1958 Ford 841 diesel is stuck in reverse

FIRST time I put in reverse after about 10 feet or so, it makes a hard stop it felt like I hit something, but there was nothing anywhere around So I put it in 1st, lifted bucket and went forward. Drove it in a circle around my driveway just checking it out, seemed fine. went back to work again into reverse, and it sudden stops again after about 10-15 feet. This time I can't get it out of reverse. wheels are locked not turning since its in gear and I can't start it, even with clutch engaged it seems like the bucket might be causing problem it so I dig all around the bucket make sure its free and push the tractor with my truck forward a bit to make sure it moves. I shift it and it works, everything seems fine. So it seemed like maybe it was a bucket issue. If I don't have the bucket at work, everything seems fine with tractor. So I am WAY more careful, lifting bucket, trying to work. 3rd time, same thing after about 10-15 feet of backing up hard stop, but bucket is free and clear of ground so that is not the problem this time. This was a few days ago and I have been trying different things each day. I have pulled it both forwards and backwards, also pushed it a little with my truck. I have removed the shifter plate above the gears. also the shifter gear cover has been broken and welded and does not hold the shifter down in place well at all, and NOW its really easy to move the shifter, very loose. I have photos. After trying those things I can now move the shifter plates into what looks more like neutral. I can start it, as long as the clutch is in and I have it more or less in neutral. No matter what I do, nothing down inside there is turning, none of the gears move or spin. Only the stuff near the top plate move at all and they move a little better now than when it first happened, but still nothing engages any gears that cause movement.

In my tractor reverse is up and to far left and then it has 4 other gears. You can see from photos which is which. I also have a large shifter handle on the right hand side of my tractor, when I am sitting on it. This has something to do with putting it into even more gears, I think they said. But they said I wouldn't need it. The only thing is that I don't know WHICH position it should be in when it's AT REST, not in use. Should it be pulled all the way towards me. which seems to engage something, or used all the way forward away from me? which seems to rest it, but it still sounds like something is spinning, although I see no movement. This is not the PTO lever for adding tools to the back, those are under the seat.

I am not a mechanic though I do know minor engine repair things and have worked on cars prior to 1986, this is my first tractor, my husband and I bought it last year, then it went into shop for tune up work etc. and my husband passed away, cancer, The tractor was for me anyway, but its all just a lot harder without him here to help diagnose things. I did have a transmission guy come look at it, but he doesn't know tractors. He did say that he thinks it is stuck in reverse and he things we should see something spinning down in the gears when it is on and running, but he wasn't sure.
 
Sorry, it was not letting my post go through, so I was deleting words and pictures to try to post. I have tried 10 or more times.

first time I put in reverse after about 10 feet or so, it makes a hard stop it felt like I hit something, but there was nothing anywhere around So I put it in 1st, lifted bucket and went forward. Drove it in a circle around my driveway just checking it out, seemed fine. went back to work again into reverse, and it sudden stops again after about 10 to 15 feet. This time I can not get it out of reverse. wheels are locked not turning since its in gear and I can not start it, even with clutch engaged it seems like the bucket might be causing problem it so I dig all around the bucket make sure its free and push the tractor with my truck forward a bit to make sure it moves. I shift it and it works, everything seems fine. So it seemed like maybe it was a bucket issue. If I do not have the bucket at work, everything seems fine with tractor. So I am way more careful, lifting bucket, trying to work. 3rd time, same thing after about 10 to 15 feet of backing up hard stop, but bucket is free and clear of ground so that is not the problem this time. This was a few days ago and I have been trying different things each day. I have pulled it both forwards and backwards, also pushed it a little with my truck. I have removed the shifter plate above the gears. also the shifter gear cover has been broken and welded and does not hold the shifter down in place well at all, and now it is really easy to move the shifter, very loose. I have photos. After trying those things I can now move the shifter plates into what looks more like neutral. I can start it, as long as the clutch is in and I have it more or less in neutral. No matter what I do, nothing down inside there is turning, none of the gears move or spin. Only the stuff near the top plate move at all and they move a little better now than when it first happened, but still nothing engages any gears that cause movement.

In my tractor reverse is up and to far left and then it has 4 other gears. You can see from photos which is which. I also have a large shifter handle on the right hand side of my tractor, when I am sitting on it. This has something to do with putting it into even more gears, I think they said. But they said I wouldn't need it. The only thing is that I don't know which position it should be in when it is not in use. Should it be pulled all the way towards me which seems to engage something, or used all the way forward away from me which seems to rest it, but it still sounds like something is spinning, although I see no movement. This is not the PTO lever for adding tools to the back, those are under the seat.

I am not a mechanic though I do know minor engine repair things and have worked on cars prior to 1986, this is my first tractor, my husband and I bought it last year, then it went into shop for tune up work and my husband passed away, cancer, The tractor was for me anyway, but its all just a lot harder without him here to help diagnose things. I did have a transmission guy come look at it, but he does not know tractors. He did say that he thinks it is stuck in reverse and he things we should see something spinning down in the gears when it is on and running, but he was not sure.

Thank you
Tanya
 
trying to send my photos too, they are under 300k, 3 letter ending jpg and single word names, not sure why it won't work?
tanya
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extra right side lever with orange knob is a forward /reverse transmission I believe. Did it jump out of gear?

You have something between your engine and transmission that is problematic. Just have to find out what it is.
 
You may have something stuck between two of the teeth on the reverse gears.Like a small bolt tool something that may have been dropped in the transmission case. Had a M-F tractor did the same thing worked from the front back did not find anything took the read end off nothing. Finally into the transmission there was a wood ruff key stuck between to gear teeth.
 


I'll bet that pretty much everyone here at YT would agree that your problem is not related to your loader. You will accomplish the most in trouble shooting it by trying to eliminate the simplest things first. Since you already have the cover off the tranny I would look there first. If you were to jack up one rear wheel you can try your various gears by just turning the rear wheel enough times to duplicate the distance that it moves when it has the problem and watching for any play in the gear shafts. Your trans oil has water in it so a rusted bearing is a possibility though not likely. Once you have eliminated the possibility of play in a transmission shaft, I would suspect a problem in the reverser or the linkage to it as next most likely. If you get binding while trying the transmission, you could stop and try movements of the reverser handle. The reverser appears from your pics to have three positions, so your tests of it should be in each of the three. However, since the reverser linkage could also be the problem, if it binds up you could try small movements of the handle and it could possibly be siolved with just a linkage adjustment. Note that Ford didn't, to the best of my knowledge, build tractors with those reversers at that time. They were usually a dealer installed option, and there were different ones used. Another idea is that you could have a YT member just down the road from you and If you share what part of the country you are in you may be able to get some local help.
 
Well, first southpaw loader I've ever seen! Your fix might be to get a good used shifter plate from fleabay or maybe a member has one they'll give you. I had a 4 speed that someone had "repaired" and it wouldn't shift on the left or right side unless you slammed it in gear.
You also need a boot to keep the rain out. They are pretty hard to get on by yourself. I see you have the 4 speed with a reverse and also a reverser. You can go forwards in double reverse and it will also turn your pto bacwards if you want it to. If you do get another shifter plate from someone get the same as yours that has the reverse emblem on it. If your reverser ever goes out you can remove it and install a regular input shaft and be ready to go. You just won't have the reverser anymore. I think the reverser parts are pretty valuable also as they are hard to find.
 

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