first off, thanks for reading and hello to everyone and all that.

i have a 1995 jeep wrangler yj, 4 cl, 5 speed manual. 190k. engine is fine and runs good.

i was driving on the hwy one day and was going 70 mph and had my radio on and turned it off to hear a loud clacking and when i slowed down felt it also about as hard as some one hitting the tyranny with a hammer while i was inside driving. i could feel it in the shifter as well and the cab and in the pedals.

pulled over looked listened nothing i could figure out. it drove fine beyond that except the noise and feeling stopped in the third gear is seemed very weird that the noise and tapping feeling stopped only in third gear. took it home could not figure out a thing asked around. i assume that my gears are messed up somehow but it shifted and had good power as always.

thought i could be the clutch since it was grinding in reverse occasionally.

pulled the tyranny down, i had a issue with the shifter and dust boot because the Haynes and Chilton's manuals explanations of shift lever removal were very different then my shifter so i pulled the four bolts off and pulled the whole shifter off the top of the transmission. (what i wonder is how it ended up in reverse from neutral perhaps when i separated the transmission slightly to redo the seal.)then i replaced the clutch and resurfaced the flywheel. the main seal on the tyranny was leaking and this it was the time to fix it. so i unbolted it and slid it in the middle and resealed it with some RV sealant. put her back together and low and behold it was in reverse some how, the shifter acts like it is in neutral but it is actually in reverse, the clacking and tapping feeling was still there and it does not shift at all. it only goes in reverse in 4 low and the 4x4 shifter should only be moved unless in neutral.

(before i removed the transmission it shifted fine in all gears and in 4 hi and low and 2 wheel drive. now that i have put the transmission back in it is not shifting at all. it seems to be in reverse and it has to be in 4 low to drive in reverse. if it is in 4 high or 2 wheel drive it is not moving (like it is in neutral). so basically it will not shift at all. it seems stuck in reverse and only moves in 4 low.. the shifter feels like it is in reverse)


at this point i figure drop the tyranny out and take her to a shop for some work. because i assume that for me to take the transmission apart would require me to have a micrometer to fix anything or change any gears or bearings.

now it is possible that the shifter is the problem since she has power and was shifting fine beyond they clutch issue. i am thinking that i could save my self some money if i have a clue what is the real problem if i have to take her to a shop and if i can fix it my self i will.

i just to not want to get in over my head if i have to dismantle the transmission and need some serious skills with a micrometer and exact measurements and serious fine tuning. for instance i am a hair off and destroy something. that is the last thing i want to do. the Chilton's does not have any diagrams on the inside of the transmission but the Haynes does. i have heard for years that Haynes manuals are not as detailed and Chilton's are better. i feel that they are just different and what one has the other does not have as far as photos or directions.

all i know is there is no way i made things worse in reality, all though it is refusing to shift in to any gear, stays in reverse and only drives in 4 low.


what what do you all think of my situation? any clues? suggestions? additional questions?

thanks in advance.
redhead yooper..

ok i it figured out a bolt was not tightened down on the lever to shift from 4 wheel drive to 2 wheel drive.



so now she is now in stuck in reverse and she will not shift at all at this point.

You could try opening a few more threads about the same thing that might fix it

thank you so very very very very much, do you really really really really think so? that would be so super extra special cool alike i am in willy wonka land, perhaps magically if i post it enough it will fix it self ??? smart guy LOL do you really think that i could have done it by accident. this forum has allot of features disabled from what i see too bad your not admin. i could not find the first one thinking i deleted it already, then i thought i could delete the original one, so i would not have double thread but apparently i can not do this. it is all good. i am taking the transmission to the shop.

Sorry, I AM a smartass

Your troubles sound similar to a friend of mines and that turned out to be the syncros, im afraid it wasnt cheap to fix

it is all good.. well half or more of the price is taking the transmission down and putting it back in. that is the easy part that i can do. i am sure that i moved somehting when i was resealing it and just finalized the malfunction with the transmission.

MY son just bought his first jeep and had a simular problem with 5th gear, was stuck. I'll try to explain how reverse and 5th work. This is for a ax5 manual trans which i think you have. There are three shifting forks one for 1st & 2nd one for 3rd & 4th and one for 5th& reverse. there are two shifting rods going thru the 5th gear shifting fork. one of course is 5th gear and the other is reverse. For reverse to work there is a C clip on the reverse rod that the 5th shifting fork pushes on to get reverse. Know to get back to nuetral, between the two shafts that go thru the 5th gear shifting fork there is a ball bearing. Know depending what position the shafts are in is where the ball will be floating between 5th and Rev. Once the rev gear shaft gets back to neutral the ball will fall into the 5th gear shaft and will allow the trans to go into what ever gear you select. Know if you understood that here is the answer to you question. You can push on rev. shaft and engage rev. with out moving the shift fork. which sounds like what you did. I know this because i did the same thing on accident when i rebuilt my sons trans. Now for the good part if you take the shifter off the trans with a flash light and long screw driver you can get rev. back to nuetral position. If you looking down in the trans you will see the 5th gear and the shift fork.You will see two rod s going thru the shift fork the one to the right with a C clip on it is rev. just pull back on it and it should go back to nuetral. Hope this helps.