Falling out of 2nd gear
 

My 46 Ford ,NOS gears in trans,shifts smooth and quiet BUT on deceleration sometimes it will fall out of 2nd gear. Need to adjust linkage to trans arm a little longer??? Any suggestions,thanks!

Re: Falling out of 2nd gear
 

You can try that but usually it’s too much clearance on the main shaft at the synchro hub.

Re: Falling out of 2nd gear
 

or the cluster gear has too much clearance. I always use the brakes, less stress on the trans syncro's, gear thrust washers, etc beside it is easier to fix the brakes than to take a trans out!!

Re: Falling out of 2nd gear
 

call vanpelt sales he knows all about it had the same problem with 35 ford pick up don’t remember what parts i had to change he’ll know

Re: Falling out of 2nd gear
 

My '41 does the same...only on decel.

Re: Falling out of 2nd gear
 

My 39 sometimes did it when on a decline and I let up some on the gas pedal, I just try to keep the engine "in a pulling" condition feathering the gas some and has worked fine not popping out of gear.

Let us know how you make out after talking with Mac.

Re: Falling out of 2nd gear
 

Congratulations 46woodie, you are hereby granted membership in the great brotherhood of the fraternity of the loose transmission!

Rebuilding is your ticket out of the club.

Your bonus is that this is absolutely the easiest transmission to become friends with. The support group is stong. Carry on.

Re: Falling out of 2nd gear
 

Been a long time since I drove my 39 Deluxe but I do recall having to keep my hand on the floor shift lever when it was in second gear.

Re: Falling out of 2nd gear
 

It's not too uncommon to see a hook under the dash that was used to keep the stick in 2nd gear when the trans got worn.

Re: Falling out of 2nd gear
 

Standard equipment for stock cars.


Bruce

Re: Falling out of 2nd gear
 

I'm no expert but when I installed new synchronizers in my 40 transmission back in 1972 this problem went away.

Re: Falling out of 2nd gear
 

I believe it's spacing of second gear on main shaft that's critical in preventing jumping out of second gear. This should be covered in Mac Van Pelts transmission book.

Re: Falling out of 2nd gear
 

It can be any number of causes that bring about a looseness that can cause it to jump out of 2nd gear upon deceleration. Only real way to fix it is to dismantle and rebuild paying particular attention to fits and tolerances

Re: Falling out of 2nd gear
 

It is, John, and Mac usually has all the parts needed!!! If I can rebuild a transmission using his book....anybody can!!:D

Re: Falling out of 2nd gear
 

One thing I found out the hard way while rebuilding the trans in my 39, is to use the original snap rings on the input and output shaft bearings. The snap rings on new bearings are approx.020” thinner and using them cause the trans to bind up. VanPelts sell the thicker snap rings, if I only knew back then. ��

Re: Falling out of 2nd gear
 

RSK, I rebuilt the transmission in my 35 fordor sedan in 2019 using improved synchronized donor gears from a 46-48 side shift transmission. Prior to this rebuild, the stock transmission constantly popped our of 2nd gear. During the rebuild I set all clearances to the specifications in Mac Van Pelts book. I've driven this car about 2,000 miles since then and it will not jump out of 2nd even during a hard deceleration, plus no more occasional grinding of gears when shifting from 1st to 2nd, or 2nd to 3rd.

Re: Falling out of 2nd gear
 

In the AV8, top loader transmission,
My solution was to put a much stronger detent spring in the the shifter/top.
Just in the 2nd-third side.
I do understand that this isn't the "proper way", BUT it works for me
and there's no additional shifter effort, or falling out of second gear.

Karl

Re: Falling out of 2nd gear
 

Transmissions with helical gears have a good bit of thrust loading. They load one direction under acceleration and the opposite direction under deceleration. The cluster wants to move one way and 2nd gear wants to move the other. This makes it important to insure that the need to move is held in check as well as is possible. As was mentioned, there can be multiple causes.