Gear crunching

WINST10

I have a '51 Pacemaker that I recently rewired and there are a few other projects I've been working on.  I took my wife for her first ride today but I encountered a problem that was a little embarrassing. 

The car has a three-speed manual transmission and it was in neutral when I started it.  I tried to shift into reverse but the gears started crunching and it would not go into gear.  The same thing when I tried to shift into first.  Second and third were no go at all.  After I shut off the engine I was able to move the shift lever into all gear positions with no trouble.  

I shifted into first and restarted the car.  No problem shifting into reverse and backing out of the garage.  Went for a nice ride and did not have any further problems.  I will also mention that I need to come to a full stop before shifting into first, otherwise I get gear crunching.

Does anybody have any ideas about what the problem could be?

Thanks!

Jon B

A couple thoughts enter my mind.

Do you have overdrive?  Sometimes reverse gear will stick when the car's in overdrive.  (That wouldn't explain your difficulty in all other gears, of course.)

Also: when's the last time you changed your clutch oil?

WINST10

Jon...thanks for your post!  I do not have overdrive on this car.  I have not checked the clutch oil since I bought this car last October but I will put it on my "to do" list.  

cheyenne7271

Your clutch was stuck. But when you started the car in gear, the clutch unstuck itself, therefore you were able to drive normally after that. Drain the old oil, put some solvent in there, run it for a while then drain it out. Refill with fresh clutch fluid, or dexron ATF. Should be fine after that. If you plan on storing the car for months or longer at a time, put a 2 x 4 between the seat and depressed clutch pedal to keep the clutch from sticking. 

bob ward

Going for 1st gear while moving will result in crunching unless you double declutch. You only have synchromesh on 2nd and 3rd gears, very typical for gearboxes of that era.

bob ward

I'd imagine your clutch linings are expanding during use and are dragging slightly. There is a threaded adjustable rod between the clutch pedal and the throw out mechanism, try increasing the length of that by a couple of turns. Much easier said than done.

MikeSheridan

Also, all the pins and pivots and linkages in the clutch system wear and get slop in them over time. You can partially compensate for that by adjusting the rod as bob ward points out, but the  only real solution is to take it all apart, build up the worn surfaces and put it all back together.