So, diligent readers of the forum will recall that I stripped out the transmission shaft and output drive yoke on my '79 240D last month. The expensive end to that story was I bought a used 4-speed from a local Mercedes guy (is it OK to say "hoarder"?), and paid my usual shop to swap them, as I wasn't willing to do that in the street in December in front of my house. Long story short, they buggered the job: ignored the hoarder's advice on what should be paired with what, had to do the swap twice. I'll skip over the what they charged me (a lot) and the abuse the owner gave me ("I'm never doing a job with owner parts again!!"). Went to pick it up the last business day before Christmas, and the tech warned me that he had done the best job he could with the adjustment of the shifter, but it might be funky.

Well, it is funky all right: this morning I went to leave in the 240D, backed into the neighbor's drive to turn around, and could not get the shifter out of reverse!!

Now, I've driven it a couple times since I picked it up, and the four forward gears were seemingly where I expected them to be in the shift pattern. Reverse, however, wasn't quite in the usual place: with the old transmission you pulled up and over to the left, and the shift lever went about as far forward as it usually did in first (say, 3 inches). Since the bungled swap, I would pull up the handle go left and forward about half the usual distance. So, that's probably a clue.

Also, in it's current state, no matter where you put the lever, even in what it should be neutral, you're in reverse.

What I am hoping that you, dear reader, can supply me with is this: what do I need to manipulate on the three levers coming out of the transmission to get it out of reverse gear? I'm pretty sure that one of those levers is dedicated to reverse, hopefully pulling the right lever forward or backward will pop it out of reverse so that I can drive it over to the knuckleheads who put it in this state and guilt them into doing the adjustment that they obviously didn't have time for before.

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- '79 240D - engine swap complete! Engine broken in! 28-31 mpg! Lovin' the ride!
- '86 190D (W201-126) - 2.5 NA engine, 5 speed, cloth interior, manual climate controls, 33-34 mpg (sold to forum member).

Get under there, there may be sufficient clearance to do so without jacking it up. There are arms coming down from the shifter, I think reverse is the rightmost one, because R is up and left and the selector pin is on the other side of a pivot. Follow that linkage to the selector on the transmission. That should hang straight down in neutral. If you pop the linkage off and find that you can't put it in neutral (unload the gears if you can to do this- chock the wheel, have someone step on the clutch) you'll feel a click as the selector goes into it's detent, the arm may be loose instead. If the selector arm feels loose (bouncing around, free play, excessive motion to engage gear or neutral) there's a hard to get at 6 7 or 8 mm (i forget) socket head screw you can tighten up. If you take it out, it's hard to get back in.

__________________
CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?

X2when moon161 said chock/block the wheels!!! Do this first because if you are successful at getting it out of reverse it will be in neutral and roll while you are under the car. Set the parking brake also.

Good luck!!!

__________________
"Rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength" - Eric Hoffer

The reverse lever on the transmission should be obvious because the 1-2 and 3-4 levers should be vertical (neutral) if R is engaged, it will be pointing to the back of the car (I think, but pretty sure not vertical). When the gearbox is in neutral, all of the selectors should be vertical.

__________________
CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?

Jeebus, I hadn't thought of that. Thanks.

__________________
CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?

There are 2 variants of the tranmission

__________________
CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?

see drawings above; good stuff

1) What advice did the source provide? If the replacement box was the same type as the original (iron-to-iron, or aluminum-to-aluminum) then there should not have been any mix & match.

2) If the box is iron, the center shift lever on the transmission side cover is reverse, and in neutral it should be oriented just slightly aft of straight up.
If the box is aluminum, the rearmost shift lever is reverse, and in neutral it should be oriented vertically upward.

To set up the linkages properly, disconnect them and pu the transmission in neutral (you'll feel each selector click into the neutral detent) and the shifter in neutral and slide a pin (4 or 5mm allen key worked) through the alignment hole (shown in the drawing) so the shifter levers are all in neutral position and then adjust the linkages to suit. Remember to pull out the alignment pin when done.

__________________
CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?

Moon, thank you so much. Awesome info! I'll be sure to block the wheels on the other side securely before getting under there, and put the parking brake on hard.

Kurt

__________________
- '79 240D - engine swap complete! Engine broken in! 28-31 mpg! Lovin' the ride!
- '86 190D (W201-126) - 2.5 NA engine, 5 speed, cloth interior, manual climate controls, 33-34 mpg (sold to forum member).

Are the arrows on the diagram indicating where the alignment pin goes, then?

__________________
- '79 240D - engine swap complete! Engine broken in! 28-31 mpg! Lovin' the ride!
- '86 190D (W201-126) - 2.5 NA engine, 5 speed, cloth interior, manual climate controls, 33-34 mpg (sold to forum member).

Yes, it shows better on the second picture.

__________________
CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?

Talked with the shop a bit today: the tech said that he felt that perhaps the shift arms on the transmission had been taken off and put on incorrectly, meaning that the reverse shift lever might be off by one spline. He said that he was strapped for time, and did the best he could with the adjustment of the linkages; however, the linkage adjustment assumes that the levers are installed correctly, and not incorrect. It’s been raining a little too heavily to get under the car today, so hopefully weather will ease off tomorrow for an under car look-see.

__________________
- '79 240D - engine swap complete! Engine broken in! 28-31 mpg! Lovin' the ride!
- '86 190D (W201-126) - 2.5 NA engine, 5 speed, cloth interior, manual climate controls, 33-34 mpg (sold to forum member).

End of the tale: it appears to have been an extremely simple problem, namely the linkage for the reverse rod was never adjusted after they put in the replacement transmission. With the rod disconnected and the gear shift in neutral, the lever hole and the bent end of the rod were out of alignment by nearly half an inch! I could have loosened the lever securing clamp and moved the lever by a spline or two, but it was possible to adjust the in-line linkage enough to make it all line up perfectly so I went with that. And now it shifts perfectly, and reverse has the throw it used to have, etc. By the way, both old and new transmission were of the type shown in the second diagram Moon posted. Thanks to all who replied, I appreciate the way everyone shares knowledge on this site!

__________________
- '79 240D - engine swap complete! Engine broken in! 28-31 mpg! Lovin' the ride!
- '86 190D (W201-126) - 2.5 NA engine, 5 speed, cloth interior, manual climate controls, 33-34 mpg (sold to forum member).