reverse gettubg harder to engage

[donm]

Lately my '79 is getting harder to shift into reverse. I've been having to play with the shifter to get it to engage. What could cause that? Otherwise, the tranny shifts fine.

[tima01864]

Good question, I run it through the gears at stop before engaging reverse, otherwise it will grind. My shift lever unbolted earlier this year. I fixed that with a locking nut, First indication of that was hard shifting into first. But fixing that did not fixthe reverse problem.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Are you pulling up or pushing down on the gearshift lever when you try to engage reverse? Depending on the model year, you either push down or pull up, and there is a little stud in the rear extension of the transmission that prevents you from selecting reverse by just pulling backwards. Kind of a safety feature to prevent you from accidentally trying to engage reverse when you're moving forward.

Perhaps that stud is out of adjustment? Another possibility is just that your transmission is just worn, making it harder to engage reverse.

-Bryan

[RRoller123]

Go into SECOND, and slightly engage the clutch. then go into Reverse. It generally works to smooth things out.