MTFCA Forum

I have an issue with my coupe. It will not go into high gear. In the photos, the break is on, then pushed forward, with no movement. You can see were I have to pull the peddle forward.
What may be the problem.

George
Elkhorn, Nebraska

Broken clutch spring or clutch spring retainer. Take the inspection cover off the transmission and have a look.

Photos got switched when they were posted. In the top photo it should be in high gear, the bottom photo it would be in neutral. Even with the link off, it should still work. Look under the cover plate. Could be number of things. Like collapsed spring so no pressure on fingers, mis-adjusted fingers so clutch is slipping, low band too tight.
When the parking lever is setup, straight up would put the transmission in neutral and 4-5 clicks back from there should set the parking brakes. Is that where it is now?
Post some photos of the inside, including the back by the 4th main.

Last weekend I went on a 100 mile run in the local mountains and after trailering home it wouldn’t drive off the trailer. No low, reverse or high. When in high I could stall the motor by depressing reverse. So it decided the failure was after the transmission.
So on Tuesday I removed the rear axle and an hour or so later I could find nothing wrong in the axle. Turning the UJ caused the axles to turn and we applied considerable pressure as I have seen the pinion key catch on light pressure but fail under load.
So what was wrong?
I went back to the motor and by now the fourth main had fallen out and the back end looked a little odd. Sure enough the shaft connecting to the UJ was loose. All eight rivets holding the shaft to the clutch plate have sheared.
What a pain as now the motor has to come out
This is the first such failure I have seen in forty five years.

Tony your new name is "Torquey". That's a first for me too.

LOL,

Hank

Did your car just develop this trouble or has it been parked for a long time? Something could be stuck in the transmission or like Tony said something broke like his rivets. One thing which can cause this problem would be the brake rods too long. This would keep the parking lever from going all the way forward when move it to high position. However from your picture, the bolt is riding on the cam so that is not very likely the case. Does the high work with the floorboard out? Sometimes the trouble can be caused by the parking lever hitting the floorboard when pushed all the way forward. I would suspect a problem inside the transmission and if you have after market clutch disks such as Watts or other soft disks, they will wear out if you slip the clutch while shifting. So your problem could be the disks.
I would try all the adjustments first and if that doesn't find your problem, take the engine and transmission out and remove the transmission from the engine and disassemble it looking for broken or worn out parts.
Good luck.
Norm

Dear members, thanks for the advice. It looks like tomorrow will be spent hanging out of my coupe. LOL
I will update with photos.

Thanks so much.

George

I looked at your picture again and it looks like the clevis pin is out of the link between the pedal linkage and the clutch lever in the side of the transmission. That would, however keep it in high all the time unless you pull on the parking brake lever. Could be that link needs to be adjusted and the pin inserted. See attachment.

Norman Kling wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 22, 2020 9:21 pm

I looked at your picture again and it looks like the clevis pin is out of the link between the pedal linkage and the clutch lever in the side of the transmission. That would, however keep it in high all the time unless you pull on the parking brake lever. Could be that link needs to be adjusted and the pin inserted. See attachment.Free Neutral.jpg

The pin is there. He originally stated that when pushes the stick forward, nothing happens. As in, the clutch pedal does not move back as it should. As he demonstrates in his photo, he has to move the pedal back by hand. Therefore, no clutch spring pressure being exerted on the bell crank and no movement of the clutch pedal. The clutch spring is either broken or the spring retainer cup is broken.

Has the engine been out? Was any transmission work done? If so did you remember to put the pin back in the clutch spring cup?

After taking a better look at the Cleve’s linkage , ( took the grease off ) and it was dragging. Took it off, adjusted it, ( way to long ) and put in a couple of washers to keep it off the bendix cover.
The peddle now comes up as designed.
Once we have a warmer day in Nebraska, I will take it out for a test ride.

Thanks to everyone who gave me advice.

George Schmidt
Elkhorn, Nebraska

Unprr wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 25, 2020 12:28 am

After taking a better look at the Cleve’s linkage , ( took the grease off ) and it was dragging. Took it off, adjusted it, ( way to long ) and put in a couple of washers to keep it off the bendix cover.
The peddle now comes up as designed.
Once we have a warmer day in Nebraska, I will take it out for a test ride.

Thanks to everyone who gave me advice.

George Schmidt
Elkhorn, Nebraska

Excellent! I'm happy for you that I was wrong! Would have been a real bummer to have to pull the engine to install a new spring. The simple fixes are sometimes the best!!!