ford 860 not staying in 3rd gear

T L

Member
I purchased a 860 at auction and it won't stay in third gear unless you hold the shift lever. This tractor has inside wheel weights and outside pie weights and the tires are loaded. I think this tractor was used for plowing in third gear and probably has worn gears. The shift lever feels like the de tent spring and ball have the same pressure in each gear. What should I look for when I take this apart and where can these parts be purchased?
 
Since you can not get new parts and used parts are hard to come by I have reduced the end play between the drive hub and the problem gear by putting in a different thrust washer replacing the regular hard thrust washer, Since you won't be farming the whole county with this tractor a simple thrust washer of the right demention will work. leave just a tiny bit of end play for oil. Hopefully there is enough left of the connecter teeth to drive it.
 
(quoted from post at 18:17:44 11/11/19) I purchased a 860 at auction and it won't stay in third gear unless you hold the shift lever. This tractor has inside wheel weights and outside pie weights and the tires are loaded. I think this tractor was used for plowing in third gear and probably has worn gears. The shift lever feels like the de tent spring and ball have the same pressure in each gear. What should I look for when I take this apart and where can these parts be purchased?

You can still buy a new 3rd gear for your 5 speed. This site sells it for around $165. To verify you need this new gear you ll want to remove the top of the transmission, drain the tranny oil and get a diagram, a flashlight, and maybe a mirror. You may want to put the shifter back on and watch the action as you shift in and out of third gear. The wear on 3rd gear will be exposed as you shift the collar across to Reverse. The shift collar might be worn but I don t think it s available. Even so, a new third gear will last a long time.

I believe that the replacement can be done by only splitting behind the tranny. I replaced mine with trans completely removed. Get the right book and follow it; there aren t any shortcuts. No special tools are required but there s nothing easy about this job. Take good pics of the internal shift rods before you disassemble it; the book isn t too clear.

Good luck,
Joel
 
Joel thanks for the advice. I will get a book to help me. I have repaired several manual truck and car transmissions over the years but never did internal work on a tractor transmission.
 
Even though the detente's all "feel" the same, I would pull them first before tearing into the transmission, as that is the most likely culprit, and they can be easily accessed without tearing anything else apart. The detente's are accessed by the 3 slotted screw heads on the left side, just in front of the radius rod mounting pad. There is an o-ring, a spring and the actual detente plunger under each screw head. If the plunger doesn't cone out easily, use a small magnet.
 
(quoted from post at 10:14:06 11/12/19) Even though the detente's all "feel" the same, I would pull them first before tearing into the transmission, as that is the most likely culprit, and they can be easily accessed without tearing anything else apart. The detente's are accessed by the 3 slotted screw heads on the left side, just in front of the radius rod mounting pad. There is an o-ring, a spring and the actual detente plunger under each screw head. If the plunger doesn't cone out easily, use a small magnet.

Couldn't agree more .....

-Dave
 
I pulled the detente spring and seat out and they looked fine but I still pulled another one out and switched them around trying to see if that would help but no luck. I also looked at the shift lever where the seat contacts the lever and it looks fine so I guess I will have to go into the tranny. Thanks for the advice but I usually don't get lucky.
 
One or two things are going on here in my mind. Either the shaft where 3rd gear resides has too much end play of all the components, and/or the clutching teeth on the 3rd gear plus the mating coupling have excessive wear. Both will require a split and teardown.

If the clutching teeth are worn, that is caused by operator abuse, and not hard pulling.
 
It finally warmed up a little here in NY and I pulled the top cover off the transmission and put the shifter back on. Everything looks good. What should I look for? The gears look fine. Someone also said there could be too much play somewhere.
 
this is 4th gear in a 961, but the mechanism is similar across all the gears -

in this case, I was unable to shift into 4th - the sliding coupler did not fully engage the teeth and finally worked no more - I replaced the whole shaft assembly, which cured the issue - I did not really analyze what happened to the original - I found evidence someone had been in there before and cobbled things - I replaced the shift detent shaft also, as it had been ground on -

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Thanks for the pictures. My third gear looked about the same so I ordered a new gear from this site. I have pulled the transmission out and took everything apart. It wasn't hard but took a lot of time. Thanks for every ones help.
 

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