3spd trans locked in 2nd????Help

Ok I have no clue what happened today, as it has never happened to me before. I was rolling along in my 54 belair, and I was doing about 60. The speedo start to bounce, then a weird noise(like the speedo cable was loose) came out of the car. I slowed down some, and then the car just shifted down by its self into second, so I stepped on the clutch and coasted to a stop. I tried to move the linkage by hand and it all moves fine (for the most part). Then I started it back up and rolled out, I was stuck in second. I could not shift into any other gear, even though the stick moves like it is shifting.

It will not move towards reverse at all, and if I wiggle the stick around while letting up the clutch it feels like it is in thrid, well rol a lil but then stalls...like thrid gear. No first gear at all.

While driving the car feels fine, as it always did. Just that it seesm stuck in gear.

I dont know my ass from my elbow when it comes to trans. So I am hoping someone will have a clue as to what to do.

Once again the car drives fine, just in second. the clutch feel fine, engages and releases fine. No grenading at all....

 

my 53 had similar troubles with a floor shifter, prompted my t5 swap. i had to pull the inspection cover and force the shift arms back out of 2nd. every couple of times it would do this the shifter wouldn't budge out of the 2nd gear position. I think its from a bent shift fork.

 

If messing with the shift arms under the hood does you no good, I do know that the 2-3 shift fork in these transmissions is small, and prone to wear. I pulled the side cover on my first '53 to see why it wasn't behaving, and the fork was about 1/8 of an inch from wearing through completely. They aren't a fork, per se; they look more like a U shape. Many's the old Chevy that continuously hopped out of second or high because of this.

 

So I am guessing that it would be smart to open the side of the trans up and force it out of gear, then look into replacing the shift fork...shift U?

 

This isn't an uncommon problem with worn column shifters or if something has come loose and let the arms move apart a little. First thing I'd do is look under the hood at the arms on the column and make sure they are parallel to each other with the shift lever in the neutral position. What happens is one of the arms drops down and the shift pin won't engage the notch in the 2-3 or L-R arm. Just pull the arm up and it should work again but then you need to fix the original problem. If the arms/pin on the column are working okay then go into the side cover and check the shift forks as the others have said.

I parked cars for a party when I was about 16 (1957) and a lady had a car that the L-R shift arm would slip down. She was pleasantly surprised when I opened the hood and fixed the problem instantly. Saved her from doing it in her formal gown and Mink.

CyberWalt