727 No Reverse

[Scouty]

Well I finally got around to dropping the pan on my 727 and found these two pieces in the pan (see below). My Scout lost reverse a couple of months ago and it has been sitting in the garage ever since. The day before reverse disappeared I had driven it around with no problems. Scout was driving perfect, no noises, and was shifting normally. The Scout doesn't get used very often, and does sit for prolonged periods, but always performs well when used. The tranny was rebuilt about 5 years ago but has less than 20,000 miles on it.

I thought maybe the reverse band broke and decided rather than spend money to tear into this tranny, it was time to swap out the 258 for a v8 since I have a 727 with an IH bellhousing. So just to satisfy my curiousity I decided to see what was in the pan. So it looks like the low reverse band lever broke. Not sure what the rectangular piece of metal is, thought maybe part of the band, but am starting to think maybe not. So my questions are. 1. How can I determine if the band is broken? 2. Is the lever replaceable with the tranny in the truck? 3. If so does the valve body need to come off? 4. What is the rectangular piece of metal?

Thanks for any assistance.

Matt

 

[Michael Mayben]

What you see there is a broken low/reverse band apply lever. That operates from the low/reverse solenoid (the one mounted on the rear of the trans).

The rectangular block is the apply strut which is the interface between the apply lever and the low/reverse band.

While this is not a common failure, it is something I've encountered three times in the last year on units I rebuild.

In fact on Sunday morning as I backed out of the driveway at my folks house, the transmission in my rig did the same thing! However, the vehicle can be driven for years this way, you will just not ever have a reverse gear.

This can be replaced with the transmission in the vehicle, but the transfer case and adapter in a Scout II will have to be removed, along with the bull gear, governor and intermediate transmission housing. And once the lever is replaced, it's somewhat trying to actually engage the strut properly but it can be done with a pair of forceps.

Once everything is installed, then the band application must be set before re-installing the valve body and pan.

The common "reason" this happens...the engine is still on fast idle and the tranny is dropped into reverse. It can survive that for many years but will ultimately fail, even more pronounced if the low/reverse band adjustment is too loose.

 

[Scouty]

Thanks michael,

sounds like it is a fairly simple fix with the tranny out of the vehicle, however I think I'm going to proceed with the v8 conversion anyways. Once the 6 cyclinder 727 is out I can replace the lever and sell it. The transmission has very low miles, so maybe I can get a few bones for it.

Thank again michael for your feedback.