3 Speed Shifting Issues

[BAMM71]

Recently, the truck has had some vibration in the clutch pedal (71 C10/5.7l/3 speed on the floor) and the shifter has had a fair amount of play in it. When sitting, I can go through the gears and engage them all. Once I start moving, it cannot find 2nd to save its life.

This is confusing as it's a 3 speed (Hurst, I believe) H pattern shifter. R, 1 and 3 work just fine. I'm assuming* that one of those arms does R+1 and the other one does 2+3. The nut on the closest to the engine (farthest from shifter) arm was a bit loose so I gave it a couple turns. I'm going to put bushings in as those look MIA too and hope that clears it up.

Could it be something internally that's causing only #2 not to engage? I am also going to pump the old PS fluid out and replace it with fresh.

[notsolo]

Clean and lube would be the best place to start, remove and clean if possible. Might find other issues once you can see it.

[Grumpy old man]

Originally Posted by notsolo

Clean and lube would be the best place to start, remove and clean if possible. Might find other issues once you can see it.

^ that and if your back up lights don't work here is the correct hust shifter switch to cure that problem .

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/h...yABEgIz2PD_BwE

[geezer#99]

Might be just a shift rod alignment issue.
Pic of your shifter and rods would help.

[BAMM71]

Thanks for the responses. I'll have to create a new Photobucket account or the like to get some pictures posted.

So, I replaced the bushings in the shifter to clean up the slop and added new pins to snug it all up. I drained the gear oil which smelled like...gear oil but was clean. I filled it all back up and gave it another shot...same issue.

Decided that I wasn't giving up that easy and pulled the transmission completely. The gears are beautiful looking without any missing teeth, pitting, heat discoloration or flat spots. The input shaft has a very minor wiggle in it but, I'm told that it should and it's held in place by the pilot bearing once it's bolted in? I called three shops and got two of those answers and one guy who said it's a $500 fix....won't call them again.

Throwout bearing slid right off the fork. I thought there was supposed to be a retainer to keep that from happening? I ordered a new fork, throwout and pivot. Seemed like pretty cheap insurance (under $50) to get that all back in order.

Shifter rod from pedal seemed really sloppy and not held in place by anything (again pics when I can) it just slid into the fork end and when I loosened the bellhousing it fell right out...and I"m thinking that may have been 80% of the problem and I probably didn't need to drop the transmission. :/

The clutch place looks fairly new. Minus the wiggly throw out all the tangs depress in the diaphragm and my buddy said he could see it fully engaging. On top of that, the clutch area is dry as a bone which is also promising and I'm erring on the side of not disassembling the whole thing but since everything is already apart....sigh...

[LockDoc]

-
I think there should be a long spring that holds the rod against the clutch fork. And a flat spring that helps retain the throwout bearing in the fork. It isn't a positive locking spring, just a friction fit. The bearing really can't go anywhere....

LockDoc

[BAMM71]

@LockDoc, thanks for the response. I understand that it's more of a retainer but without any tension removed the throwout bearing just had a bunch of play and slid right off without any effort on my part. That's what concerned me but, I appreciate the thought on the innerspring...i'll ensure that both are in place when I replace it and report back.

[BigBird05]

If you have a Hurst Shifter, you can get them to rebuild it. Contact Hurst.

[BAMM71]

Update - I replaced the clutch/pressure plate and had the flywheel loved a bit. Replaced the clutch fork, pivot, pilot, and TO bearing.

I ended up not trusting myself entirely on my judgment of the beautifulness of the gears in the transmission and since it was already out I brought it to a local shop who gave me the once over for free which was super cool of him. He agreed that the gears looked great and that there was nothing wrong with the cluster or synchros. He said 10:1 the issue was with the shifter but then he noticed the "quail" or what I would call the bearing retainer was all marred. He said that the throwout bearing that it rides around had chewed it up and created the slop. He also said that it's a $20 part online and probably 15 mins worth of work if I wanted to take on the replacement myself otherwise, he'd charge shop minimum + parts etc. He was gracious enough to help so I told him it was worth the expense and he said "Son, it's a good experience take it home and get it done"

The dilemma now is that all the retainers I'm finding say "for car only" I can't find if this is in reference to say cars only as this would be a light-duty truck or if that means this is for camaros and that's it. Here's a link to the part that I'm referencing. I'll get the calipers on the trans as well.

https://www.allstategear.com/Saginaw...p/awt301-6.htm

[notsolo]

I think the transmissions were very close to the same size, I have a 3 speed Saginaw from a 69 Nova in my panel truck. Also have 1 from a 70 pick up they look the same.

[weim55]

The outside diameter of the input retainer (Mates with the big center hole in your bell housing) is larger on a 68 and up truck versus car application. Measure your bell housing big hole ( not your current input retainer in case it’s incorrect for your bell housing)and order accordingly.

Steve weim55 Colorado

[geezer#99]

Once you measure for the retainer size or bellhousing size, these guys have either one.

http://www.garagemotorsports.com/muncie.htm

[BAMM71]

Thanks everyone (for the millionth time)

I called about 15 shops across the country and couldn't find one. Brad at Garage Motor Sports was super helpful none the less and I was able to track down this one here.

Question: This is a cast piece and the other shaft looks machined/polished. Is this normal?

[geezer#99]

Looks normal.
It’ll work fine.

Do you have a pic of your clutch fork. On the end the tob slides onto.
There has to be a reason your tob marked up your old retainer.

[BAMM71]

Great. That's good to know!

I'll snap a picture for you. I did purchase a replacement however because...it was a 12 dollar part and I'm neck-deep at this point and I don't want to have to do this again for something that small.

I need to clean up the slop in the clutch pedal as well. There look to be some bearings or bushings that the rod connects to (that transfers the pedal motion to the fork end) In fact, I'll snap both pictures and post them.

[notsolo]

I would smooth it up with 320 sandpaper, As long as the bearing slides good your back in business.