Shifter pops out of 1st gear

[dblact38]

Hi all, I have a 1952 cub. Can someone please tell me why my shifter pops out of 1st gear and is it an easy fix Iam not a mechanic but good with working on things. I was told I might have to take my shifter and plate off Is it easy to take off and reinstall any steps I have to follow? any information will help Thank you
Gary

[Bob McCarty]

Gary, Place the transmission in neutral. Remove the bolts holding the shifter in place. When it is off, check the left fork and see if it is loose on the shaft or perhaps cracked. Also check the ball on the end of the shifter and see if it might be worn significantly smaller. While the shifter is off, check the color of the gear oil, if it is like a vanilla milkshake, time to change the gear oil.

Bob

Edit: It will be the fork on the right as Glen states in his later post.

[Glen]

Hi,
Yes, the right side shifter fork is for 1st and reverse. The left fork is for 2nd and 3rd. Check the right fork, or both if you remove the shifter, to see if they are damaged or loose.
The shifter mechanism uses 2 shafts, a shaft for each side, sliding back and forth when you move the lever, and has grooves that a ball fits in, there is a spring that pushes on the ball. If it is popping out of gear, it could be worn parts.
Here is a pic of how it should look, the bottom of the pic is the left side of the tractor. You can see the forks and shafts in the pic.
Below that is pics from TM Tractor of the parts. The edges of the cuts in the shaft can wear over the years, and the shaft moves by itself when you are using the tractor, the 1st gear on yours, you said. Or the spring can be weak, or someone put it together wrong.
Or the lever might not be moving so it is fully in 1st gear, I don't know without being there.
Transmission work isn't something everyone might want to do, some people might want a shop to do it. It's your choice.

[Bob McCarty]

Pardon me Bob, but the shifter fork for 1st and reverse is the right side fork.

Glen, You're right. I was just thinking you moved the lever to the left and wasn't thinking about which side the ball ended up on.

Bob

[k hutchins]

One quick piece of advice and I may be stating the obvious, but make sure you clean the area around the plate first. You don't want debris dropping into the gear box.
mine is a working tractor and gets pretty dirty overall.

[Glen]

Hi,
It's ok Bob, I just wanted dblact38 to check the correct fork and shaft.

[dblact38]

thanks guys for all of your advise I will check it out next time I go up to my place

[Shane Nelson]

Our '49 was doing the same thing except for it wouldn't stay in reverse, turns out it was the bolt loose on the shifter rod. It was a simple fix and helped a lot.

When you take the top plate off you will notice a little trough on the front and rear that leads to an oil hole for the bearings. Be sure they are clean and free of dirt etc. You can take a small drill bit and get most of it our if they are stopped up.

[Paul Van Benschoten]

I had one that would not stay in third gear. After a lot of head scratching, I found an extra detent ball keeping the rod from moving all the way forward. So now I have a spare in case I ever lose one!