Jeep wont go into gear

That is kinda common, the shifter plate comes loose at the top of the shift tower and the shifter pops out of the rail.

There is a bushing at the bottom of the shifter that also wears out allowing this to happen easier, but if it is bolted down tight, even without the bushing, it will stay in the shift rail.

Mike

2000 Cherokee Sport 86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG AT's, 'glass nose to tail > My 86 CJ-7 will not go into 1, 2, 3, or 4th gear. It will only go into

Thanks Mike. I'm a transmission idiot. However, I know how to drop the tranny from the Jeep (several clutch replacements). Should I just tow the rig to a tranny shop, or would it be cost beneficial to drop it myself and deliver the tranny to a tranny shop?

Is this bushing something I can fix myself?

Your shift lever got loose, popped up enough to let the selector pin hop out of it's correct track. This left the tranny in a wrong gear (most likely 2 gears at the same time!)

Depends on which tranny you have but you should be able to access everything from the top side without dropping the tranny out. Remove the rubber boot, trim ring, inner boot (if you have one). You should be looking at the cover plate on top of the tranny, held down with about 8 bolts. The bushing Mike mentions is inside the tower of the top plate. You may have to remove the top to be able to get the bushing out as well as getting the tranny back into neutral.

If you don't feel comfortable fixing the bushing, just pop the top plate off, bring to your tranny shop. that should cut out about 90% of the labor cost.

There are c>> That is kinda common, the shifter plate comes loose at the top of the

Thanks to everyone on this thread. I believe I have the T-176 four speed manual tranny (I'll double check later on today, after work). Assuming I have a T-176, can I remove the tower without dropping the tranny?

Also, any help on where to get the bushing would be most helpful. Thanks again to all.

Ok, it's a T-176. So a friend of mine told me to order a rebuild kit for the shift tower and I can access it from the top (vice dropping the tranny). The only problem is there is no listing for the "Bushing" you guys mentioned. Any thoughts? How critical is this bushing?

Some part numbers to spring on your friendly parts guy: J812 7059 SPRING, Shift Lever J813 2420 RETAINER, Shift Lever Spring This is likely to be the culprit!! J813 2421 CAP, Control Housing (has the notches)

No problem doing all this from the top as long as you can access the stupid bolts from the top. This means pulling the entire boot and associated steel rim/hold down. On some models you may find that one bolt is under the floor panel. You might need to drop the cross member and lower the transfer case to get a wrench on the last bolt.

There is the possibility that you have worn the socket for the shift lever which is not a separate part. That would mean replacing the entire top cover on the tranny. Not cheap if it's still available. J813 3231 COVER, Case

Advice: take the top off, clean things up, see if one part is obviously worn. Replace small parts as required. Manually move the shift rods to neutral, put the top back on with the shift lever in neutral, tighten things up. If you didn't replace the retainer and spring, it should still work but shift gently. Total time less than an hour.

Jo Baggs wrote:

Thanks Roy. So how about the "bushing" that a couple of the posters mentioned? You don't happen to have a parts diagram and assembly/disassembly instructions do you?

Thanks

OK, so this is the best diagram I could come up with. Which part is causing the problem and should I order all the parts on this diagram?

Sorry, try this link instead:

Sorry, the top cover plate is not on the picture shown. :(

You are look>>> That is kinda common, the shifter plate comes loose at the top of the

I'm looking at the factory parts diagram. Skip comments on unbolting the top of the tranny, you shouldn't need to do this unless you have a serious mess on your hands.

This particular tranny has a shift lever with a ball socket at the bottom. This rides in a socket that is part of the top cover aluminum casting. if that socket is worn, the top cover is toast, no parts. But I suspect the problem is that either the spring or the retainer on TOP of the shift lever is not doing the job.

Take the boot off, rotate the shift lever reta>> Some part numbers to spring on your friendly parts guy:

Roy, check out the second link I posted.

And make a serious effort to not drop anything down inside.

If it is what I have seen no parts are needed, the shifter is just plain loose and fell out of it's hole basically.

You really should open up the top from the inside and look first.

Mike

OK Mike, I opened it up, took the shifter lever out, and I don't see anything obviously out of place or worn inside the neck of the shift tower (?) I put the shift lever back in and tried to move it around with different angles, but it still wont shift into any forward gears. I can post some pictures if need be, but it's hard to make out the shift rails inside the tower.

I did notice a few water droplets inside the shifter tower. I imagine moisture got inside there somehow. However, there is still plenty of 90W in there (I'll change it now).

So, I'm at a loss. Do I need to take off the shift tower and replace parts? Help !!!

You need to move each of the shift rails to the neutral position. You should be able to see a distinct notch in each of the 3 rails. These must all be lined up in a crosswise row. Fuss around with a big screwdriver, they should move quite easily. Try moving each one forward, backward, leave it in the middle position. Then you need to drop the gear shift lever in and find that cross row.

As for your orig>> Jo Baggs wrote:

Thanks Roy. It's dark now. I'll try it tomorrow. I only recall seeing one rail, but I could be wrong (I did see the notch where the shifter drops in). Thanks for the help.