AX-5 issue

[Paul]

1997 Wrangler 2.5 with 100k miles. Bone stock. My stepdaughter's rig, never been abused.
Had a cracked head and sat for a year. I finally got off my slack ass and fixed it.
Runs like a champ. 2 days later the shifter feels kinda "sticky".
Then it lost all gears but 4th. Pulled the shifter out and the bushings are worn and need replacing'

But when i try to shift it manually with a pry bar, same results.
Only 4th will pull.
Been messing with junk for over 40 years and i'm lost.
Any thoughts would be helpful.
'Dre...

 

[Mac5005]

Is the clutch actually disengaging?

4th is straight thru so let me think on that… input = output

 

[Infamous1]

Mine done similar to that but mine only had 5th. A bolt had backed out holding the fork to the shift rail.
Crappy vid to show what mine was doing.
They are bad about the free floating reverse gear getting hung up too. Easy fix on it, go to pass side of trans about mid way and unscrew the reverse light switch and stick a small screwdriver in the hole and pry the gear towards the rear of the trans. YMMV....

 

[John Smith]

1997 Wrangler 2.5 with 100k miles. Bone stock. My stepdaughter's rig, never been abused.
Had a cracked head and sat for a year. I finally got off my slack ass and fixed it.
Runs like a champ. 2 days later the shifter feels kinda "sticky".
Then it lost all gears but 4th. Pulled the shifter out and the bushings are worn and need replacing'

But when i try to shift it manually with a pry bar, same results.
Only 4th will pull.
Been messing with junk for over 40 years and i'm lost.
Any thoughts would be helpful.
'Dre...

Like Mac5005 said, “4th is straight through”. With that said, does it feel like the detents are positively engaged when shifting with handle or pry bar? You say only 4th pulls, no reverse or 5th either? Did it make noise before or when this problem started?

If all gears are definitely out except for 4th, I’d lean towards main drive (input drive gear) or main drive counter not having any teeth.

But, like infamous1 stated, “you could have a bolt/roll pin that has failed or backed out.

The only reason I would suggest main drive/cluster failure over bolt/pin, is I’d suspect 3rd to work along with 4th since they share the same fork/slider clutch.

The mid bearing in these transmissions, along with the bearing retainer plate will both wear and allow the main cluster to rack too far forward or backward while shifting. This usually causes the transmission to pop out of gear due to not engaging the detents completely.

Regardless, I’m curious what you find! Please post up!