Had some shifting problems

[Kevin Wisniewski]

Well I was finishing up some Snow plowing yesterday. Put it in reverse then put it in second and it was like the trans was bound up. I then tried to put it in 1st and the shifter was all sloppy loose and the tractor was stuck in reverse and stuck on some Ice in reverse. So I grabbed the old cresent and took off the shifter assembly. The first and reverse shifter fork was loose. Then I get the very bright Idea to loosen and take a look see.. Bad Idea. Plop the shifter fork falls down into the gear oil. To get the shifter fork back into position my hands were in the cold fluid I was not a happy camper. Mist icey rain and my feet were getting cold.

There is nothing worst than having to manuver a shifter fork around with your hand loosing feeling and movement. I got it back on and then put the shifter assemble back on and fired her up ( The shifter assemble was still sloppy.) let the clutch out and wha La, Third was engaged so I headed her into the grainery. I took the shifter assembly off again and found what neutrul was and put the assembly back together and it works just fine. I'm glad it was nothing serious and was easy to fix.
Is this something that just happens some time or are the little box tabs that the round part of the shifter hits against worn?


I got another question. I just got a deluxe seat and I believe I will need a curved shifter assemble to use with that seat. Am I correct with my assumption. I have a 1953 Cub.

Thanks

[George Willer]

Kevin,

This is something that should not happen if the parts are all good. Your fork should be rigidly fastened to the slide rod without any lost motion. It's also possible your lever needs to be re-worked.

Your deluxe seat will work with a straight shifter if it is mounted about 3" farther back on the brackets than the original holes permit. I have such a setup on my '63, but on this one, the steering shaft is longer, so the steering wheel is about 4" farther back than a '53. The curved shifter has an internal pin so the shaft can't rotate. You may want to look for one.

Check for an earlier post yesterday "shifter?"

[mike mix]

I have a '53 cub and experienced the same type of problem, while plowing snow and using second gear and pushing into a large snow bank I depressed the clutch and moved the shifter from second gear to reverse gear and the trans was locked up"engine would bog down as the clutch was released" by putting the transmission back into second gear and again releasing the clutch slightly it took the pressure of the drive line and allowed me to put the trans back into reverse. It happened twice while plowing that day and both times I think it was due to pushing hard into the large bank of snow while spinning the tires and digging in a little to much the drive line was under pressure which would not allow the gears to release. At least that what I think was happening. Both times by releasing the driveline pressure the transmission shifted smoothly after.
Good luck Mike