Seized Driveline 1938

A

andyleonard

Member
After about an hour on the road yesterday, I let off the throttle in 2nd at about 15mph and the car lurched forward and locked up the rear wheels. Solid. Engine is fine, clutch is fine but either the trans or diff is locked solid. Trans lever won't come out of 2nd, rear wheels skidded off and on the flatbed, rev engine and let out the clutch and the engine stalls. I had a car once that broke a shifter fork and somehow got itself into 1st and reverse at the same time. This feels like that. If it were a rear wheel bearing, wouldn't the off-side rear wheel be fine? If it's the diff packed up, why is the gearbox stuck in 2nd? The car is in the drive and won't roll and I haven't had time to look at it yet. Where should I start? Can I get to the top of the gearbox from inside the car and unjam it if that's what it is? Can I release/remove the driveshaft? Thanks.
 
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Re: Siezed Driveline 1938

1st I'd pull the shift tower. If it won't move out of gear I'd assume it is a transmission problem.

Remove the shifter first, then floor plate, unbolt the top and pull it off. That's my non-expert opinion.
 
Re: Siezed Driveline 1938

If you need to move the car pull the rear drums and remove the keyway . Be sure to put the nut back on a little loose and put the cotter pin back in . With floater style rear wheel bearings the axle doesn't support any weight - it only drives the wheel and keeps it on . This isn't a cure for your problem but it is easy to do and will allow you to move the car .
 
Re: Siezed Driveline 1938

SOUNDS like 2 gears at once 2 nd and rev? , take off tower move all to nuetral, may be hard to center up its Stuck. good luck watch your fingers!! ernie n tx
 
Re: Siezed Driveline 1938

O.K. Cover off, slider freed, 1st/rev gear racked back and forth....and it's fine. However, I see chipped teeth. Haven't gone fishing yet, but this doesn't look right. How did I do this and what happens next? Thanks for the tips. I have a good picture but can't post it. "Attach Files" is dead. Tips?
 
Re: Siezed Driveline 1938

Does kind of sound like the trans locked up. Can't say how that happened in your case...nor the cause of the chipped teeth. BUT....you should figure on a complete teardown of the trans anyway due to the chipped teeth.

Be sure to check out the rear end assy also just to eliminate it as part of the problem. Were there any unusual noises going on before the "lockup" moment?
 
Found the upload problem...site doesn't like Mac/Firefox. Mac/Safari seems to work.
 

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Re: Siezed Driveline 1938

If your talking about the splined shaft the missing segments are supposed to look like that . It's caused by the various machining processes
 
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Re: Siezed Driveline 1938

So the irregular tooth edges on the central gear in that pic is correct? And I'm looking for something else? The box and the lever were locked solid until I took the cover off and started pushing things around. Would a seized shaft/gear release like that? Do I have a lube problem? Looks like 80/90 in there. I'm sort of stumped. The car stopped like the rear brakes locked solid when I wasn't touching the gear lever. Not even any slop in the driveline when rocking the car. The rear tires skidded when it went up onto the flatbed which is why I thought it might be the dif. Now I'm not sure what happened. Do I put it back together and drive it around? I played with the running engine and the clutch/gears and it seems normal.
 
Did you find any metal in the bottom of the ****** case? Might want to try a magnet to see if you can find metal pieces.
 
I'd look for some irregularity or significant wear in the shifter mechanism. Suggest you check with Mac VP or CharlieNY here on the "Barn". Maybe pm them. They are far more knowlegible than most concerning transmissions. FWIW
 
that will happen if the ball on the end of the shifter is worn, slips out of the shifter rail with out changing gear and slips into another rail shifting into another gear, thus in two gears at the same time and locking trans
 
ford1 said:
that will happen if the ball on the end of the shifter is worn, slips out of the shifter rail with out changing gear and slips into another rail shifting into another gear, thus in two gears at the same time and locking trans
Click to expand...

Yep, post a picture of the bottom of the shifter and also check the cluster gear on low/reverse for missing teeth and the pin to hold the shifter centered. Whatever you do don't move the front slider and lose all the detent balls out of the pockets.

Tim
 
I'll pull the shifter after I put the car away and take a picture. I cleaned the shifter end off and it looked fine. Car only has 50K miles.
 
If you jack the rear of the car up till both wheels clear the floor you should be able to turn one rear wheel and the other should turn in the opposite direction. If it does I wouldnt think that the problem is in the rear axle. On the other hand you may as well go ahead and uncouple the torque tube from the transmission I know this is labor intensive but reguardless if its the transmission or the rear axle it has to be removed in either case.
 
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2nd & reversal at the same time, shift tower lever & forks not working together correctly. An Affliction of the old & well used, a TD6 dozer I used had 9/16 wrench at your feet all day to " fix" if trying to shift too eagerly. Also had a dump truck that would hang up always when downshifting in desperation involving a hill and a load & therefore a pry bar & wheel chocks.
Since yours is low mileage maybe oil was run low before, someone drove leaning on the shifter, or a combination of such to wear the fork & slots?
My detents are weak and I am probably looking fo trouble as it will drop out of 2nd occasionally and may be wearing my forks.
 
Assuming the rear end has been eliminated.....I suspect the shifter housing & forks are not functioning properly. Your 38 shifter tower (#68-7222 casting) has a single detent spring with 2 plungers. All 3 components are located in-between the two shifter rails. I would get the housing apart and have a look at these parts. The two forks are pinned to their respective shifter rail (shafts) with steel pins. The attached pic shows what it should look like inside. The pic description says 1936-37 but it was used into 1939.
68shifter-parts.jpg
 
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