engine and drivetrain 5-speed... check all gears... why my day sucked

[jgerry2002]

So, I had making slow but steady progress getting my '74 tii back together. The 5-speed kit from 2002haus went in as smooth as possible, the driveshaft from Aardvarc fit perfectly. So I get it all done.... and work through the gears.... 1,2,3,4,5 no problems... lets try reverse.... nope, not going in.

So I figured that the shifter platform needed adjustment. No change, still can't get reverse. Loosen everything up... no reverse. No matter what the hell I do I can't get reverse. Double, Triple and quadruple check the directions. Call 2002haus.... no luck.. damn thing won't hit reverse.

Ended up trying to pull the tranny.... tranny gets stuck almost all the way off. WTF.

Grabbed an engine host (fortunately, I've hooked up nothing else yet). Pulled the motor.... ok tranmssion was still stuck. WTF again.

Ended up reaching inside and removing the pressure plate... everything finally comes off... and get this... the new pilot bearing pulled out of the motor keeping the transmission from separating from the motor.

Hooked up the shifter platform, worked it through the gears.... NO REVERSE.

Damn... I now just burned two days on this and I need another transmission. Unless someone has some trick to fix reverse.

Sigh... Hope your '02 day was better than mine.

[JsnPpp]

Hi Jerry,

This may be a stretch, but give it a whirl. This happened to me on a 4 speed that I had just purchased and thought was destined for the trash.

Remove the reverse light switch from rear of the transmission. Take a small punch and a small hammer and tap inside the reverse switch hole.

My 4 speed must have been dropped in shipping, and the rod inside became jammed. Once I tapped it free, transmission was good as new.

Again, your mileage may vary. Be gentle, but they way I figure it, it's a 5 minute check and no harm... you never know!

Jason

[jgerry2002]

Thanks for the tip, I've heard of this working on 4-speeds. 5-speeds have the reverse switch up front. We'll see if it makes any difference.

[dubois]

Can bench test the tranny by shifting thru all gears help? Are there any other checks that one can possibly do? I know attaching a drill and spinning the input shaft will give you an idea how noisy the tranny is, but that is the extend of my knowledge...

It really sucks to get to the end and find out everything has to be redone, hope you can solve the problem, keep us posted.

[Zenon]

So I get it all done.... and work through the gears.... 1,2,3,4,5 no problems... lets try reverse.... nope, not going in.

....

Hooked up the shifter platform, worked it through the gears.... NO REVERSE.

Damn... I now just burned two days on this and I need another transmission. Unless someone has some trick to fix reverse.

Check for linkage binding on the shifter support. I helped a friend do a conversion and the old unused mounting boss (or bracket whatever) for the neutral switch (that enables the seatbelt warning light/buzzer, not to be confused with a neutral saftey switch on an automatic) was interfering with the linkage. Ended up grinding almost all of it off. Can't remember which gear it was interfering with in that case, though, so not sure it would affect reverse...

Hope this helps.

regards,

Zenon

[Mike Self]

and check the tranny input shaft for roughness/rust and give it a quick polish with some fine emery cloth so it won't hang up on the pilot bearing again. You might also check your pilot bearing for the same problem...

Hope you can fix your current five speed...

mike

[jgerry2002]

The pilot looks ok, other than the fact its still stuck. I am going to remove it with puller, so hopefully I won't damage it.

Thanks all for the tips, I will keep you updated. Off to garage to look at things again.

[Tiger75]

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=1811&mospid=47171&btnr=23_0647&hg=23&fg=15

On right side of rear housing cover of tranny,there is a spring loaded screw cover with a spring and a contoured pin on the end. This plug and pin must be oriented exactly right for tranny to go it to reverse. This spring gives you the click over feeling when shifting to reverse. I found that shifting into and out of reverse continually while screwing in the plug kept it in the right place. I had to install it several times to get it right. Test tranny with an electric drill before installing it. See real oem for drawing. It is 1,2,3 and 4.

[jgerry2002]

Just an update. My tranny is bad and is not worth fixing.

I brought it to a local transmission shop (the guy used to own a 2002 and rebuilt my 4-speed about 10 years ago on my '76).

1) Something stuck in the forward part of the case, either a syncro, a fork, or something else.

2) Found out the gears were all burned, tranny had been run low on oil.

Basically its about $300 down the drain on this gearbox.

Off to find another one. Ugh....