Thought I had my recent shifter issues resolved, but maybe a bigger issue has came to light now.

Background::::

I couldn't get 1st gear on my console. The shifter would go all the way down to 1st, but would still be in 2nd snd there was some difficulty getting into drive from neutral. I played with adjuster on horseshoe shifter and got it somewhat better, but ended up finding the linkage on selector at transmission was culprit. Seems that previous owner/s cobbled the linkage at gear selector on transmission.

Made a bracket that would allow cable to move with less play so that selector would hit all gears. (should have just bought a kit in hindsight)

Re-adjusted back up on shifter, but still wasn't 100%. Got 1st gear, but park was a little difficult to get.

Drove car only about 40 mile and had recent tapping noise that was only a header gasket...whew!!!

Car started smoking, but thought it was possibly oil still on header from valve cover being off.

Went to back car out of garage and see what was going on. Decided to try and get shifter back to where it should be first and this is when it all hit the fan!!!!!!

Took out the screw to get to shifter and loosened up the shifter adjuster. Moved it just a little bit and now, I have only drive. No neutral, reverse or park...Not sure what went wrong, but now I am in a heap of crap.:(

Jacked up car, took off linkage. Put the selector manually in park. Figured I would deal with it later. Started up car (***no neutral safety switch due to car being originally a column shifted car***) and car was in drive....
Got back under car, went other direction, car was still in drive....

What is going on. The shifter selector seems to be clicking in all gears? Has anyone had this type of bad luck like me???? What is all involved with a transmission rebuild and what are the best books, videos available to redo this transmission.

I am sure it is going to be more involved than I want it to be. I have a turbo 400 I want to put in it, but I want to rebuild it first, but then I have to shorten drive shaft and yada, yada, yada....

Could there be a quick fix to this, the floor boards are solid, so I can't Fred Flintstone it.....:D

All help is greatly appreciated..........Thanks in advance....
Tim

Drop the pan and you might find the S-linkage disconnected from the manual valve. Somewhere in this category is a picture of how the linkage is hooked.

If you have an OE horseshoe shifter, you could, or should, extend the wire harness from the column position to the shifter and move the neutral safety switch to the shifter. Use male/female quick disconnects and the same size wire gauge.

There is a tab on the shifter handle to insert into the neutrak switch for actuation. You can use the same switch from the column to shifter. Picture of switch location is also available here.

jack up back of car. put tranny in park. see if it holds. if it doesnt look at outside linkage too see if it is loose on tranny. if not need to drop pan and see if that linkage is loose or s clip as everett came out. s clip only comes out if linkage is loose inside of tranny

The other day I disconnected linkage cable from transmission and manually tried to put it into park at the shifter selector at the pan and it seemed like the car was under load, as if I was trying to power brake the car. Almost as if it was in-between gears.

I will try to take off the pan and see what the linkage looks like inside. Hopefully it has just came off. Cross your fingers......I know I am.

Thanks for the replies. I really appreciate it.

Tim

I had a problem with my th350 very similar to what you are talking about.

Here are some videos of my TH350 transmission when it had problems. Fast Forward it to 46seconds and you can see the S linkage hanging there.
YouTube - TH-350 Transmission Internals

Here is another one.
YouTube - TH-350 Transmission Internal Linkage
Here is a diagram that I got from someone in the forum, sorry cant remember who is was.
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd358/z585/350trannys.jpg

Hope some of that helps.
Josh

I did a search before I posted this here and didn't find much, but I searched the s linkage and found some videos that someone had posted (probably you) and looked at them and I saw the diagram that you just posted.:yes:

Thank you very much. I am now going to try and attempt this feat possibly on Monday or Tuesday depending on my schedule. This helps me out so much...thank God for Youtube...what a great help..:thumbsup:

Tim

Also it helped me to remove the trans filter to get to that S linkage. Just make sure you install the filter back in the right direction. I almost put mine on backwards.

Also if you look closely at my videos you can see the nut that holds the entire shift assembly loose and that is why the gear is off and the fork is not seated properly. Forgive me I dont know the technical term for those parts.

GOOD LUCK!!
Josh

A couple other things to check while you're in there.

When the transmission is in 'D' (I think), the manual select valve should be flush with the rear edge of the valve body. If it isn't, you have to compress or stretch the S-link to make it flush.

There is a clip that snaps over the shifter shaft between the case and the detent plate. I've seen those pop off (who knows how) or get left off. When that happens the shifter shaft can walk in and out of the case and S-link can drop out.

When that S-link comes off, the shifter will still click because the detent roller and plate are still clicking against one another so that could be the culprit.

When the transmission is in 'D' (I think), the manual select valve should be flush with the rear edge of the valve body. If it isn't, you have to compress or stretch the S-link to make it flush.

There is a clip that snaps over the shifter shaft between the case and the detent plate. I've seen those pop off (who knows how) or get left off. When that happens the shifter shaft can walk in and out of the case and S-link can drop out.



Not to sound dumb, but is the manual select valve the arm that selects the gears? According to the picture shown in the post by Z585, is it the Detent Roller and Spring Assembly?

I am totally unfamilar with transmissions. I helped a buddy put in a shift kt once on a Turbo 350, but that was 15 years ago and many lost brain cells from racing fuel exhaust........any help locating exactly what you were describing would be helpful.

The section the roller rolls on, is part of the gear selector. The arrow points at the upper S-link joining with the arm. The detent plate, the arm and the shaft are all one piece. Outside the trans, the linkage from the shifter is attached.

Look further inside the trans and you will see the shaft the selector rotates about. In between the valve body and the case, Hydramatic placed a spring steel clip to 'snap' over the shaft to prevent the selector lever from sliding in/out of the trans. If the case or clip is worn, there will be extra lateral movement and the S-linkage can come disconnected from the manual valve and selector lever.

If you find it worn enough, fill the void, the extra movement, by adding a hitch pin.