Rebuilt Dana 24 popping out of gear

[jlycans]

Just rebuilt my 24 a few weeks ago and it popped out of gear the last 2 times I went up my driveway. Everything looked great inside, but it seems like the shifter is pretty firm and the shift rods are binding. BTW I installed new poly mounts and everything is tight. What the heck is goin on?!!!

[Art]

Sounds like a problem with the detent balls on the shift rods.

[jlycans]

Thanks for the fast response Art. To be honest the set screws/bolts on the shift rods were soooo tight I did not remove them for fear of breaking them which did not interfere with my rebuild. That being said I did not expose the detent balls. Is it possible that the shift rod's are not in sync? Linkage looked straight?

[jlycans]

Also I have driven this truck quite a bit recently, even off road (pretty steep rocky logging roads) in high and low range without issue.

[averagef250]

The shift dog teeth are what hold the sliders in gear. Did you pay attention to these when you rebuilt it? It's pretty common for shadetree guys to rebuild stickshift stuff and not look closely at these parts.

Popping out of gear is a sign that parts are either hammered from abuse or something is very wrong.

[jlycans]

There seems to be quite a bit of slop in the linkage/shift rods. Also the the transfer case shifter positions are "unpronounced" if that makes sense. I assume that is the detent balls? Internally this thing looked great or I would not have proceeded with the rebuild. I respect your years of experience, but I've noticed some of you 100%'ers talk down to new members like they are idiots. We are here for a reason, new to old Fords. Give us a break, we look to you old timers for guidance to make sure we are going in the right direction. That's what it's all about, right? interest in the coolest 4x's ever?!?

[averagef250]

There seems to be quite a bit of slop in the linkage/shift rods. Also the the transfer case shifter positions are "unpronounced" if that makes sense. I assume that is the detent balls? Internally this thing looked great or I would not have proceeded with the rebuild. I respect your years of experience, but I've noticed some of you 100%'ers talk down to new members like they are idiots. We are here for a reason, new to old Fords. Give us a break, we look to you old timers for guidance to make sure we are going in the right direction. That's what it's all about, right? interest in the coolest 4x's ever?!?

I stated it's a common mistake. How is that talking down?

You "rebuilt" a transfer case and it's popping out of gear. You don't give much information regarding your "rebuild" and nothing about prior condition that prompted the rebuild.

You clearly state "Everything looked great inside" yet it's popping out of gear. If EVERYTHING was great inside it wouldn't be popping out of gear, so clearly you overlooked something. I offered a suggestion based on how common it is for anyone unfamiliar with how a slider/dog tooth shifting mechanism works to overlook something.

If you didn't touch the detents when you had it apart then those would be something to check.

[jlycans]

Bad t-case mounts for who knows how long. Installed new poly mounts and bolts. Installed new bearings and seals. Shift rod bolts were seized, and felt like they might break. Didn't remove. Had no effect on rebuild with parts provided from Cobra Transmission. Teeth, shafts, and inside of case looked great. Upon reassembly held yokes opposite of each other and everything felt tight as it should ( absolutely no play) observing with pto cover still removed. Filled with 50W Valvoline race oil. Driven on and off road 30-40 miles with no issues. Last 2 days drove truck down driveway to mailbox and kicked into nuetral almost at same spot (coming up driveway idling in granny gear). Upon inspection shift rods are not aligned and linkage is sloppy (pin holes worn). This truck is in excellent shape and doesn't appear to ever been abused. Interior mint, body straight as a stick, some bondo from rust at west coast mirror mounts. Talking down = shadetree, lots of mechanical experience just not these t-cases. I enjoy the site, just reading between the lines. Looks to be kinda poor design anyway as far as external mounting.