1947 transmission trouble

[mike cox]

Hi,am restoring a 47 and have the body off the frame.The engine and drive train are in the frame. Problem with the transmission is when the shift rods are hooked up (or not hooked up) can't shift into first or reverse. Second and third shift fine (with rods hooked up or using the shift levers by hand.In neutral if the car is rocked it will shift into all gears fine, using shift rods or using shift leavers by hand.Thank you for your time and help. Mike

[Terry,OH]

The transmission was made to shift while moving. It is normal to have some problems shifting through the gears when the car is not running. If in R1 pattern then hard to get in 23 if in 23 hard to get in R1. Blocking rings have to align with teeth on the 2 & 3 gears and of course the 1R slider gear has to align with both the cluster and the R idle gear. Mac VanPelt has a very good book.

[mike cox]

Terry,thanks for the reply,will wait until the car is under it's own power and see if shift's,through the gears. Mike

[scrapiron]

You better check it before then !!!!!!!!!!!

[Terry,OH]

If you can get it up on some jack stands you can run the engine and try the clutch and shifting.

[Charlie ny]

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mike,
As long as the body is off I'd remove the side cover....I know it's a chore to
reinstall but with it removed you can inspect just about everything. Additionally
you can push the syncro rings up onto their respective gears to sort of see if they
bottom out.
However I'd do it right and yank the trans and do what Terry suggested and
get Mac VanPelts book. I'm not sure with the car on stands and tires free wheeling
is the best test IMHO.
Charlie ny

[john in illinois]

Originally Posted by mike cox

Hi,am restoring a 47 and have the body off the frame.The engine and drive train are in the frame. Problem with the transmission is when the shift rods are hooked up (or not hooked up) can't shift into first or reverse. Second and third shift fine (with rods hooked up or using the shift levers by hand

.In neutral if the car is rocked it will shift into all gears fine, using shift rods or using shift leavers by hand.Thank you for your time and help. Mike

If the car shifts when you rock it that is normal to line up the gears as mentioned. If you are restoring the car,you may want to inspect it for wear or rebuild it.

John

[mike cox]

Thank ,you all again for the help and ideas,on the transmission.Will get Van Pelt's book and then take the transmission out of the car and start over. Also the car came with some extra transmission part's,one being one short and one long spacer tube that goes in the cluster gear with the cage bearings. Looked at the extra parts today and the long tube is what I, put in the cluster.Would that cause the shift problem or does it make any difference? Mike

[Talkwrench]

If you fitted the long spacer tube then it must be right otherwise it would simply not go in. Im not aware of different sized spacer tubes?

[Lawrie]

Are you sure they are not talking about the actual roller bearings.
Lawrie

[Drbrown]

Also, Ford Motor Company published a "Repair Manual" for "Transmissions, cluches (yes that's how they spelled it on the cover), Overdrives, and Power Take-offs" .... "1932 - 1947" #3697-47 dated June 17, 1947. Can find it on Ebay at small price.

Also again, I'm surprised at the qualility of the information and repair instructions in my old, dirty, ragged copy of Chilton's 1940 - 1956 27th edition of "Automotive Repair Manual" published 1956, which includes photos and diagrams in all their chapters.

Regardless, although the above are very helpful and offer complimentary information and approaches, I doubt they out-shine Van Pelt's book in regard to transmission work.

[Mac VP]

Regarding the different spacer tubes....the short tube goes in the various cluster gears that have the large bores and take a long and a short caged roller bearing. The long spacer tube goes with the small bore clusters which take the small individual needle bearing rollers.

On a '47 trans (closed drive) trans they would normally have a large bore cluster with the caged rollers. However it could be set up with the 1949-50 version of the 28 tooth cluster which had the small bore, long spacer tube, and loose needle bearings.

All of this is in our book. The Ford book mentioned above has a brief section on the 3 speed transmission, but leaves a lot out. We sell that book for the nice rebuilding section on the truck 4 speed transmissions.