lost all gears last night in a833od?

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mopar56

mopar56

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last night while shifting from first to second ( mildly ) my son lost all gears, the trans is a a833od. the ride is a 80 1/2 swb truck, the trans has been in there about four years now and was smooth until last night, what we found was the bracket holding the "z" bar came loose which in turn made the shifter where it mounts to the trans loose, so after tightening the bolts he was able to grab first and get home but it would not go to second with or without use of the clutch, after it got home we removed the inspection pan, the clutch and release bearing look good and seem to operate just fine although the throw was a bit short then we found the rod from the release bearing fork to the " z " bar was a bit bent, we had a spare so swapped it out and adjusted the clutch, the throw was better but we can not get any gears, reverse grinds and 1-4 just wont go, however if we shift staticly with the engine off we can get 1-4, my next thought was a shift rod adjustment but I don't see how it would be out of whack as it was fine before?, any ideas?, this thing is pre-registerd in a car show in less than two weeks and we need to figure it out soon!
 
Two possibilities, first your not getting enough travel when you press the clutch peddle to release the clutch disc. Or chances are you have a broke finger on the pressure plate.
 
well the fingers all look good to me and I can see the pressure plate move how much clearance should I see between the disc and flywheel when the clutch is depressed?
 
any thoughts of it being internal, don't really want to pull off the side cover as it will be almost impossible to get back on with out pulling the trans unless we have to
 
1980 with a factory OD??????????????

The first OD was in 1981.

Check where the Z-Bar brace mounts to the cab, if the truck has any rust it will break away causing the the same symptoms you are having.

I think I have all the backing mounts for the cab, if needed.
 
well although I know they were available with od trans at least as far back as 79 because I almost bought one that I test drove back then this truck I converted from a 727 auto to the current od 4spd about 4 years ago but with all factory original parts, there is no rust as we completely restored this truck and take it to shows, the "z" bar braces to the frame not the cab and that is where the original problem was when it came apart last night but it is bolted up tight now
 
You said the shifter was also loose, tighten the shifter mount up, and readjust your shift linkage.
 
It is not the finger that breaks but the pivot. The result is when you depress the pedal, the PP won't move enough to release the pressure on the disc.
 
sireland67 said:
1980 with a factory OD??????????????
The first OD was in 1981.
Click to expand...
Is that for the trucks? The first OD that I know of was used in the Dart Lites and Feather Dusters in '75 or '76; had an AL case.

For the OP, the throwout issue is your most likely culprit since you can get all the gears when not running, and since reverse grinds; the clutch not releasing will do this.
 
ok, well the throw out bearing looked good so maybe the pivot then, been too busy to look since yesterday so hopefully later tonight, I will post what I find as soon as I can
 
mopar56 said:
you mean the pivot on the bell housing where the clutch fork is attached?
Click to expand...

No, I'm referring to one of the three pivots on the pressure plate. I don't know if you can tell with the inspection cover off of the bell housing, but one of the three fingers will be lower than the other two. If one is broke.
 
ok well it looks like it is the clutch pressure plate, sgbarracuda, my clutch is not the three finger kind it is the multi finger diaphragm kind, some of the fingers look un-even although I am not sure that has anything to do with it, with the rear end jacked up and the trans in gear, any gear, then depressing the clutch I cant spin the rear wheels, we pulled the clutch fork and inspected it and the release bearing and all was good but when one person is under the truck and one person rolls the motor over by hand something is metallic is rattling around in the clutch assembly, a broken spring maybe??, either way looks like the clutch is coming out, oh well I guess now we will fix that annoying shifter lever seal that has been leaking, arrrggh!!!, thanks for the help
 
if the blades are being held In or uneven you might have broken clutch disc springs down between the disc and plate, it only takes a small piece to break off and fall in the assemble.
 
well, here is what we found, broken spring in the pressure plate, we looked back on the receipt and it is only one year old, made by L.U.K. still have the box with a 1-800# so I am going to call Monday to see if they are willing to do anything, probably not, but worth a try, the pressure plate dosn't look all that bad even the disc material is good, guess just bad manufacturing? what do you guys think?
 

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Imagine that. Score one for the old farts. Way to go Roy.

On that note, I don't understand the rash lately of why people think it's such a monumental task to pull an engine and or transmission. I mean seriously folks, less than 20 bolts and the transmission is falling on the ground.

Oh and to the OP, use a Mcleod clutch if you want, but you are wasting your money, IMO. LUK makes some of the best clutches for standard and moderate street service you can get. They are made in both USA and Europe. Just food for thought.
 
OK Rusty, if L.U.K. is a good clutch then why do you think it broke?, and for the record, fighting exhaust, a cross member and tight quarters for bolts particularly the top d/s one, ( remember this was originally an auto truck so we don't have the correct floor hump for ultimate clearance), and not using a hoist made this job a little tougher, not complaining but it did take me 2.5 hours on my back to get it it, I did learn some shortcuts that should hopefully speed things up on the way back.
 
mcleod long style / b+b bolt pattern in my car with liberty non synchro kit , driven hard street + strip last 15 years. 1 year street + broke suks
 
Possibly a few too-hard clutch releases? That could break the spring out, or one of the anchor straps on the PP . We were all young once....LOL
 
The hump on an OD in a truck is just a bolt on piece of plastic, I have an extra if you need it.
 
engine vibration can cause those to break ,also you switched it to a 4 speed if I read right, could be a alignment issue , is the bell housing dialed in correctly just more things to check while its apart. you don't want to do it again. and RRR is right about the quality of those parts ,they are the main supplier of GM trucks for the last 20 years .
 
Marcohotrod..I agree never had a problem with Mcleod but the reason we used the L.U.K. was we had heard good things just like they are saying here, Sireland67, I do believe the floors are different, I know of the plastic tower you mentioned but there is a hump in the metal floor to accommodate it that has a large oval hole that the plastic hump goes over where as the auto has a very low floor which we cut a hole out for the shifter and then had to make a separate cover plate, it works but is a bit tight when swapping clutch's, thanks for the offer on the cover if I could use it I would, lastly..teringer, thanks for the tip although there was no vibration previous to it breaking we did find loose bolts on the "z" bar bracket and shifter which MAY have contributed to a broken spring, guess we will never know for sure?, thanks
 
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