Shifting into reverse

[Les Huckins <jhuckins@xxxx>]

Wasn't going to respond to this but my problem was so similar it might
help. I had trouble with all of the gears, reverse was particularly
hard to get into, sometimes took several tries and sometimes two hands.
Getting into 1st I'd sometimes have to go to 2nd gear and then into 1st,
downright miserable.

I replaced the pivot bolt only because I'd read so much about them
breaking, I chose specialTauto's bolt because it's listed as super
hard. I did not see any problem with the pivot area. Hopefully you
have the parts book, if not download it because that's where we go from
here: transmission, manual, shift linkage 4/2/0.

To shorten this, after the usual period of fumbling around in a strange
environment I noticed that part #23 the drop arm extension was bent,
where it rested against the transmission arm portion that the bolts went
into. Didn't seem right so took it off and smacked it with a hammer on
my anvil. Put it back on and my conclusion was that there was a
clearance problem with the transmission arm and that if I tightened the
bolts completely the drop arm extension would bend again. I tightened
the bolt farthest away from the bend area but the bolt closest to it I
just tightened to "snug." I used loctite on the threads and put a nut
on the extended bolt threads to keep it honest.

The result, downright amazing, reverse very easy to get into, 1st and
2nd are as good as any I remember driving. I've ordered a new drop arm
extension but it works so well as is I probably won't change a thing.
To quote several of the sages, "if it ain't broke don't fix it."

Hope this helps and if not clear e-mail me privately.

Les