Transmission Stuck in 2nd Gear

[James W.]

My '65 M20 transmission is stick in second gear. Any idea why it would have done this and what can be done to get it back in neutral?

Thanks,

James

[Jack H.]

Re: Transmission Stuck in 2nd Gear

I've had this happen in the past with my old '66 Chevelle. This issue was the shifter linkage was worn to the point where the gates weren't prohibiting just one action. The shifter would essentially get stuck in a bind in two gears. Nothing you could do on the top side, so I'd have to crawl under the car and manually position the shifter levers into neutral to reset everything using hammer or leverage. I put up with this for a few getting stuck cycles and replaced the shifter with a Hurst Competition Plus which still resides in the car decades later.

If your situation is that you're only in 2nd gear, and really only in 2nd gear, then it maybe different...but it sure brings back some memories for me.

[Harry S.]

Re: Transmission Stuck in 2nd Gear

It's actually stuck in two gears. The bolts that attach the linkage to the trans came loose. Get under the car and work the levers to all three, 1-2, 3-4 and reverse are in the neutral position. Then tighten the bolts.

Don't ask how I know

[Tim G.]

Re: Transmission Stuck in 2nd Gear

This is especially hard to do in a left turn lane, don't ask me how I know, either :-).

[Willard M.]

Re: Transmission Stuck in 2nd Gear

Put me in this group as well. It was a beautiful 63 fuel injected coupe that made me look like an idiot when I had to crawl under after jacking it up on a rainy day on a downtown street.

[Richard G.]

Re: Transmission Stuck in 2nd Gear

If it's in two gears it will not move at all.
If it's stuck in second that is the only gear you have.

Sounds like lots of sticking issues are contributed to the linkage.

[Terry D.]

Re: Transmission Stuck in 2nd Gear

I'm no transmission expert but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express. It seems to me that it is physically impossible to be stuck in two gears at once. How does the tranny decide which of the two to use? Linkage stuck yes, been there done that, but how does a tranny get into two gears at the same time? What am I missing here?

[John L.]

Re: Transmission Stuck in 2nd Gear

Because of a malfunction with the shifter the front lever is in one a gear 1st or 2nd and the other lever is in another 3 or 4 gear - so the trans is locked up OR the shifter just left the trans in 2nd

[Richard G.]

Re: Transmission Stuck in 2nd Gear

Syncros fail, gears fail and sometimes the interlock mechanism built into the cover fails. However it is most likely to happen in combination with reverse and one other gear. This is a type of linkage failure.

[William F.]

Re: Transmission Stuck in 2nd Gear

Don't guess some of the synchro sliders for other gears came off-got disconnected, do you? Had this happen once and I only had first gear till I got things reconnected.