Trans failure ?

[drum3]

Finally got the Solo Vee out for its 2nd outing . Left the line in 2nd , went to shift to 3rd and nothing. Messed with it in paddock for over an hour . We could get reverse and neutral but nothing else . Couldnt even find a slot where it felt like it might fall into gear . Not with it running , not with engine off , not with pushing it across the lot . Still nothing but R and N . Any ideas ? Something break inside ? I have a spare road race box but would like to fix this one if possible.

[Dietmar]

Anthony:
Since you "left the line in second" tells me that you have some gear(s) other than reverse.
My best advice is to disconnect your shift rod at the trans, clamp a pair of vise grips on the input shaft( hockey stick), and once you find neutral, let the vise grips fall under their own weight, then pull back on the vise grips. If it feels like it is engaging, then the next step would be to look at the pulley on the engine, push the car forward or backwards and see if the pulley turns. If so, then you have found a gear and the problem is in your linkage. If you can not find any gear to engage with the vise grips locked on the selector, then I would take off the nose cone and see what the the three selector forks look like- what position are they in. Then get back here and let us know.

Hope this helps

Dietmar
http://www.quixoteracing.com

[drum3]

Already disconnected the linkage at the event . Couldnt find anything other than neutral or reverse . I'll pull the nose cone this afternoon.

[brian]

Reverse gear is on a separate shaft and if it's the only gear you have, there's been a major disconectomy, probably the input shaft with 1st and 2nd built on. If the shifting forks look ok, it's the input shaft. Not very common among vees but a reoccurring problem in drag cars.

[drum3]

Ok , got the nose cone off . Originally all 3 shift forks were in neutral and the lower moved freely ,after playing with them for minute , The upper and lower shift forks moved fairly easily , the middle fork was stuck in neutral and did not want to move at all . After moving , the other 2 forks back and forth for a while and then going back to the middle fork , it finally broke free and started moving as free as the other 2 . Something loose and floating around inside or just jammed between gears ?

[brian]

There are detents on the shift rails to prevent double engagement. Does the tranny operate properly in all the gears now? If so, there may be burrs on the engagement clutches or maybe an engagement detent got stuck. Sometimes if the tranny is really worn it will get cocked and be hard to shift. I run it and see if it will last. If it locks up again, stop crossing your fingers and have it rebuilt. You can't get much done from the outside and once you tear it down, you might as well rebuild it.

[rphillips]

I'm no expert on transmissions but wouldn't it be wise to drain it to see if any big pieces come out of it?

Ray

[drum3]

I plan to drain and put new fluids in just to see how the old stuff looks.

[drum3]

drove it around the driveway tonite . shifts fine but has a significant whine ( almost a grind) in 1st gear , that wasnt there before. All other gears seem fine . Still shifts into 1st fine and at very low speeds is quiet but starts making noise as you accelerate.