Hello, if it isn't one problem then it is another. Just got done replacing the cluch parts from my '89 f150. Everything runs and ran fine until yesterday. I was driving and my gears seem to locked up. That isn't the real problem. I finally started taking my time with shifting the gears and everything seemed to have gotten better. I made it home and parked the truck. About 30 min later I got back in it and started to back out of my driveway when it seemed as though my driveshaft locked out. To paint a clearer picturer, you know when you twist something and you run out of room to continue twisting, that is what it felt like. My truck ran out of reverse movement and locked my wheels (it seemed), so I put it back in first and drove forward and parked. I cut off the truck and played with the gears, they seemed to shift perfectly. What could be the cause of this sudden lock out? I dont' think that my transmission is bad, I pray not at least. I looked under the truck at the driveshaft and noticed that my driveshaft seems to have "slipped out" slightly at the mid section (I have three sections), but not enough I don't think. I know that the shaft is in the tranny side and bolted tightly at the rear, and honestly at the middle, but this is bothering me. Any ideas???

 

The center slip section of the driveshaft is fairly long, so it shouldn't be a problem. Did you have the top cover of the transmission off? The part where the gearshift goes through.

 

I haven't had it off since putting it back together, (and the problem I had written before of not putting the shifter back into the right gear, all cleared up though). But to answer you r question, no I did not have the cover off...since. And even then, It was only removing the shifter, nothing else.

 

So you have had the top cover off at some time. It is very easy to misalign the shift forks, so if they aren't aligned right the transmission tries to engage two gears at once and locks everything up. I haven't taken apart my 5 speed yet, but have taken apart my 4 speed. On the 4 speed reverse was on the bottom, with the longest fork and the hardest to make sure it was engaged. I don't know what the 5 speed looks like inside so this might not even be the same, but if it is this could be the issue. You shouldn't have to pull the transmission to remove the cover again, just the plate on the floor. I had to pull the plate to pull the top off my 4 speed so I could stick it in 2nd to drive home. That's when I decided to swap in the 5 speed.

 

I am just a little confused when you mention "cover plate". My shifter is held in with three screws and the shifter lifts out. That is all that I did. We corrected the problem of removing the shifter "in gear" issue before and everything was fine afterwards. I didn't remove any other plate on the transmission. I am wondering if the rear where the driveshaft enters has been rotated somehow. I am just throwing this out there though because I have no idea.

 

you could take your driveshaft out and use the yoke to turn the output shaft (clutch disengauged) and it doesn't turn than you know your problem is in the trans, if it does then it may be the the rearend

 

You haven't removed the top cover then, so that isn't the problem. Try what Dixie said.

 

Here is something i did a little earlier today. I raised the rear and started the truck shifting gears while it was raised. Everything seemed alright, could have been becasue there was no load on it?!?! Look at the attached pictures, notice the driveshaft seemed to have sliped apart. The part to the right is well into the trany, the left part is about a foot long and the third part is attached and is bolted to the rear. I am wondering if my rear rotated (say counterclockwise) and caused the additional separation of the joint. Maybe that is the normal look of the jointed section I don't know.

BTW, the marks were used to align the drive shaft when I removed it to replace the clutch parts during tranny removal

 

That is normal. It's a slip joint like the one that goes into the tranny. It will move in and out as the rear end goes up and down. It is inside the other part about 6-8 more inches. Even if you didn't bolt everything together as it was before it wouldn't have changed the length of anything. The worst that would happen would be driveline vibration.

 

True about the driveline vibration, which is what I wanted to avoid. Now going back to what Dixie suggested, "removing the drive shaft and using the yoke to rurn the output dirveshaft". Not sure I know where that output shaft is (on the tranny where it goes in??). In other words, remove the rear portion of the dirve shaft and turn the dirvshaft portion still inside the tranny?? Disengageing the clutch (no pushing in of clutch?), ....the shifter in neutral or in gear?