Tranny forks not lining up for neutral

Posted by David in UT on November 09, 2004 at 13:55:00 from (208.15.63.195):

Ok, I'm stumped again. This one is really weird...

I can't get the tranny on a '40 M into neutral. I've had the chassis cover off, and I've manually moved all the gears into their disengaged position. To put the cover back on, and get the shifting forks to line up with the gears, I have to move the rightmost shift fork forward by about half an inch. I had a neighbor help me out tonight, lowering down the chassis cover really slowly while I watched the forks line up just to make sure it was settling correctly, and it was.

So, bottom line: I can get the tranny into neutral, but only if I have the shifting forks *not* aligned where the shift lever drops through the cover.

There are some interesting issues that may be at play:

1. The previous owner told me this M was used at some point (maybe originally, but I don't know that for sure) as a reverse-driven forklift or something. So, parts of the tranny may be different. I see in my parts manual that there were different shifting forks for the forward vs. reverse setup. I checked the casting number on the chassis cover, and it matches the forward-facing cover part number, so it's not clear what elements of the tranny might be from the reverse setup vs. the forward setup.

2. When I took delivery, I now realize that it was stuck in gear. We had to pull it off the trailer with another tractor, and it was really hard pulling...just like how it would behave if it were in a gear.

3. When I look at the shift forks and rails, there's kind of a sloppy weld job there. Now, maybe that was just state-of-the-art welding back in 1940...or....the forks were modified as part of a reverse-to-forward conversion at some point. Does anyone know if the fork/rail is supposed to be a single forged part, or where they all 2-piece units that were welded together?

In any case, I don't see any other solution than taking that one problematic shift rail, cutting off the fork, then welding it back on 1/2" farther down the rail than it is now.

It's late and I'm tired, so maybe that doesn't make sense. Any words of wisdom from the field? (btw, here's a link to some pics that might help.)

Many thanks,

- David

• Bad neutral pics

Follow Ups:

• Re: Tranny forks not lining up for neutral More pics of the problem. 20:39:03 11/09/04 (0)
• Re: Tranny forks not lining up for neutral John M 17:55:58 11/09/04 (2)
  • Re: Tranny forks not lining up for neutral David in UT 18:53:35 11/09/04 (1)
    • Re: Tranny forks not lining up for neutral John M 02:13:51 11/10/04 (0)

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