<VV> Help! I can't stop going backwards! (EM 4-speed)

wrsssatty at aol.com wrsssatty at aol.com
Sun Sep 16 16:58:26 EDT 2012


The 4-speed on my '63 Monza will only go into reverse, not any of the forward gears.  I can get it out of reverse into neutral but neutral does not feel as left/right sloppy as usual.  Sometimes now I can't even get the left/right slop of neutral (although it is out of reverse and in neutral because I can take my foot off the clutch and not stall) and other times something seems to snap pushing the lever rightward and there's more left/right play.  This happened once before several years (but not that many miles) ago.  I was out for a Sunday drive at the time and decided I had gone far enough so I backed into someone's driveway to turn around and head home and after I backed into the stranger's driveway the car did not want to go into any forward gear.  I kept trying and trying and praying and praying and just as I was about to call AAA (and, no doubt, just as the homeowner was about to call 911) lo and behold the car went into 1st and the problem didn't reappear until now.  Discussing the problem at the time I was advised to replace the shift rod coupler/fork thing (I think that's part number C131R in Clark's catalog) and I did so that's not the problem.  We jacked the car up and with one of us moving the shifter and the other looking underneath, nothing looks out of the ordinary.  Is there anything else that can be checked or adjusted without pulling the transmission?  What could it be? BTW, although my car is a '63, when I acquired it the previous owner had installed a '64 4-speed.

Thanks!

~Bill Stanley
 


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