Dana 300 difficult to shift....now

Webbinator

Webbinator

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
York, SC
Since swapping in a TF727 into my CJ7, my dana 300 is a real beotch to shift into any of the gears now. It was fine when I had the manual tranny in there and would shift what I considered to be normal. It would bind up every now and then but I could always get it to shift by rocking the jeep back and forth a couple of times. It seems to be the worst going from 4 lo to 4 high or even just back into 2 high. It now takes me several minutes of rocking back and forth and pulling on the shifters to get it where it needs to be. It is twin sticked also. Anybody got anything for me? Thanks.
 
Is the transmision in neutral, park or drive?

I know you are rocking a little as you said, but are you stopping and rocking or shifting on the fly etc.?
 
Stopped when trying to shift the case. I've tried to shift it in drive, reverse, neutral, and park. Nothing seems to make any difference. With the manual, when it would be hard to shift, I would do the move a little forward then move a little backward thing to get it to unbind and shift. It would always shift where I needed it to within a few seconds. This seems to be a whole different animal. Just to go from regular 2 hi, to 4 lo it seems like I have to force it there now. The only difference is going from manual to auto tranny.
 
I went through the same thing with my 300. I see from your profile you have a Tera low unit in it. So do I, Before I put drive flanges on my 60, getting out and disengaging the front seemed to be the only way I could shift it. When I broke mine, David Minton of Minton's automotive found that my shift rail was boogered up where the detent ball rolled across. Hopefully that is fixed now. Hadn't had it on the trail yet, just a parade, so I will have to wait and see.
 
NP231's have two different length input gears. One is for manual and one for auto. Maybe the output of the trans is bottoming out in the transfer case input. Just an idea because I had to cut about 1/8 inch off my trans output when I switched transfer cases
 
First, you have an auto now, as you said, that is the biggest change.

Best way to shift the case with an auto is to: be rolling, pop trans to Neutral, shift your t-case, try to have one axle in gear at a time if possible, or do it quick.

If your trans is in D or R when you pop the tcase out of gear the tranny can freewheel and start spinning.

When I want to just pull the front in/out, I tend to just do it while im driving I bip the gas create some slack, and pull it in or out.
 
yager said:
First, you have an auto now, as you said, that is the biggest change.
Best way to shift the case with an auto is to: be rolling, pop trans to Neutral, shift your t-case, try to have one axle in gear at a time if possible, or do it quick.
If your trans is in D or R when you pop the tcase out of gear the tranny can freewheel and start spinning.
When I want to just pull the front in/out, I tend to just do it while im driving I bip the gas create some slack, and pull it in or out.
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Thanks Mike, all that makes total sense. I think I just need to relearn how to drive the jeep with an auto. If trying some of your suggestions doesn't work, there may just be something going on with the 300. May just be coincidental that it shows up with the swapping in the auto. I'll give it a try and report back. Thanks for the help guys.
 
OK, just got back in from trying what Mike had suggested. Made a big difference on going into and out of 4 lo and back into 2 hi. I can't for the life of me get it to even go into 4 hi now. Just won't go. ???????
 
upnover said:
I went through the same thing with my 300. I see from your profile you have a Tera low unit in it. So do I, Before I put drive flanges on my 60, getting out and disengaging the front seemed to be the only way I could shift it. When I broke mine, David Minton of Minton's automotive found that my shift rail was boogered up where the detent ball rolled across. Hopefully that is fixed now. Hadn't had it on the trail yet, just a parade, so I will have to wait and see.
Click to expand...
I'm now thinking this is a problem with the front axle shift rail such as Upnover had. I played around with trying to get the front into high some more and it won't go no matter what I do. I drained the case and pulled the inspection cover to take a look. Just from a visual, I see absolutely nothing that looks wrong. I can shift the front into low and everything looks fine. I even aligned the splines on the gears to where the front should have easily just slide right into high, but it was a no go. Guess it's time to pull the case and dig deeper. :confused:
 
Well alrighty then. I pulled my 300 to check it out on the bench. I bolted the shifters back into place and then proceeded to shift it into ALL positions with absolutely no problem. :confused: I did have to turn the yokes a bit to line things up, but that is normal. I took my flashlight and inspected the interior and saw nothing out of the ordinary. So.....I seal the inspection cover back into place and then go through all the motions of reinstalling the case back into the jeep. Get everything back into place, refill the case with gear oil, fire up the motor and go for a test drive around the yard. The case shifted better than it has in a while. It didn't shift as easy as it does now when I had the manual in there. This is just crazy. I did absolutely nothing to it other than pull it out, find nothing wrong, and put it back in.
 
I know this may seem like a dump question. But I had the same problem and this fixed it for me. How tight are all the bolts on your shifters? I had mine just a little bit too tight, and it acted like some thing was wrong with the case. Loosened them up just barely, and now it shifts like a dream.
 
That's one of the things I initially checked. I had read somewhere that the bolts in the shifters need to be tight enough to not allow any slop so you have a good firm connection. But then not so tight that they cause binding. When I first checked mine they were a little loose, so I tightened them up. It didn't change anything as far as the problem I was experiencing. Pulling it out and putting it back in has somehow fixed the problem. Go figure.......
 
Webbinator said:
That's one of the things I initially checked. I had read somewhere that the bolts in the shifters need to be tight enough to not allow any slop so you have a good firm connection. But then not so tight that they cause binding. When I first checked mine they were a little loose, so I tightened them up. It didn't change anything as far as the problem I was experiencing. Pulling it out and putting it back in has somehow fixed the problem. Go figure.......
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thats crazy. At least it fixed the problem though.
 
upnover said:
Hope I am wrong, but I think the problem will show it's ugly self again.
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Shut yo mouth.:lol:
I've actually wondered about that. Just keeping the fingers crossed for the time being. Thanks for everyone's input on this. I'll let ya know if it shows up again.
 
Dont know if this is even relevent but Ill throw it out there.....

I have to wonder if the factory crossmember set up is the same for manual and autos or if you have everything right there.

I had a problem with a 400/205 after a manual swap out in a truck once. The end of a ton of ciphering (reason it came to mind was it shifted fine on the bench and put in bound up, took out fine, put back in fine, then later started acting up, took otu fine, repeat etc.) anyway the end discovery was the tranny tcase was not completely straight tight etc and the input shaft was actually binding up. In my case when the mount bolts were extra tight everything lined up a few mils they backed out just a bit and the whole set up shifted, rinse and repeat.
 
SkyHiK5 said:
Dont know if this is even relevent but Ill throw it out there.....
I have to wonder if the factory crossmember set up is the same for manual and autos or if you have everything right there.
I had a problem with a 400/205 after a manual swap out in a truck once. The end of a ton of ciphering (reason it came to mind was it shifted fine on the bench and put in bound up, took out fine, put back in fine, then later started acting up, took otu fine, repeat etc.) anyway the end discovery was the tranny tcase was not completely straight tight etc and the input shaft was actually binding up. In my case when the mount bolts were extra tight everything lined up a few mils they backed out just a bit and the whole set up shifted, rinse and repeat.
Click to expand...
The skid plate is bolted in the original position. I had to redrill it to match to the new mount location. I measured and marked very carefully to try to avoid exactly what you are describing. Now when I remove the skid and then put it back into place it lines up with the holes in the mount right on the money. Something to think about it if starts up again though. Thanks.
 
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