Earlier this week I was changing the fluids in my “new to me” 580B (which I know minimally about but am learning) and decided to try and get the transmission shifter working. When I bought it from a guy up in Alabama, it was stuck in 1st gear. Which hasn’t been an issue but I plan on going from the lot it’s on to some of my other properties down the road and would like to not be driving it in 1st the whole way. Anyway, I took the plate off after tapping the shift with a mini sledge to get it in neutral. I then squirted some Lukas on the rails to lube em up and get the shifter moving freely again. I then stuck the plate back on just as I took it off and put it all back together. After reassembly of the floor plates and everything I cranked it up and tried driving it and nothing. No movement. It was driving just fine in 1st before i decided to screw with it. Did I reinstall it incorrectly? I still have to change the final drive fluid which I’m doing in the morning and plan on taking another shot at gettin it moving again. Any ideas what I did wrong?
Is it now stuck in neutral ? Can you feel it shift in and out of gear with the gearshift lever ? You will most likely need to take the cover off again, and line up the rails to the neutral position with a bar.
Willing to bet you missed getting the shifter finger into the pocket on the shift forks. Either that or something broke when you tapped the shifter with a hammer. If you pull the cover off, try and gently shift the forks manually with a prybar and verify you're actually engaging each gear.
Thank you for your replies. I got it moving again and now it works in all the gears. 1st gear does seem to make a little more noise and seems slower than before.. which makes me think it was actually stuck in 3rd. I did notice though after letting it warm up and then again after fixing it and driving it around, the shuttle valve and bell housing seemed a lot hotter than before I changed the fluid in the shuttle trans. I checked the oil level again and it seemed a little higher than I thought I had filled it to and I know I put in the proper amount when I changed the fluid a few days ago. I’m wondering if I may have worked some debris loose while flushing with diesel and then blowing out with compressed air. Possibly plugging the line to the filter or cooler. None of the instrument gauges work, so no actual temperature reading. I’m looking at replacement gauges and how to install than now and will be puttin an order in to get all new gauges this week. I’ll be back up to the farm tomorrow to check that out and try and fix the differential lock.
This was the issue. I didn’t have the forks lined up on the spline shaft.