VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Mechanical - Engine, Trans, etc Not going anywhere?

Howdy,

I attempted to engage the transmission today in my 1934 truck and sadly the truck is still sitting in the same place. Motor is finally running, but I am going nowhere. The clutch has no pressure, yet I could shift into all gears, yet I went nowhere. No grinding. Where shall I start?

Warm regards!

Does the speedometer read a speed when let the clutch out and speed up the engine? If it does I expect that something is broken beyond the transmission output shaft.

Remove the lower cover on the flywheel housing. Look up and watch the action of the clutch arm while someone pushes on the clutch pedal.

Then make sure that the pressure plate will rotate with the flywheel. I expect it is but you never know.

Then rotate the flywheel so you can see the edge of the clutch disc . Determine if you can rotate it freely when someone pushes the clutch pedal to the floor. Watch closely to see if the input shaft to the transmission rotates when you rotate the disc.

This is a really stupid point to check. Are you sure that the shift lever is actually moving the shifting forks and engaging gears? Before I started driving my ‘37 I pulled the top cover off of the transmission. That gave me a clear view of all the gears so I could look for missing teeth. I also could confirm that the shifting forks were properly engaged in the shift collars. Plus I knew that the lower end of the shift lever was properly engaging the forks.

When you drained the gear lube in the transmission were there any signs of metal in it?

The speedometer is not installed at this time. All I have is oil pressure and temp gauge installed now. It doesn't feel like anything happens when I engage the gears. It's as though there isn't any gears at all. I will take the top cover off to take a look for missing teeth. I didn't see any metal in the trans fluid when drained, but then again it was basically sludge when I drained the trans. I thought that the least that would happen would be that I would grind some gears trying to engage, but I got no feedback. I will also check the clutch as you mention to make sure it's engaging as you mention.

It could also be that you have a broken axle......

All the Best, Chip

I expect there is some type of a “disconnect” in the drivetrain. It could be a key component failure like the splines are stripped in the clutch hub or on transmission input shaft, the hub is somehow is separated from the whole clutch disc, or the input shaft has failed.

On the other hand it could be as simple as the clutch linkage is messed up. For example, is the clutch arm properly engaged in the throw out bearing. Did the clutch arm fall off of the pivot ball in the transmission housing? Things could be so out of kilter that the pressure plate is always disengaged.

Do you know if the prior owner removed the transmission and clutch? Did the truck ever drive after that?

Your statement that there is no resistance when you push the clutch pedal is a major clue.

If your truck has a clutch disk with cushioning springs built into the hub as many do, the inner part of the hub may have torn loose from the springs allowing the outer friction disk part of the clutch plate to spin free on the inner hub part that is splined to the transmission.

Been there and done that.

It will leave you with the feeling that there "just isn't anything there".
It likely won't even make any noise.

I know the truck drove when it was parked 34 years ago, but the previous owner bought it from the original owner 22 years ago and it sat.

I would assume I should start with the easy stuff and work towards possible internal issues.

Here’s an oddball. The first grain truck we had that I remember was the typical green from 1949. One year it had sat for a long time before harvest. We blocked the clutch down as it would stick. Same feeling - truck ran fine and shifted but would not move or just kind of tried. The mud daubers had filled the bell housing to the best of my recollection. There was lots of cussing and dirt filled eyes before it was all said and done (and it could pull its weight). I have no idea it was possible and hadn’t thought about it in years, but there you go. There could be something that’s moved into the bell housing (think mouse nest) and filled it with junk.

The housing was in fact filled with a mouse nest, but it's been cleaned out. Not certain that would keep it from shifting though or would it?

You are definitely looking for an oddball scenario. Leapin’s description has happened more than once.

Now that you have told us about the mouse nests I would focus on that even more. You say that you have cleaned them out. What you have cleaned is what you could reach around the outside of the pressure plate. How much were you able to remove from the volume between the pressure plate and the face of the flywheel?

Please don’t consider this idea in the wrong manner. Have you confirmed that there is actually a clutch disc installed?

You do not know what work was done any years ago or the competency of the person who did it. If there are multiple people doing the work and no one really watching the overall operation, major parts can be left out. Think about surgeons leaving sponges inside people. Even though it is not supposed to happen it does.

If there is rust in the splines of the disc or main drive gear (pilot shaft, input shaft) The clutch might have released sometime when the pedal was pushed, and never re-engaged. There might be external return springs that give the impression there there is normal resistance when the pedal is pushed.
If this is the case, you should find space between the disc and the flywheel with the pedal released.

Mike

I did not do much more than remove the nest in the housing once I removed the cover. I didn't know at the time that I should've looked more in depth while I was in there. I take no offense to anyone asking me if I have done or checked something no matter how remedial. This is why I am on this forum, so please do not hesitate to ask or suggest to me something since I want to learn from you guys. Transmissions are very foreign to me when it comes to wrenching on them. I will need to look more in depth once the ground/dirt dries out since I've working on this truck in a field.

Looks like I need to look deeper in depth and report back. Lots of good suggestions.

Howdy,

I haven't looked into everyone's suggestions on this matter yet, but I was working on my installing my gauges today and as I was running my engine to check them out I thought I would attempt to put my truck in gear. Although I was not able to do so, on a few occasions I did grind gears while the clutch was engaged, but it still did not move. Next on my list is to tackle this and look more in depth of why it's not working.