Adamred1908SC

Any of you more experienced 915 tranny owners have any tips for shifting 4th----5th gear, lately it feels like its locking me out and I catch 3rd instead and have to jump on the clutch to avoid the obvious consequences.....

Sitting in my garage standing still I can work all 5 gears but at highway speed I'm having trouble. Been driving stick all of my driving age life and this car just has new tricks up its sleeve everyday...Thanks.

Adam

Trak Ratt

Sounds like a bushing or alignment problem. There is a little barrel busing on the end of the shifter that engages the shift rod. If it has cracked or just worn out you can have trouble engaging 5 or reverse. Also look at the 5/reverse spring/plate mechanism in the shifter. If all else looks good try readjusting the shifter.

Boris 3.2 Cab

I have the same problem with my 915 'box. To go from 4th to 5th is an art. I find the way to do it is to pick the lever up and put it into 5th. I do this by changing gear with my palm of my hand facing up, putting the lever between my first two fingers and as I change gear pick the lever up. All other gear changes I do by resting my hand on top of the lever.
Do you have the original gear lever top. On there it looks as if 5th and reverse gears, both on the right hand side, are 'liftup' gears, if you know what I mean. The drivers manual makes no mention of this.
Good luck. <img src="graemlins/wave.gif" border="0" alt="[byebye]" />

Alan Herod

I hate to say this, but I went through this same problem myself. The problem first mainfested itself by some difficulty shifting out of fifth. This only occurred on two instances, each of which was precipitated by toll booths on the highway -- searching for change with the clutch in and forgetting to put the car in a lower gear prior to coming to a coasting stop. When I tried to shift out, the lever did not want to leave fifth position. About one year after the last instance of the sticking fifth, front straight at Summit Point, red line in fourth, go for fifth -- would not go, fortunately it did not try to go to third. I adjusted everything and replaced all the bushings, no success. The subsequent shop also had no success. If I tried to shift without a clutch, I could just feel the edge of engaging the synchro -- it just seemed like the lever would not move far enough. Required realignment of the forks inside the transmission... works great now.

Not a pretty picture... I agree that you should try bushings throughout as well as your motor mounts before you go inside the trans.

slomarsh

Same problem here. I replaced all the bushings including the one at the tranny end (pressed in). In order to get all the gears just right the adjustment spline was the key. Move it just one spline clockwise or counterclockwise then tighten and try it. When you feel all the gears are there, start engine and drive.
If it doesn't work well turn the splines the opposite direction. One spline change solved my problem. It works better than ever!

Hetmann

I had this problem only with 5th. I have gone into 3rd more than once, with exciting overrev. Can't ever remember a problem with 4th. Also had a problem downshifting to 1st (had to be completely stopped, double clutch, etc.) I had my tranny rebuilt 2 years ago and *poof* shifting problem(s) gone. I don't know if it was the rebuild or if I have finally fully assimilated the 915 shifting ritual. Never think about it anymore, but it was a big concern for the first several years I owned the car.