I have an 86 Trans Am 350 swapped with a T-56. It has a spohn performance trans crossmember mount. I had issues with stripped threads in the frame holding this mount which I got squared away, but the last time I dropped the bolts out and the trans was hanging waaay low and I limped it to my work. As soon as this happened, my shifter became hard to shift into gear, and reverse which was already hard enough before became nearly impossible. Its a two hand job, and even still sometimes it just will not go in. I was hoping it would somehow get better when the crossmember was tightened up, but still the same. First and second have become pretty tough, I guess you could call it notchy, and when driving it hard I stuggle to throw it into third. It will grind on occasion and pop out, but not fully into neutral, somewhere in between. I have to press the clutch fully to the floor at stoplights and sometimes it will still roll forward a little bit. I'm not too familiar with the car as I just recently bought it. Would a new short shifter assembly fix the problem? I had someone tell me I might have bent a shift rod? Not sure. Any input would be appreciated.

 

Does that really sound like messing with anything about the shifter is going to fix anything?

You have a clutch problem, not a transmission problem. Could be the clutch itself, could be some part loose somewhere, but it's in the clutch. You can verify this by dhecking how easy/hard it is to put in gear with the engine not running; if it works good then, it's the clutch. Someobdy will come on here and tell you about "bleeding"; could be that, if air has found some way to get into the system, but that's highly unlikely unless somebody has been messing with it. Personally I'd be more inclined to suspect the pilot bearing.

 

I appreciate the response, the reason I don't think its in the clutch is because the gearbox feels exactly the same whether the car is running or not. This only happened after the transmission dropped and I tryed getting it into gear. I don't see why the clutch would be effected in this situation. It was something directly caused by the gearbox dropping. When the trans came down, the entire shifter assembly moved down a good 2-3". Something came out of alignment or out of whack somehow. I agree with the possibility that the clutch may have to do with the car rolling forward a bit, that makes sense to me.

 

just take the shifter out and see if there's anything wrong in there

 

Pure coincidence; or, something about the clutch got damaged somehow at that time.

Then how are you seeing that the shifter is affecting how the clutch works?

All the shifter does, is change what gear the trans is in. It has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with rolling when the clutch is pushed, making it hard to go into gear, grind, pop out, press the clutch fully, etc. etc. etc. Those are all CLUTCH functions.

See my signature for a helpful mental discipline to apply to situations like these.

Your problem is in the clutch, not the transmission.

 

Ok I think I see where you're getting at. I tend to overthink things. I tested putting it through the gears without the car running and the shifter feels fine. When it's running though is when I have the issue. Is it possible that the clutch cable got stretched when the trans dropped? Is there a way I can check or adjust the clutch cable?

 

The t-56 does not use a Clutch cable, it uses a master and slave cylinder and a line in between. Like the brake system its hydraulic. It could have damaged the slave or the line going to the slave if it fell. After all the T-56 slave is plastic.... Check that first as its easy to get at... Otherwise time to pull the T-56 off again! Good luck!

 

Ok as far as the T56 not going into Reverse is that you do not have your reverse lock out sill-anode not connected, supply it with 12volt and it disengages and it will basically fall into reverse.
you did not state what type of clutch you are using stock or Not, I would look in to the adjustment, or damage to the hydraulic system, cable, or linkage (what ever you are using) do to driving without trans support.

 

I found the problem. My shift rod was bent and about to fall out. Bent it back and adjusted it in place, shifts like butter. I will be keeping my eyes out for a new shift rod as it has seen better days.