Shifting madness

[57Airhead]

57 Bus with IRS conversion.

I've recently had the engine, gearbox and fuel tank out to deal with some nagging issues. Have put it all back together with the following mods (relevant to this question):

Changed front tranny mount to traditional rubber style (was the hard urethane rhino type)
Changed rear tranny mounts to traditional rubber style (were the hard urethane rhino type)
Changed trans-to-shift rod coupler to traditional style (was urethane/nolathane type).

OK, so here's the problem: I can adjust the shifter/reverse lockout and get all gears but shifting down from third to second when driving simply won't happen.
I can further adjust so that third to second is smoother, but then I can't get reverse.

Any thoughts? Prior to these changes, the shifting was fine -- third down to second was always a bit slow, gentle, feel the spot, feel it ... ? Ahhhh, that's it. Yeah! But now it's a real biatch.

I've tinkered, tapped, adjusted and shimmed the the reverse lockout and shift base assembly, but I just seem to be going around in circles. Any idea appreciated.

[ridwaangallow]

Hi there..

Have you checked for play on the limkages coupler? The part that receives the ball on the linkage.. check it for play cos i had similar problems..

The pin fell out & then i put a nut & bolt into it..

Problem solved..

[Marc]

I'm sensing Déjà vu here... viewtopic.php?f=50&t=138864 (unfortunately most of the picture links are broken/corrupt, but I'll not bother to work on that if it's not germane)

What shift housing ("nose cone") is on the trans? If it's the 211 301 205(+some letter) it must use a shift rod ("hockey stick") that has an extra little crook in the business end that engages the shift rails. If you use a "regular" Type I or III hockey stick with the Bus nosecone it'll almost work (with weird symptoms much like you've described). It's conceivable that the stiffer nolathane coupler was compensating somewhat for mismatched components and allowing you to get away with it...

[Piledriver]

I'd use the stiffer/no play coupler regardless.
IIRC there is at least one more bushing in the setup as well, but I haven't been under a Bus in 15 years.

(may fix that soon, "Shed" may yet roll again, what I once parked as a beat up pile would probably be considered a prime candidate for restoration these days ... And i still have her good 091 trans.)

[Jadewombat]

I did the same conversion on my '66 and had shifter problems long before and after that. I'm told (of course I didn't check mine when I had the engine and trans out) there's a bushing on the shift rod near the rear of the bus???