'80 El Camino Saginaw Troubles

I've got an '80 El Camino with a 350 and a Saginaw four speed. Being only 17, I'm not too familiar with transmissions. It's seems to be stuck in 1st gear, I put it in neutral or any other gear, and I'm still in 1st. I can only move it forward and back between 1st and 2nd, but really hard. I can't move the shifter from side to side either. All of the linkage components appear to move freely, but I can't shift. Any thoughts?


Chris

Is this while running or with the engine off? First, make sure the clutch releases all the way. I like them to engage with the pedal about 2" off the floor. If it engages too close to the floor, you may have a bind which can cause hard shifting. Listen for any excessive throw out bearing noise. One that is totally collapsed will cause a bind.

Then crawl under it with a good light. Make sure that the shift arms aren't bent, rubbing together or have broken bushings. Look for the right clips on the bushings, cotter pins are a no-no. Try to find a diagram of how the shift rods should look. Someone may have hooked up something wrong.

Next, drop all the shift rods off the box, put them all in neutral, use a 1/2" or 9/16" wrench. See how easily the 1-2 shift goes, you should have the rear wheels off the ground, use jack stands! You may have to rotate the drive shaft slightly to get it to shift.

Other than that, you may have a broken shift fork (rare) inside the transmission or some other mechanical ill. Fortunately Saginaws are cheap and plentiful.

Bob

Well, thanks for the help. As soon as I pull it out of the snow and put it in the garage. I need to fix it up because my Mustang caught on fire the day after Christmas. Floor pans, windshield, and a 3" exhaust system and it'll be on the road.

Of course, another problem has come up. The El Camino is sitting on a slope in my driveway, so I can't put it up on jack stands where it is, it has to be moved. I tried moving it the other day and with the clutch in, we tried towing it backward and the wheels didn't turn. I started it up, gave it some gas, let out on the clutch and it grunted really hard, but it didn't move. It has to be something transmission oriented because I know the rear end isn't locked up. It drove into the spot where it is parked in mid-August, that's the last time it moved. Any idea what this could be?

I thought I had replied to this a few days ago. Your tranny is stuck between 2 gears, most likely reverse and a forward gear. You still might be able to get it loose. I had a Muncie M21 that would do the same thing on inclines if I left it in gear.

Block up a front wheel so it won't roll. Start it with the clutch in, kept trying to force it into neutral by revving the motor and giving the shifter a good yank then let the clutch up. It may have taken me 50 tries, but I always got it.

If the thing is locked up that bad, get it towed to where you can work on it.

Bob

I actually got it to move today, put it on level ground and crawled under it. I put air in the tire, it made a noise and rolled back a little bit. Charged the battery, fired it up... and sure enough it moved.

One problem was a messed up clip to hold shift rods to the shifter. I fixed that, used some penetrating on it, and lined everything up with the neutral alignment tool. It shifts fine now, put the fender wells in finally and drove it around for a little bit. Problem solved.

Chris

-Time to throw out the bald Eagle ST's.

I knew you could do it. The trick is to get it on a level spot where the load is off the tranny innards. Then it is a lot easier to get un-stuck. Lucky you had the shifter alignment pin, but drills do the trick as well.

Bob