Overdrive lever in/out?

[Britcheflee]

I just got off the phone with the old guy who works on these cars - he is confident that its something wrong internally - mentioned shift rail, sprage and that there could also be something wrong with a clutch like mechanism which the pawl engages into - he lost me there - getting the transmission out does not seem to be a huge job and I have help so will do that next week. Will report back with results.

 

[rotorwrench]

He's talking about the sun gear ring plate & balk ring. The friction has to be right on the balk ring or it won't allow the pawl to engage the ring plate. It's not a bad idea to do a good internal inspection on these old units now and then. If the planetary is worn out, it can have catastrophic results when something breaks. Most of these units last really well under normal driving conditions but everything wears out eventually.