Carrier gearshift binds in first gear

[matilda IIA]

G'day Darryl


Before I did anything rash I would check out the simple things, double check the gear lever at the operator end, I have a carrier that also becomes very hard to operate and its the sliding rod under the gear nob that allows the lever to move back and forth. for some reason ours becomes so hard to operate that it feels like a phisical obstruction is pressent. A quick spray and shake with some panther piss may solve your issue. when you get time pull the outer section off and clean it out. No more issues....

If you have issues contact me and we will work something out.

Kind regards
Matt

[Scrivo18]

Hi

My carrier can get difficult sometimes as well, and a good spray of CRC or similar does wonders, all though one time it was the actually shift pin on the top of the box, a split pin had come out and the pin witch the selectors slide on tried to come out of the top of the box.
As this was Black Saturday and I was trying to get the Bren carrier to the truck and out of the area, I was a little anxious to say the least.

Tim

[Big D]

Gidday Matt and Tim,

Thanks for the replies.

I have disconnected the gear lever itself from the main connecting rod by removing the two bolts near the driver's seat, so as to isolate this. The gear lever and its sliding mechanism slide smoothly. However, by trying to move the main connecting rod that runs down the hull to the gearbox by hand, you can still feel the binding effect at the other end.

I've removed the arm that actually attaches to the transmission and the binding effect is still there so it is in the linkage/connecting rod/gearchagne rod area somewhere.

I experimented today with loosening the two brass bushes holding the gearchange rod and ball joint and then putting a little upwards pressure on the front bush before retightening it. I felt this made it very slightly better but in saying that I can now feel the binding effect in 3rd gear.

It probably makes sense that this binding in 3rd was there all the time but with the gearbox being mainly in 1st gear I just may not have noticed it that much.

So I think that it is somewhere in the linkage arrangement where the rod is in its most rearward position and it is binding somewhere in that position.

I figured there couldn't be too many possibilities and the alignment of the two bushes seems to be the only possibility to me.

I reckon my next step is to disconnect the main connecting rod at the universal joint, and fit the gearchange rod and ball joint in the two brass bushes (with nothing else connected) onto the hull and see if I can isolate things from there. That way nothing else can be invovled.

Any other bright ideas or do you think I am on the right track?

Thanks

Darryl

[Lynn Eades]

When you say it gets worse, when it heats up up, then I would be looking for a fault in a component affected by heat. Dont over look the selector shafts in the gearbox lid. They can suffer from condensation and rusting if they sit a while.

[charlie fitton]

..I wouldn't look past the motor mounts, or the clutch plate dragging either...

[Blackpowder44 (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Lynn Eades

When you say it gets worse, when it heats up up, then I would be looking for a fault in a component affected by heat. Dont over look the selector shafts in the gearbox lid. They can suffer from condensation and rusting if they sit a while.

That is exactly what I found on trying to moove my carrier after it had stood idle for 18 months. It was a pig of a job to line up the selectors to mate them back on the shafts after freeing them up. Lying on your side and trying to get everything to line up took ages. John.

[Big D]

Gidday all

Thanks for the replies.

I did some experimenting again with the aligment of the brass bush mounts and the gearchange rod and ball joint. I think it is about as free as it is ever going to be now. It slides freely back and forth with no apparent binding now.

Lynn - you got me thinking about the gearbox and out of interest I took off the transmission housing gap and shone a torch in there. Sure enough I can see signs of rust on the shifter rods. While I can't see everything in there, looking at the transmission from the rear of the carrier, I can see rust on the most rearward position of the right hand shifter rod. I can also see rust on the driver's end of the centre shifter rod.

I'll have to get my Ford manual out to see which gears they affect but presumably all shifter rods will be affected. I wonder how much rust is too much but presumably this would not help, certainly once the engine heats up.

How straightforward a job is this to remove the top cover? By the looks of things I can just remove all the top cover bolts and lift it straight up. Will I need to move the oil filter?

My other worry is how easy is it to get it back on afterwards? Will the selector forks align themselves without any worries.

Is this what you were getting at John?

Cheers

Darryl

[Big D]

Gidday again,

I went ahead and shifted the oil filter and pulled the transmission top cover.

I've taken a series of photos of it from both underneath and on top taken through the top where the housing cap goes. Notice that on some of the photos the flash has given the impression of reddening of the areas affected by corrosion. In normal light, these don't seem as bad as the photos would have me believe.

However, looking at the corrision, there does seem to be some obvious very red rusty areas on the shifter rods as seen through the hole in the top cover. The corrosion on the underside of the shifter rods appears very dark and older although I am certainly no expert with this sort of stuff.

Overall, the corrosion appears no worse than that in the gearbox on my 1943 Willys. However at the same time this gearbox and engine was completely reconditioned around 2005 and the carrier would have only done 100 miles at the very most since then.

It looks to me like I'll have to pull all the shifter rods and clean them all up. I guess all this would only add to the binding when coming out of gear.

I would be keen to see what you experts think.

Thanks.

Cheers

Darryl