70 beetle stuck in 3rd gear "Help"!

[pegasus71]

I have a 1970 Bug that seems to be stuck in third gear. I've looked at the shifter and bushings and they seem to be ok. Are there any tricks to getting this in nuetral again? Thanks

[conradk]

Have you tried moving it out of gear with the engine off and clutch not engaged? Or does it stay in gear independent from the gear shift selector?

If the shifter selector doesn't do anything, then the problem is at the Trans (get under there and try to move by hand), a clutch problem (shifts OK with engine off, but won't shift with engine running), or a syncro problem in the trans (pull the trans and get a replacement).

[pegasus71]

I'm sorry . it's stuck in gear no matter when the engines on or off. The clutch does disengage the trans.
You can actually feel the shifter is in third.The shifter will move into other gear positions but the trans won't come out of third gear.

[Brad]

If your a little wild with your shifting activities it isn't uncommon for this to happen sometimes the shift fork(under the nose cone)will get bent or out of sink with the other gear shifts. Did hear of folks that managed to get things back in line with a big screwdriver thru the front drain hole and I think it may have been Kermit at KARS that told me about that possibility 713-780-1331.Give him a call.

[sandman]

Sometimes if your tranny mount lets loose completely, it cannot let you shift.
Worth a look anyways, cheap fix too!

[Art]

On a '62 Bus I had the shifter coupling break. It went to all the other gears like you report, but of course stayed in the one gear. Take out the back seat and open the area at where the shift rod couples to the transmission. Move the shifter to see if it's moving at the transmission. You'll see what's actually happening if you do this. Hope this helps.

[pegasus71]

Thanks guys. I havent really had time to look at all this, but all this info is helpfull when I finally get a chance to see what's going on. I bought this car 4 months ago and got the engine running. The car has been sitting for 8 years. The lady had the engine rebuilt and I think she parked it after the trans locked up on her. She is old and didnt know what to do with it.
Thanks again for the hepl.