Hi, I have an issue where my 580B (shuttle) backhoe will not shift into 1st or 2nd gear. The 3rd/4th gears shift fine. I've taken off the upper plate of the transmission box which holds the gear shifter, rails and forks. The 1st/2nd rail would not move. With some tapping with a hammer, to the end of the 1st/2nd rail, and a little PB Blaster, it freed up and will move to both the 1st and 2nd positions, but only by tapping it with a hammer. When I replace the upper plate, it's still too tight to shift with the shifter. I verified that the gear that the 1st/2nd fork fits on, as well as the gear that the 3rd/4th fork fits on, does move freely, by hand. So, I want to take the rails out, clean them up, and replace the "plugs" between the rails, along with the forks. Problem is, the forks are held in place on the rails with a "spiral pin". Is there any trick to backing out these pins? My only thought is to drill them out (once I have the new ones in hand), but wanted to make sure there is not a better/correct way of removing them. Thanks!
drive them out with THE PROPER SIZE PIN PUNCH. You will not enjoy drilling them as they are very, very hard spring steel. If you try an improvised punch and bugger things up, you'll be sorry
Thanks mitch504! Ordering me a set of pin punches now!
If you don't have the service manual, be sure to read the warning about the detent balls under pressure !
Oh wow... No, I was going by the diagram in the parts manual which shows one detent spring/ball, but doesn't show where they go, like inset A shows. Didn't get hit by a flying ball bearing, but saw it sitting on the end of the rail (both the 1/2 rail and the 3/4 rail) when I drove them out. I've been scratching my head all week, trying to figure out how they got both the plug and the ball bearing in between the rails... figuring it was a hack somewhere over the years to tighten up a sloppy shifter or something. I never saw the detent springs, so assume they flew off somewhere or luckily are still up in the holes. Now that I got this, I can attack it again (I did save the ball bearings in case I was wrong). ...And hope CNHI still has the springs in stock, if I lost any! Thank you so much for the info! I do have an online copy of the service manual, but didn't have it with me when I tore it apart. Now that I'm back at my computer, I found the pages you listed and printed them out for my next attack! Thanks again!