I'm new here so I hope this is getting posted in the correct place. So I recently replaced the old starter motor on my new maverick project. After a quick charge of the battery she started right up and started idling just fine after warming up. Then I went ahead started backing up out of the drive way and to my dismay I found I was stuck in reverse gear. After help from a couple of friends having one of them hold down the clutch and us other two pushing it back up the drive way I tried to figure out what the problem was. Doing some research the past couple days I think the external shift linkage on this old 3 speed may have come loose. The car shifted fine through all gears driving it last week before the starter died on me. Doing research on other forums for cars that have this 3 speed I came across this advice "You are describing some kind of slop in the linkage- the two rods that go from the H box on the column to the trans. What you need to do is to crawl under and pull the pins that connect the rods to the trans. Make sure the ebrake is on and the tires are blocked before you do because the truck might roll if you are on an incline. Manually shift the transmission through all four gears by flipping the levers up and down. You should feel the gears seat. One lever controls first and reverse, the other second and high gear. Then, put the transmission in neutral (Both levers in the middle position), and put the shift lever in the neutral position. The rods connecting to the trans should drop right in if all is correct. If they don't, adjust the rod length by turning the nuts on the threaded rods." I would greatly appreciate any detailed advice or experience someone could give me in doing the fix.
"You are describing some kind of slop in the linkage- the two rods that go from the H box on the column to the trans. What you need to do is to crawl under and pull the pins that connect the rods to the trans. Make sure the ebrake is on and the tires are blocked before you do because the truck might roll if you are on an incline. Manually shift the transmission through all four gears by flipping the levers up and down. You should feel the gears seat. One lever controls first and reverse, the other second and high gear. Then, put the transmission in neutral (Both levers in the middle position), and put the shift lever in the neutral position. The rods connecting to the trans should drop right in if all is correct. If they don't, adjust the rod length by turning the nuts on the threaded rods." This procedure is correct. You also need to check for worn/loose parts. The underlined portion is the most important part of adjustment. However, it will have little affect if parts are worn. Welcome to the site from northeast Ohio!!!
