Hello, im new here and not the greatest mechanic in the world but being short on money makes you do things you dont want or know how to do sometimes.. ive read just about every post on shift fork replacement and nobody seemed to have my issue. I removed the top cover punched out the spring pins and removed the 3/4 shift fork, next i removed pin from 1/2 fork and went to tap the rail back and it will not budge at all. I feel like i might be missing something but not to sure. Any help will be greatly appreciated.. thanks kevin

 

can you post a picture of your cover so we can see what you are up against. I just went through a very similar situation with mine.

 

Sounds a lot like what happened with mine. Then I also realized the new forks I ordered were for the wrong transmission!! That plus the reassembly issue lead me to just pulling a full top cover from a junkyard for $20.
As it turned out, my forks weren't worn that badly, my pressure plate wasn't making contact everytime I tried to put it in first. Getting a new clutch installed made all the difference in the world. The forks in the junkyard cover were basically in the same condition as my originals.
You could take it to a local trans shop or mechanic, a guy on here did that, the shop put the new forks in the cover for him in a few minutes, & if I remember, they didn't charge him. Beats the heck out of damaging a rail & losing a spring like I did!!

 

Hopefully the picture works...I got the one rail to move now I can't get thr 3/4 rail to move do all rails need to be in neutral position to slide out. I might have to break down and head to a shop for some help. It seems to me to be a cut and dry process I'm just doing somethin wrong..

 

After a long time of tinker moving things back and forth i found that the shift rails must be in the neutral position to remove them. so if this happens to anyone else just click the fork back and forth and tap after each click on the rail your trying to remove and should slide at some point and time...

 

When you did yours, did you see a part that looks like the pin in the picture?

 

yeah you pulled the rail all the way out the oblong piece goes inbetween the two rails you had out and the ball and spring go vertically in the hole just like the ones you had to push down in the front or the rails to put them back in be careful those ***** will fly out never to be seen again best to have more than one hand or some pieces of tape over the exits...

 

Ok. I didn't button everything up so I will pull the cover again and see if I can replace it where I think you are talking about. If I have an issue, I will post a picture and perhaps you can point me to the proper location. Thank You for the help. Glad you got yours going.

 

Is this the area where the pin will go? If so I assume there is one, or should be one, on the other side also correct?

 

The long pin should be a detent pin, there should be one on each side of the center shaft. Just like you have marked.

I've tried to come up with a good picture online to post, but the factory style blow up drawings don't show those pins(ugh).

The detent pin keeps the rails from going into more then ONE gear at a time. There are "V" cuts in the shafts that line up with that pin. That is Neutral. With any rail moved out of neutral, it pushes the detent pin over into the adjoining shaft to keep it from going into a gear also.

 

Yep. I just took replacement cover back off and went through it and put everything like it should be. After carefully inspecting everything I think I understand the best way to disassemble the cover to change forks etc. These steps in this order worked for me.

1.Remove the roll pin in the 1-2 fork and tap through the rubber plug side to push the rail past the retaining pin and ball and spring. Do not totally remove the rail and remove the shift fork. (This is the only rail with one retaining pin and comes out easily)
2. Next remove the nut holding the back up light connection and remove it and the ball inside and the long pin. (This takes pressure off that one side and will allow the shaft to move with gentle tapping)
3. Now the center rail has pressure relieved and will tap out easily for the fork replacement. Don't push the rails all the way out. Just enough to get the new fork on.

I could not get my center rail to budge before I did it this way. It was so stuck from the pressure of the pins that a 4lb sledge and punch wouldn't budge it. We tried pressing it out and the cover cracked right above the center retainer pins. Than's when I got one from a 88 model f150. I installed new forks properly like described above with no issues. Of course every center rail may not be frozen like mine was but there is a lot of pressure on the rail from both sides and the bottom with the spring and ball.

If anyone sees a flaw in this procedure please let me know.

 

your procedure is good i didnt remove the back up nut but might have been easier than me moving the rails one click then tap and one click then tap until the rails move with ease and i also hit mine with a bigger hammer than needed but for future efforts you dont need to hit this with a sledge just a light tap should move them. If a simple tap doesnt move it check the other forks for neutral position.

 

I don't disagree with your neutral position of the forks, I just don't understand what that does to help. On the first rail mentioned above, I remove the roll pin on the fork and then tap the rail out. The fork position doesn't matter as the rail slides through it until cleared and the fork replaced and then the rail is tapped back to its original position. I leave all roll pins out until everything is in place. BTW, Always use a roll pin punch for the job. What am I missing with your neutral method?

Freightrain:
"That is Neutral. With any rail moved out of neutral, it pushes the detent pin over into the adjoining shaft to keep it from going into a gear also".

When the first rail is through, the detent is removed at that time eliminating that problem when you get to the middle rail. Then when you do the same to the top rail the middle rail is now free.

 

The neutral position only matters I guess if you need to remove more than one rail the other two need to be in neutral position I had to do the 1/2 and 3/4 forks.

 

^^ That was my point. To initially remove any shaft, the others have to be in neutral. Once any of the rails are removed, the detents won't work.