Hi
i have i have just recently joined this site since it seems this would be the best place to ask for advice. I have been fortunate enough to have been handed down an old 1989 f-150 last October as my first car ever. Also i am currently still in high school and don't have much money or experience in fixing but i'm willing to learn (and have an entire summer to do it).

Anyway so i have inherited this old ford that was running just fine (except the oil pump is having issues, but thats a problem for another time) but recently i did something very stupid: i shifted into reverse insted of fifth on the highway. This resulted in a terrible sound and now fith and reverse don't work anymore. I think that probably some of the dog teeth broke off but like i said before i have only minimal mechanical knowledge.

So the question that i am asking is: should i try to fix it myself, take it to a shop or look for a new car?

Thanks for any help
Sinbad

 

The transmission is supposed to have a lock that prevents it from shifting into reverse when moving forward, but if you did it then I guess it happened. It sounds like the shift fork may have snapped or you sheared off the pin that holds the fork to the shaft. The good thing is you don't have to pull the tranny to inspect that. You need to pull the shifter, and there is a large plate on the floor under the carpet that needs to be removed. You then can remove the top of the tranny, which has the forks attached to it. You may have to remove the seat and carpet to remove the floor plate. There are threads with pictures of this procedure and shift fork replacement procedures if you search around for them. I don't know where they are offhand, and I can't remember the names of the threads.

 

For an OK set of walk through instructions (it's OK b/c it usually has about 1 of every 4 procedures I'm looking for) go to this site:
http://search.ebscohost.com/
Login: greatfalls
pass: publiclibrary

You'll be able to access repair manuals from there. Shift linkage removal is covered for your truck.

 

Thanx for all the replies. Any ideas were i could get more info on taking apart my truck?

 

bjafeman was gracious in his post by giving you access to repair manuals online... That isn't enough?