Manual transmission problems

BILLN.

MEMBER
1989 GMC C1500
5.7L
V8
139,000 MILES

I have the truck listed above 4x4 with a 40 over 350sb and a 5 speed manual transmission. I was driving home today and when I got to the end of my road I went to downshift into second gear and had nothing. Could grab any gears with the clutch in or out and once I got it home I took the shifter off and used a screwdriver to move the bar inside the transmission to get it into gear. Now it won’t come out of gear. Any ideas? Plus the shifter feels really sloppy as there is no tension when shifting between gears.

8 Replies

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

This sounds like a shift fork issue. The way this works is the shifter is attached to shift forks which are inside the transmission. I suspect the shifter has become detached from the forks. The way to figure this out is to remove the plate from the top of the transmission (12) and make sure the shifter is still attached. If it is, then we may have to open the unit to find out why it is flopping around. However, this would also explain why it is stuck in gear.

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Thursday, January 2nd, 2020 AT 4:57 PM

BILLN.

MEMBER
6 POSTS

Thanks I was kinda wondering that myself. I even tried to put the transfer case into low 4x4 to see it would move on its own but no luck. Every thing is brand new from the master all the way to the fork and throw out baring and I’ve just recently like 5 days ago finally got it all done and driving and then this happens. How hard is it to fix this problem? As I’m going to be doing it by myself and probably in the snow. Anything you can pass on to help along in this process would be much appreciated and thank you for your insight.

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Friday, January 3rd, 2020 AT 12:49 AM

BILLN.

MEMBER
6 POSTS

I did take that top plate off immediately and the shifter was fine, but the rail it sets on is very sloppy so much I could shift between gears with my finger without any resistance. But I did notice I could hear the gears when I took it out of 4x4 and back into 2 h coming together. Also there is a lot of fluid leaking down from said plate area only.

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Friday, January 3rd, 2020 AT 1:10 AM

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

Just so I understand. The truck doesn't move in any gear but goes into gear very easily? If this is the case, it sounds like there is no load on the transmission which means something inside the unit broke.

I feel like I am not understanding the issue with the sloppy shifter. Does the vehicle drive normally other than the shifter feeling?

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Friday, January 3rd, 2020 AT 6:06 PM

BILLN.

MEMBER
6 POSTS

No it doesn’t move at all and the shifter just kinda flops around. In the tabby there’s definitely something inside that is broken. I’m going to pull it out tomorrow and get a look at what is going on and I’ll get back to you.