Hello All. i have recently had some issues with the shifter on my WF that some may find moderately interesting. I bought a WF about a year ago with a known problem. It occasionally gets jammed in second gear. It is quite a pain to get the thing out of second gear, as you have to lift the shifter assembly out of the transmission and get everything back into neutral again. To get the shifter assembly out, you must remove the starter, and the control panel, and the battery box is really in the way, and it is easier if you take the hood and the tank off as well. A great design.
I recently tried to sort out the problem, once and for all. The whole thing seemed loose and a bit sloppy and the reverse interlock did not seem to work. I took the whole assembly apart on the bench and found that the grooves where the pivot pins fit into the pivot ball were pretty badly worn. I welded it up and ground it down so that everything fits a bit tighter. I also found that the reverse latch interlock was hanging up on the bottom of the shifter rod. When I checked the parts manual, it was not together correctly. This told me that it had been apart and messed with in the past. More on that in a minute.
I sorted that all out and put the whole thing back together again, and it promptly jammed in second gear again. When I took it apart again, I noticed that the first and second gear rail was pushed forward (into second gear) when the end of the shifter rod was still in the neutral position . I have heard of gear shifters jumping out of gear, but in my case, it seemed to be jumping into gear. I could not figure out how the rail could be moved without the shifter moving it.
I read all of the relevant areas in the service manual and I found a description of the little "interlock plugs" that provide the detent tension between the rails. The two interlock plugs must be .566" long (mine are .565") and the interlock pin between them is supposed to be .546". Mine was nowhere to be found.
I figure that whoever had this assembly apart in the past lost this small part and reassembled it without realizing that it was missing. I made a little piece with the correct dimensions and reassembled the whole thing. It will never be mistaken for a sports car, but it shifts much crisper and firmer than before.
Without the little interlock pin, I believe that on occasion, when shifting into reverse, if the reverse gear did not mesh cleanly, without the interlock, it would bump one of the main gears forward, jamming it into second gear when the shifter rod was actually in the neutral position. I tested the whole thing by shifting in and out of every gear 100 times and today, finally got the tractor started up and did some test driving and again, shifted in and out of gear several times.
So far, so good. I guess when you are dealing with old machines, you can not depend that everything is still like when it left the factory.
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