SS TC Cant shift into Reverse

grantcropper

Active Member
The donor I bought was in great shape and shifted nicely in all gears before we disassembled everything. Now that our kit is fully assembled, all the gears shift nicely except for reverse. When I try manually at the transmission with the cables off and I push on the shifter arms by hand to shift into each gear, all is good, just no reverse. Can someone confirm what direction each should be going to get to reverse? Also, what could have happened from donor to kit to cause this issue? When I try to get to reverse, it won't even pretend like its gonna go, just hitting a wall. Thanks for the help, y'all.
 

Ross

Goblin Guru
Did you remember the reverse lock out on the shifter? This is the only car I have owned that has this feature. You have to pull up on the slider that is under the shift knob.
If you did pull up on the lockout, is the reverse lock out correctly functioning?
This video has the transmission shifting into all the gears.
 

grantcropper

Active Member
also, yes, I had the lockout shifter knob pulled up and still no bueno. I'll update if I can get it figured out.
 

OptimizePrime

Goblin Guru
You're probably past this from a troubleshooting standpoint, but I had issues initially getting into 5th and reverse with the stock DF transmission mounts. Others have built wedges to straighten out the transmission cables, I welded mine in with 1/8" steel and got it close enough to straight that I can now get into 5th and reverse without binding or issues. As a reference:

No changes, collars fully tightened causing the kink on the right cable - this is your left to right movement in the shifter which could be causing you not to be able to fully reach reverse.
11384


Collars loose, needs a wedge about 5mm on each side to get the cable straight
11385


1/8" welded on both sides.... I could grind it down to get it perfectly straight but this is good enough and gets me into 5th / reverse now
11386


If your cables are straight, take off the cable head from the trans and put the shifter into what would be reverse - adjust the cables and replace the cable head back on with it still in reverse. See if that now allows you to get into 5th and the rest of the gears.
 

grantcropper

Active Member
You're probably past this from a troubleshooting standpoint, but I had issues initially getting into 5th and reverse with the stock DF transmission mounts. Others have built wedges to straighten out the transmission cables, I welded mine in with 1/8" steel and got it close enough to straight that I can now get into 5th and reverse without binding or issues. As a reference:

No changes, collars fully tightened causing the kink on the right cable - this is your left to right movement in the shifter which could be causing you not to be able to fully reach reverse.
View attachment 11384

Collars loose, needs a wedge about 5mm on each side to get the cable straight
View attachment 11385

1/8" welded on both sides.... I could grind it down to get it perfectly straight but this is good enough and gets me into 5th / reverse now
View attachment 11386

If your cables are straight, take off the cable head from the trans and put the shifter into what would be reverse - adjust the cables and replace the cable head back on with it still in reverse. See if that now allows you to get into 5th and the rest of the gears.
Thanks, Prime. We had to bend our bracket just like you had to modify yours and it helped tremendously. I probably need to adjust ours even more though. Can you show a picture of the configuration of the transmission arms when they are in reverse?
 

Parson Green

Well-Known Member
Am thinking that this is the procedure that worked for me:

Disconnect all cables from the transmission and then put the shifter (that thing on the tunnel) into the reverse position. Then manually place the counter-weighted shift lever (on the transmission) into the "fully clockwise" position. (To verify that you've truly got the counter-weighted lever in reverse, turn the crankshaft clockwise and see if the car wants to moves backward.) Then connect the relevant cable to said lever such that there's zero play. Then put the shifter in neutral and connect the other cable to the other shift lever.
 

grantcropper

Active Member
Thanks for all the advice, we finally got into all the gears. Just needs minor adjustments so it's easy and smooth. Right now I am still lifting up on the reverse lever to get it into 5th.
 

Jlarson524

Active Member
I am still having issues getting into 5th gear. I don't have the ability to weld anything. I tried doing what parson recommended and still nothing. Anyone making any different brackets that straighten the cables?
 

Briann1177

Goblin Guru
I thought reverse was farther over than 5th? If you're having to lift up on the lockout to get into 5th, then that means your neutral position is too far right. Move the side-to-side resting spot a little more to the left. It won't take much.

There shouldn't be any need to fabricate another bracket even with the cables not being straight.
 
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Briann1177

Goblin Guru
Set your shifter to neutral and disconnect the cable that controls left/right movement. Move you shifter to the left like 1/4" or so. Without moving your shifter, lengthen your attachment thingy on the cable until you can snap it back on the ball without moving it.

Wash/rinse/repeat as necessary.
 

Jlarson524

Active Member
I thought reverse was farther over than 5th? If you're having to lift up on the lockout to get into 5th, then that means you're neutral position is too far right. Move the side-to-side resting spot a little more to the left. It won't take much.

There shouldn't be any need to fabricate another bracket even with the cables not being straight.
Even if i lift up on it I can't seem to get into 5th gear, but ill give your advice a try
 

Ross

Goblin Guru
I am still having issues getting into 5th gear. I don't have the ability to weld anything. I tried doing what parson recommended and still nothing. Anyone making any different brackets that straighten the cables?
I used the Cobalt cable mount at the transmission. Had to back the mount up 3", which required drilling 3 holes in 2 pieces of flat metal.
 
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