Re: R11 stuck in gear 😭

Posted by DavidPackard On 2024/2/8 19:42:26

Blake, with the top cover removed can you slide the 2nd/3rd synchro and the 1st/Reverse selector back and forth? If so the ‘lock-up’ is not likely in the transmission (you will likely need to depress the clutch and roll the gears a bit). Moving on to the cover, there are a sequence of detent and interlock balls that inhibit you from selecting ‘two gears at once’. If that mechanism is not working correctly you won’t be able to move to its neutral position thus inhibiting the shift. With one of the shifting forks in the neutral position the other fork should be able to ‘select’, both fore and aft, but be inhibited if the first fork is not in the neutral position. Finally the adjustment of the linkage between the steering column and transmission is critical in synchronizing the neutral position on the column and the neutral position of the cover. Your problem could be nothing more than a linkage adjustment, or a worn component in the linkage.

I have another hobby car that when I first bought it would balk coming out of first (the ‘stuck in gear’ syndrome). Either on the second or third try the inhibitor function would finally work OK and I could up-shift to second. When I use the word ‘try’ that means stopping the car, pulling the shifter back into first, accelerate the car to the shifting speed, and ‘try’ again. There was never a problem with the 2nd to 3rd shift. Driving the car, and changing the transmission lube a few times ‘cured’ whatever was wrong. That car is a ‘top loader’ so there is no additional linkage to worry about. The car suffered from lack of use before I bought it, so I just wrote it off to corrosion or varnish in the transmission shifting rails/inhibitor mechanism.

dp