So last week I picked up my Rambler. As I was loading it on the trailer I noticed the tranny was stuck in first gear. Does anyone have any advice on getting it unstuck? Btw, it's a 3 on-the-tree.
The linkage is probably scrambled. Under the hood, see if you can get the two levers on the column to line up. It might take some brute force to move them. When they get stuck, the shift lever is out of sync with the gear it's in. Usually caused by wear and tear in the linkage. Those two levers must be parallel when in Neutral or the thing won't work. There are adjustments on the shift rods to set them.
The linkage is fine, I've already checked that. The car was parked 5 years ago in 1st gear and hadn't moved till I got it last weekend. The car only has 25,000 original miles on it too.
I have a 65' 330 that sat for a few yrs. The clutch was stuck to the flywheel. wouldn't let it go in/out gear when running or not !!? > .Try rocking the car back and forth while you try shifting the shifter or have someone pull you, bump the clutch pedal w/trying to shift it.. >If out of adjustment ,there is a hole to line the levers. It can also get stuck in two gears. Try releasing that problem at the tranny. just some suggestions to try ? !
If it will run, you can drive it around a little and get some heat in it and it might free up. Also you could drain it and add some Marvel Mystery oil and see if that may loosen it up.
Six cylinder car, right? First of all get under the car and remove the shifter rods. The rear lever should be first and reverse, with the lever pushed to the rear for first gear. The front lever should be close to vertical in the neutral position IIRC. With the front lever in neutral, try to push the rear lever forward to the neutral position. A hammer won't hurt, but don't hit the lever too hard. If you get it in neutral though, you still need to pull the trans out. The little T-96 only has one synchronizer -- between second and third. First should ONLY be used for taking off! Only go back into first when almost (or at) a complete stop. Those trannys weren't made to use first for anything but taking off, not slowing down! Using first like a modern full synchro trans will eventually chip teeth, but that's probably not the problem. The synchronizer is the weak link in the T-96. It has three pop-up "dogs" that will eventually jam the trans in gear. Pull the top cover and turn the trans over. You should be able to see the one remaining dog jamming the trans, the other two have most likely fallen out. Grab the offending dog with a pair of needle nose pliers and yank it out. You then have a no synchro trans! It will shift, just double clutch to gear down and learn to time up-shifts so you don't grind gears... or get a synchro kit for it. Not hard to pull the little thing apart if you have a manual. I drove my first Rambler in high school with no synchros, it was jammed in gear when I got it the summer of 79.
Had the same thing happen with the T-86 o/d in my '64 Lark. I'd let it set for a couple of months on a hillside with the trans in 1st. gear to keep it from rolling. When I went to move it, I found it could not be forced to shift out of 1st no matter how hard I tride. Ended up jacking it up and hammered on the rear shift arm, a couple of good whacks and it popped loose. that was 2 years ago, no problems at all since. I've owned this one for over 12 years and this was the first and only time it ever did this.
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