VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 53 bel air not going into reverse.

Alright, so I recently started having the problem of my gears getting stuck. I’d hop out the car fix the gear from under the hood and restart it. A couple days ago my gear refused to go in and STAY IN reverse. And now grinds every time when I have the clutch down. It only grinds trying to get to reverse. It just won’t budge going into 1st. It goes into 2nd and 3rd no problem. I put gear oil in my transmission. I feel like it’s a gear box issue. As I pop the the gears into 2nd and 3rd no problem from under the hood but reverse and 1st don’t pop like the others or even hold from the feel of it. Now I’m worried it might be time for a new tranny or clutch when I replaced the clutch last July. Any thoughts what it could be?

The first item I would check is to confirm that you do have about 1” of free travel at the clutch pedal. Remember that 2nd and 3 third have synchronizes so they can better tolerate a lightly dragging clutch.

That fact that you can shift into 2nd or 3rd might be clue for the second item to check. The complete reverse-1st shift mechanism needs to be inspected. Those 2 gears get used a lot so it is not unusual for that linkage to wear more than 2nd-3rd.

The third place to check is what I call the shifter “gearbox” that is mounted on top of the steering column and under the hood. The grease in it gets hard and can prevent free movement.

You also might want to adjust the rods to the transmission levers so the levers are aligned when the transmission is in neutral.

The shop manual has details for those adjustments.

Thank you, I threw in some grease in the “shifter gearbox” under the hood, I’ve felt a loss in power from the car. I made it home one day and pulled into my driveway and the car failed to gas enough power to park up on a sloped driveway. And I smelled a burning smell (the clutch?) I assume. Any ways. I assume it would be both clutch and linkage. Also this is my first year driving a manual transmission. So i might’ve burned through it fast.

I am surprised that you are having clutch issues if you replaced it in July. Unless it was adjusted wrong or you “ride” the clutch it should last for many miles.