I was driving along last night, everything is normal, I go to put it into 5th and it feels like rocks in my gearbox. It didn't want to go into gear and when it would it was vague and popped back out. (this is the W55 transmission, basically the w56 with a different ratio somewhere) I limped home with every gear hard to find and engage and 4th and 5th at times popping out. Reverse is a complete guess at this point.

Let me describe my truck, to help with any diagnosis you kind folks have to offer.

it's a 2wd 87 with the aforementioned w55. It's got that familiar (to some) main bearing whine in 5th gear, but otherwise I've never had trouble from the transmission, except that reverse sometimes won't go in and I have to neutral-clutch pump-reverse and it's fine. I previously replaced the Shifter seat with a second OEM one (didn't know about marlin crawler's model). I pulled the shifter lever back off to see if that had something to do with it, and the seat I replaced is still fine...

BUT:

when I pulled it out this time I noticed what I assume is the "Bushing" labeled here:

http://www.off-road.com/trucks4x4/da.../186539/4s.jpg

except it was stuck on the shifter arm above the end ball/cap thing and is pretty beat up. It's a little squashed (enough to stay on the arm) and the lower end of it seems chewed up. I never saw it new so I have no idea what it's supposed to look like, and can't remember if it was different the last time I was in there.

I suspect this bushing or ring bent or failed somehow and is interfering with my shifts, only because if it were more of an internal issue, wouldn't I have more warning?

Can I cut it off or something and be ok?

I have pictures I can post if anyone wants. Thanks in advance!

 

You can buy that little bushing from Marlin Crawler also. It is supposed to be smooth and not beat up. I replaced mine when I replaced the shifter seat.

 

Picts would help.

I think you have more of an issue if it's jumping out of gear. I'm not a tranny guy but I think it's on it's way out. If you are having trouble finding gears it may be the syncs or possibly the bushings on the forks have worn too much.

I believe that the bushing on the shifter failed due to issues internally.

Sorry for the bad news...but like I said I'm guessing I'm not real good with trannys yet. Just a hunch.

 

UPDATE:

I did some more poking around and decided to try driving it without the collar/bushing/sleeve thing. That did the trick, it goes in an out of gear fine in every gear. It feels a little different, slightly looser I guess, but it's not a big deal. You know what they say, "leftover parts are a sign you made it better!"

Seriously though, am I doing any harm be leaving it off?

To be clear, we're talking about the bushing circled in red:





Junkers88, do they sell that? I hadn't seen it, I only saw the seat and the "end-cap", though that's not a bad idea either, when I replaced the seat OEM, the parts store lost my end cap in transit.. :\

 

When I had my shifter out to replace the seat and cap I didn't even have that bushing on there. I mean it didn't exist on my shifter.

I have no idea what that bushing is but if you cut it off and the tranny shifts ok then I'd say don't worry about it.

 

Yeah what you're calling the end cap, your manual is calling the bushing. In the diagram you posted in your first post, that thing you're calling the bushing is not there. So...Not sure what the deal is with it, but I guess I agree, if it works fine without it...hopefully it's ok. There's nothing like that on my shifter, and there shouldn't be, but mine's a different model.

 

I didn't even have to cut it, I just popped off the end cap and bent the bushing back into round enough to slip over the ball at the end of the shift arm. it looks like it rides in the space between the seat and the actual shift forks in the top of the transmission. All it probably does is soak up a little play in the action. I hope.

here it is:




It seems like a lot of these shifters are slightly different from truck to truck, mine doesn't have that push-turn-pull collar on top that a lot of these guys have cursed about. Mine just has a retainer with four screws, kinda like what holds on the rubber boot on the shifter. Mines also a 2wd, and I know the shift setup is moved backward on 4wds to accommodate the T-case shifter.

I also have the only W55 I've ever heard of. It took me a while to figure out what that meant.

All in all I paid $850 for the truck, so keeping it running is really just a sentimental thing.

Dawwwww.

Thanks a ton for the help!

 

Well I'm glad I was wrong on this one!!! I can't believe that the bushing being bad would have it pop out of gear??? I done learnt somethin today!

 

Hell I'm still trying to figure out what that bushing is! I think it may be something that the original owner stuck on there although I can't see why.

 

Yeah Lumpy, I was panicking too, I wouldn't have thought a little issue with the shifter arm would have caused so much trouble. It felt like the transmission was fried. The only real clue was that the gear selections to the left and right were the worst: 1 and 2, 5 and reverse. the middle was bad, but findable. 5th felt like trying to shift a 4speed into 5.

One reason no one might have seen this part is that it's possibly supposed to stay attached to the transmission on the "shift lever retainer", in the tunnel the arm goes down into. I suspect it's job is to give the shift arm an extra return-to-center feeling. It looked like it had fallen too far down and was getting crunched between the housing, the shift arm, and the moving shift forks. I think I'll be changing that gear oil pretty soon...

So always check your shifter before tearing down your transmission!

 

sorry, double post.

 

Ya, I'll be sure to now, so far with mine I'm doing alright. Only 130K on it so she's still fairly new.