[swaggiJon]

Hi everyone,
I parked on a slight down hill slope, vehicle turned off, hand brake on and in reverse gear. when ready to head off,
I reach in to push gear lever to neutral, (without depressing the clutch pedal) there was a bit of load on the lever
from the engine through the g/box, had to push a bit harder, as the lever jumped forward it unknowingly it jumped into 5th gear. I then tried to start engine, but realized it was in gear, jumped in, put foot on clutch, started up, now stuck in 5th gear, only side ways movement with gear shift, no forward movement possible, so stuck in 5th, had to get home in low 5th gear.

Luckily with the help of a friend with a hoist and g/box jack, we have removed the box, shift lever housing and top cover.
We have found no broken or obviously worn parts that would lead to the following,
Found that the reverse/5th shift fork had jumped forward, some how the strike lever would not line up with it's usual position on the rail bracket on the reverse/5th shift fork. Looks like the reverse/5th shift fork had moved to far forward,
some how leaving the striking lever behind. Thus with the reverse/5th shift fork in 5th or further forward, no other gears can be selected. (clear as mud !!)

I found a post from 2016, madmarlon, had exactly the same issue!!

Is anyone out there familiar with this issue, Do I put it back in and hope it never happens again, and make sure that I always used the clutch as I change gear, even when stopped and no engine running??

Thanks for listening !!

 

[rgren2]

I’m not a gearbox expert, I do know a bit about mechanical sympathy.
Here’s an analogy.
Your wheels are chocked and you want to push your vehicle.
Do you remove the obstruction, or do you use brute force to push the vehicle? 🤔🤔🤔🤔

 

[BeNos]

id say you have smashed one of the detents in the shift rods. so its jammed in the wrong spot.
you probably need to disassemble the linkage forks and rods and what not and id say you will find the problem

 

[swaggiJon]

Hi, thanks everyone for your in put, all back together now, so we’ll see how it goes!!
Cheers