Stuck in reverse!

[haynes]

Ok, now I've got the diff bushes out thanks to the spot on help from the highly knowledgeable members of this forum, I have to confess to my real problem:

Occasionally it would be very iffy to get ot of reverse, a lot of jaggling and eventually it would come. Then a couple of weeks ok it just wouldn't come out. Slight difference, before it would get stuck in reverse and that's it, but when it jammed completely it would also get into a sort of neutral, but not across the gate. Luckily this happened when I pulled up at home and I could reverse into the garage. No problems with any other gears.

One thing that did change before the final jam, the gear stick was a bit vague and following a post on here, it was correctly identified that the pinch bolt at the gear stick end of the remote wasnt tight enough to grip.

I took the front detent ball out, disconnected the remote, tried pry bars and a mallet (!) on the linkage from above. But still stuck. So bit the bullet and pulled the engine.

Poking a long screwdriver down onto the selector fork and it slid straight out into neutral. With the remote and gearstick connected it selects all gears and comes out of reverse no problem, no sign of a jam. However I'm a bit reluctant to put it all back in the car not having identified the problem.

Someone suggested this can happen if the linkages on top the diff are loose. Is that possible? It might be my imagination but I did detect some movement in the linkages. However loosening them as a test off did lead to any binding or jamming.

Box was rebuild last year by a mini specialist and a 4 synchro remote change box.

[Jason]

Few things to check:

Is the reverse detent plunger at the front of the casing free moving in the hole when the spring is removed?

Is the pinch bolt for the gear change lever secure

Is the speedo housing the correct remote type?, rod change ones lets the 'crab' move back and to

Have you tipped the gearbox upside down to see if anything loose falls out, parts of bearing race can break off and get jammed around the selectors and cause gear selection problems.

Also check the detent plunger for the reverse rod is free moving, you will have to remove the reverse rod and the 3rd/4th rod to get to this

[Spider]

Sorry - my bad back there. I read Rod in the title and went off in the wrong direction there.

Another cause for them getting stuck in Reverse is if the bush in Reverse Gear comes out. The Remote Boxes weren't prone to this happening, it was a common issue in the late Rod Shift boxes though. All the same, a simple check to do while you're in there.

[DougR]

Hi, interesting that your problem is reverse which is at the furthest extent of the gear change mechanism. I would check if one of the links on the top of the diff housing is on the wrong spline. Are you using the correct shouldered bolts? If not it may be possible to have one or both of them on the wrong spline. Worth a look. Cheers, Doug.

[Alex]

Sorry - my bad back there. I read Rod in the title and went off in the wrong direction there.

Another cause for them getting stuck in Reverse is if the bush in Reverse Gear comes out. The Remote Boxes weren't prone to this happening, it was a common issue in the late Rod Shift boxes though. All the same, a simple check to do while you're in there.

Rover move to a split bush in the 80s, presumably to save a few tenths of a penny per unit, and it's these that wander out of the gear and jam everything up. Never seen a one-piece bush move, and Rover went back to them once the problem became apparent.

[Spider]

Rover move to a split bush in the 80s, presumably to save a few tenths of a penny per unit, and it's these that wander out of the gear and jam everything up. Never seen a one-piece bush move, and Rover went back to them once the problem became apparent.

Yes, but given the gearbox is now some 50+ years old, you never know what it's been refurbished with or how. Assume nothing, check everything.

[Peter Laidler]

Dead right again Spider. The ABC of life as an apprentice engineer
Assume nothing
Believe no one - until you've
Checked everything yourself