tranny falls out of gear?

[madmike]

'68 Charger, rolling basket case, slowly coming back to life.  Fired the new engine a few weeks ago, ran it for break-in period.  Since then, I installed an 11" clutch assembly, and a 23 spline A833 that I bought from some douche on Craigs List.  Tranny looked nice on the outside, but when I opened it up, I noticed some gear teeth were pitted, as if there had been water inside at some point.  Of course, his story was he bought it years ago, never used it, and claimed it was in good shape... 

Anyway, the next test for my car, was starting it up, and checking out how well the clutch was adjusted, whether or not the tranny went into gear, and how well my new Hurst shifter linkages were adjusted.  Everything worked fine in the driveway, and I thought, 'What the hell, I'll take it around the block!'.  It's not really road ready yet, but I went anyway!

I noticed twice, that after putting it in first gear, and then picking up speed in first, and then slowing down (as if approaching a stop sign), that when I give it gas, it didn't respond, and that's because it seemed to have fallen out of gear.  The first time it happened, I wasn't even sure if maybe I pulled it out of gear.  But, when I was pulling back into my garage, I put it in first, pulled in a little, backed off the gas, and went to give it more gas, it had actually fallen out of gear.  A storm was brewing, and I wanted to get it inside, so I haven't tried anything else.

I used to have an old CJ3B Willys with the three speed T90 tranny, and when in second gear descending a hill, it would always pop out of second gear.  That was an internal trans problem, but I forget what it was specifically (I switched it for a four speed Muncie).

Could my shifter linkage rod adjustments be somewhat to blame for this problem, or is there a bigger issue in the tranny?  Since I know the condition of this box isn't all that great, I thought I could run it for awhile, and later I plan on switching it for a five speed Passon tranny.  I would like to run this four speed for awhile though, until I have enough cash for the five speed...

So, any opinions?

[RallyeMike]

Yes. I would start with the shifter rods, and then shifter itself.

[bobs66440]

I have a Hurst Comp Plus shifter and mine does exactly the same thing. I have to hold it it first or it will drop out. I've tried adjusting the rods a million times and if I make it so it stays in first, then it wont go completely into second.I have had nothing but problems with this shifter (it's brand new and the rods are new with new bushings) It frequently gets caught between gears and sometimes it won't go into first at all.

[maxwellwedge]

Every time I have seen this it has been an internal problem.....but try and re-adjust the linkages first.

[Rolling_Thunder]

try adjusting linkage -  been there and done that...    could possibly be synchros?

[resq302]

If it happens when you are coasting or letting off the gas, chances are it is the synchro gears that are worn.  Wont effect shifting at all you will just have to hold it in gear.  Ive had this happen to one trans that I had rebuilt and then corrected the problem with new synchro's. 

[madmike]

Yes, I was sort of thinking (afraid it might be) synchros as well.  I will re-check my linkage adjustments, but I'm 99% sure they're OK.  Thanks, fellers!

[Chryco Psycho]

often the teeth are worn to a taper forcing it out of gear when coasting ,this requires replacing the gear .
As said before start with adjusting the linkage but it sounds like an internal problem to me