Progress At Last, But....

Split the tractor behind the tranny which allowed some disassembly etc including the retainer bearing at the back end. This allowed me to lift and fiddle with the shaft/gears and something popped out and fell to the bottom of the trans.

I found a broken tooth on 2nd gear -- about 1/2 of it is gone. And I recovered the piece from the bottom besides. Now I can hold the clutch in and rotate gears etc. as I'm supposed to.

But:

I put the shift cover and lever back on and have a very hard time shifting still. In fact, some times I can't. With the tractor still split I fired it up and let out the clutch. Good -- the output shaft turned, everything was cool. But I couldn't shift it.

Opened it back up, played with the plates & forks, gears turned etc. Shifter back on, engine on, and when I let the clutch out the engine bogs down again and would die if I didn't push the clutch back in.

So: more questions:

1. What else should I be looking for? I presume it's getting stuck in two gears still but I just can't figure this part out.

2. Do you suppose it's going to be OK with that 1/2 a tooth missing? I know I should replace it but the time & cost are things I'd like to avoid. At this point I'd have to take the tranny off (and that's a lot more work), get it to NH (because I'm done at that point) and pay a lot. Or, might it be OK to continue using as is?

Hope ya'll aren't getting sick of my saga.

I've got strong advice from several people not to use 2nd gear. The risk to other gears is substantial. And I don't want to be using it when I'm by the creek, on a hill, etc.

Put my credit app in to New Holland this morning for a brand new Boomer. I hate to spend the money, but between needing a new clutch and replacing transmission gears, I'm looking at $2,000 easily on a tractor that only cost $3,000. And even then reliability is not guaranteed.

You will have to take out every part in the transmission in order to fix it if there is a tooth off the gear on the bottom shaft. If it is only the second gear on the top shaft which is usually the one that splits you will not have to take out the bottom shaft and gears but I would turn and inspect all the gears really good before reassembly.

You will have to start by removeing all the shift rails and the bows that shift the rails. When reassembling if it won't go don't force it. If you bend one of those shifter bows it will never be the same again.

I was finish mowing and got stuck moving from 2nd to reverse -- I did not hit anything.

But, today I split the tractor so I could loosen the gears, and I found 1/2 a tooth broken off 2nd gear. It had jammed between other gears -- I'm not sure which because it fell out before I found it (I did recover it, too). I probably shifted from 2nd to reverse too quickly -- that's my guess.

I've carefully reviewed every gear and tooth that I can see -- while I know that's no guarantee of further damage, I can't find any.

Here's where I am now:

I'm beginning to think that I don't know where neutral is.

I've been putting the shifter on, seeing if I can shift, and if I can (often I can't ) starting it up and letting out the clutch and shifting some more.

Most often after I put the shifter on, I can't shift. But the shift plates and forks are free.

Sometimes I put the shifter on and can shift, so I start it up and I either can't shift, or I can once or twice and that's it. Usually the 2nd/4th fork is hung up -- I'm getting pretty good at freeing it.

With the tractor still split, shouldn't there be some combination that allows me to spin the gears by hand without turning the output shaft?

I know to put the shifter back on, all three slots need to be lined up -- the two in the shifter plates and the one in the top shift rail. I believe I'm doing that, but something goes awry after I bolt the shifter down and try to shift.

And yes, I do have the detent ball & spring in place for the top rail. Any more thoughts?

Thanks again for your help.