JD 50 shifter lever won't travel to left side

parrothead · Feb 13, 2020

The shifter lever on my 50 will shift and engage all of the gear positions on the right side shift gates (1st, reverse, etc.), but it will not go through the bottom slot to allow shifting on the left side. Any ideas on what I can do?

ArnieinChesterfieldVa · Feb 13, 2020

Once in a blue moon my 60 will act up slightly like that. I kind of double clutch with slight pressure in the direction i want to go and that takes care of the problem. Give that a shot.
Arnie

parrothead · Feb 13, 2020

Will do. I'll try that tonight.

Mike M · Feb 13, 2020

Good chance the shifter and or forks are worn and it got out of position. You will likely have to lift the top cover off and get it realigned. Just have to be a lot more careful next time when going from one side to the other in the bottom slot and "feel" the fork moving and if it doesn't go all the way let the belt pulley rotate a little to help the gears mesh before going up into the up and down slot.

parrothead · Feb 13, 2020

Do you have to remove the dash / steering support, hood, etc. to do that?

ArnieinChesterfieldVa · Feb 13, 2020

OK, what Mike told you in the last part is pretty much the same as what i was saying with double clutching. It MIGHT help you now to get over to that left side and anytime in the future if there is any resistance double clutching can help you smoothly engage without hurting anything.
Arnie

Mike M · Feb 13, 2020

Been awhile since I had to do one. That 50 will be harder than a model B too. Loosening up or removing the hood bolts and then removing the bolts that hold the dash/steering support to the gear shift quadrant should let you get the dash lifted up away enough to get the shift quadrant up enough to get it back into place and maybe even remove it all together. I would run a rope up over a rafter or use another method to hold the dash up.

miangus · Feb 13, 2020

Not all operators understand they are shifting the range shifter when crossing. I always preferred two stick tractors. My uncle ran a 720 diesel with a damaged shifter shaft for year, he kept a piece of wood jammed in the slot to keep it on the low side. My cousin wanted a faster gear and took the wood block out and worked into the high side. He discovered it is difficult to reset a trip bottom with no reverse and we had to remove the cover to get back to low side,It was a pony start. My point is be careful you don?t get it into the high side where there is no reverse.

Bob · Feb 13, 2020

(quoted from post at 16:58:07 02/13/20) Not all operators understand they are shifting the range shifter when crossing. I always preferred two stick tractors. My uncle ran a 720 diesel with a damaged shifter shaft for year, he kept a piece of wood jammed in the slot to keep it on the low side. My cousin wanted a faster gear and took the wood block out and worked into the high side. He discovered it is difficult to reset a trip bottom with no reverse and we had to remove the cover to get back to low side,It was a pony start. My point is be careful you don?t get it into the high side where there is no reverse.

" My point is be careful you don?t get it into the high side where there is no reverse."

As they say nowadays, "true dat"!

Been there done that!

From the balls on the shifter to the forks and yokes and grooves, there's a LOT of "wear areas" on the shift mechanism, and all the wear adds up to the point the ball on the shift "stick" can sneak out of it's slot and require transmission cover removal and jockeying around of the mechanism to allow the ball to get back to where it needs to be.

In my experience, sometimes it involves spitting and swearing, setting your jaw just right , and a couple of prayers to the patron saint of old tractor mechanics to make that happen.

I especially remember a certain "720" when talking about this!

centash · Feb 13, 2020

Not sure if they are the same, but my 630 can be difficult to shift across to the right side. I found that if I push down (as in pushing it in toward the trans.)on the shift lever it shifts quite easily.

Ben

parrothead · Feb 13, 2020

Ok folks, I fixed it. For reference, here?s what I did: For starters, I parked this tractor in an insulated shop about 6 years ago. I decided to sell it, so I brought it to my shop and got it running again. The shifter wouldn?t slide over to the high side, so I removed the 6 bolts from the shifter housing, along with some hood bolts. Then I hooked the engine hoist to the steering shaft support and raised it all up about 4 inches above the case. I quickly found the problem. Condensation caused a bit of rust on the shift rails and forks, causing the high / low fork to seize. After a abundant application of WD-40 and the finesse of a hammer handle, I freed up the fork. It?s all back together, all is well, and road gear is still too fast. Hopefully this will help others who find themselves with a similar problem. Thanks to all who gave advice!

Rich'sToys · Feb 13, 2020

Glad to hear that you got it fixed.

But I have to confess...this is the first time I've ever heard someone say that road gear in a 50 is too fast!!

Mike M · Feb 14, 2020

I agree with all you wrote ! Never knew any 2 cyl. being too fast in road gear.

parrothead · Feb 14, 2020

Ha! I get skittish when driving a tricycle tractor over about 12 mph!

Mike M · Feb 14, 2020

Should be pretty smooth ? unless you have very bad road or something loose in the front end ?
Try a Silver King those will really move out ! I got scared and did not even open it up.

JD 50 shifter lever won't travel to left side

parrothead

Member

ArnieinChesterfieldVa

Member

parrothead

Member

Mike M

Well-known Member

parrothead

Member

ArnieinChesterfieldVa

Member

Mike M

Well-known Member

miangus

Well-known Member

Bob

Well-known Member

centash

Well-known Member

parrothead

Member

Rich'sToys

Well-known Member

Mike M

Well-known Member

parrothead

Member

Mike M

Well-known Member

Similar threads