[wintermute013]

Hey everyone,

I recently purchased an older (78'-80') Massey 1200. Bought it knowing there was transmission problems. Got a good deal on it though and i'm feeling ambitous enough to get her running like a champ again. Tore her down pretty good today and took off the shifter. It looks to me like the knob on the tranny side of the shifter has been worn down so much that it won't engage the gears. This may just be me praying for an easy fix but I figured I could get some good feedback here. I'm going to try to attach a picture and you guys let me know what you think. Later

Roger

 

[Mark / Ohio]

Welcome to the forum Roger!

It does look like it has a little wear. Will it go into gear but slips back out or not go into gear at all? Looking inside you'll probably find some gears with worn off or broken teeth as well. That would be my guess anyway.

 

[wintermute013]

No Mark, it seems to be stuck in gear or the shifter did have enough @ss to move the gears. The shifter physically moves but it doesn't seem to be moving anything inside. After I took the shifter housing off the shifter pulled right out which doesnt seem right. Am I wrong? I thought I would need to take apart the transmission to remove the shifter. If not, how big of a job am I in for if I seperate the two sides of the tranny to get a good look at the inside? Thanks for the help buddy.

 

[geogrubb]

On the transmissions I have seen with that type shifter, the little ball on the end fits into sliding sleeve that moves the gears, check whatever the shifter fits into to see what moves and what doesn't. Have a good one. Geo

 

[Mark / Ohio]

No Mark, it seems to be stuck in gear or the shifter did have enough @ss to move the gears. The shifter physically moves but it doesn't seem to be moving anything inside. After I took the shifter housing off the shifter pulled right out which doesnt seem right. Am I wrong? I thought I would need to take apart the transmission to remove the shifter. If not, how big of a job am I in for if I seperate the two sides of the tranny to get a good look at the inside? Thanks for the help buddy.

As I recall the shifter just slid right out of my old Jake so I could see inside. I think like Geo the ball just slid into the sleeves or what I call the internal shift gate. Been ages since I had a tranny pulled apart and then it was only a single speed forward and reverse on an old Springfield. Your best bet would be to try and determine what make and model the tranny is and see if you can find an exploded view for it. If your luck is like mine most likely something will fall out when you split the case and then you will have to figure out where it fell from.

Also a good idea to take plenty of detailed pictures as you disassemble it for reference if you run into issues getting it back together.

 

[Brad]

Yes, on most transmissions I have seen, mostly heavy trucks, the stick/tower will just lift off. When they were worn out and needed replaced, the shift lever would move but the trans would stay in gear. Thus, needed to call the mechanic to come over, pull the lever off the top of the trans, put trans in neutral with a screw driver/rod/stick, whatever was handy, then throw the lever back on. Good for another 50K miles.

From the looks of your photo, that does not really look too worn out. I'd follow Mark's advice, check out the trans from the top, see if the mechanism inside isn't broken, and go from there.