adj is pretty much done. yet even when this is right for me, it wont go into reverse?

if i disconnect the neutral safety switch, will the car start in reverse? that way i can put it in reverse at the trans lever and start the car and see if the reverse works. if not i'll put the car up on stands and try shifting it manually.
 
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