WD45 gear shift broke

Hi,
 It may have broke, but it can also just come out of position and flop around too. That can happen due to worn parts. Just don't hear of many breaking off, they took a lot of abuse!  I remember one or both of the 45's were so worn that once in a while it would get stuck in two gears and Dad had to take the snap ring out under the rubber boot and pull the shift lever. Then get it back in neutral and then reinstall the shift lever. We had to shift them with both hands sometimes to get them to go into gear from worn shift lever issues.
I assume you have removed the steering support bracket on the right side of the tower?
And removed the battery box? and possibly the left foot rest? After that the tower should lift straight up.
Couple pictures might help us help you.
BTW congratulations on the new tractor. My guess is its a girl!:)
Regards,
 Chris




Edited by Sugarmaker - 01 May 2016 at 7:34pm

Curtis,
It has been a day or two since I had my WD shift towers off. But I may have a picture or two to help you. Let me see what I can round up.

Shift tower off tractor


View into WD tranny with tower off ( I think this is the neutral position)


WD tower again




I guess I don't have any of the forks that hang down. I think there are two and something may be jammed and holding the forks from coming up?

Regards,
 Chris

Thanks for help

Shift cover is almost impossible to get off in 1-3-4-r. Natural or 2nd. No need to remove top for your problem .     MACK

HudCo wrote: take the stick out and get a screw driver in there and move the rails around til they all line up put the stick back in and allways make sure that you make square corners when you shift

I would do this first before trying to get the whole tower off. Once you get it working again shift ONLY in the squared H pattern. Do not try to shift at an angle like from 1st to reverse. I would imagine the ball on the end of the shifter is wore and needs welded up.
Somewhere on this forum is a drawing of the ball with measurements for building it back up.

Thanks

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In the top picture you can see all the forks lined up in neutral. Then in the next two you can see the forks lined up but a gap between them.

Edited by curtis60 - 04 May 2016 at 8:06pm

Here's pics from Tom MN:

When all 3 forks are lined up to neutral, there should be no way the ball can get out of the slot. I circled the top of the forks where the "slot" is formed when they are all lined up.

Doesn't look like you got the tower off yet. And if you didn't then something needs attention in there. I cant tell from the pictures if its in neutral or not? But at some point you should be able to pull the tower and evaluate the amount of wear or it something is broken. I would move the forks around till you can get the tower to come off. It should come up and off with not much force if any. Hope that helps a little??
Keep in mind that these are old machines and that shifter is one of the most used parts on the tractor. It could be worn out.
Regards,
 Chris

I can't tell from the pics, but it looks to me like there is an ear missing on one fork, or it's not in neutral?????? When in neutral, the ball should be contained in a rectangle formed by the 3 slots in the forks.