49 8BA will not shift

C

CMess

New member
I am a novice mechanic. I have a '49 Ford Custom which has been in my family many decades. It has a three speed manual transmission with overdrive. I cannot move the shift mechanism at all. It will not go in any direction.

The transmission worked perfectly when I brought it into the garage to make some seemingly unrelated repairs (e.g., new water pumps). The clutch engaged well without any slippage (it still seems to move well now). I did change the transmission fluid with 75W-90. Also, I removed the overdrive cable at the overdrive unit to lubricate it. I also lubricated all visible moving parts for the clutch and transmission rods from the steering column down to the transmission.

I have not found anything on any forum to help. Any suggestions from those who know more than I do (which is probably everyone reading this) would be greatly appreciated. (My daughter wants me to drive this car for her wedding.)
 
CMESS,
Get under the car, move the shifting arms (on the side of the trans) into netural. both arms , low and reverse--2nd and 3rd (high) have to be in netural for the shift lever to work.
 
I was always able to do it from under the hood. Put both shift levers in neutral. The levers will lock up occasionally with worn linkage or sloppy shifting (don't cut the corners across the H).
 
My guess is you inadvertently moved a shift lever while working on the cable. Like everyone said just put everything in the neutral position.
 
Yep, had this happen to me many times. Open the hood, move the shift levers into the neutral position and all will work well until the next time. Or maybe never happen again. Depends on how sloppy your shift linkage is or isn't.
 
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