I just traded for another saginaw 4 speed from a friend. He supposedly checked it out and it was a good usable trans. I doubt he would've kept it on the shelf if it wasn't. However... I shifted it through all the gears and spun it by hand. In reverse, it will spin by hand in the normal direction of going in reverse. But if you try to spin it the opposite direction it's locked up. It's acting like a sprag. It's not locked it two gears at once, it is definitely properly in reverse. He told me all saginaws do that. I don't see how that could be normal. Is there any kind of specific damage I should be looking for when I open it up? Or is this actually normal?
Are all three shift arms bolted to it? Any Saginaw I've had that doesn't have the shift arms on it does that. The 3/4 shift fork needs to be pulled out into position by tightening the shift arm down, or else it either makes noise when the transmission is rotated, or locks it up.
All three levers are bolted to it. I'm wondering if something just didn't go together right when he put the side cover back on. I'm going to open it up this weekend and look it over. Hopefully it just needs to be cleaned and oiled...
When you get it open, you want to look an all the brass rings and make sure one isn’t stuck to the gear. Take a screwdriver and gently pry/wiggle all the brass rings. Engage each synchro individually and then disengage. Making sure the brass ring doesn’t get stuck on the gear and that all the synchros disengage properly.
The Jalopy Journal
