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MG MGB Technical - Reverse gear

Hello all,

My recently bought 73 roadster is great except for a slight issue. Sometimes it's really difficult to engage reverse and makes a rather nasty grinding noise as if I hadn't applied the clutch. At other times the it's fine and engages perfectly.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Nat
Nat

Nat,

I believe it's caused by the laygear still spinning. Try dropping it into second gear and then drop it into reverse without letting out the clutch. Since reverse has no synchronizer it will grind. Putting it into second, the synchronizer won't let it grind, plus the drag will cause the laygear to stop.

Tom
Tom Sotomayor

Could be (1 or 2):

1) Driver's habit:

When you depress the clutch, the mainshaft
inside the transmission continues to spin for
a second or so, due to inertia. As you engage
reverse, this spinning causes the gears to
grind and clash.

You can do two things to alleviate this:

a) Depress the clutch, and wait a second or so
- and listen for the mainshaft "whirring" to
slow or stop before engaging reverse...or...

b) Depress the clutch, and slide the gear lever
partially into one of the forward gears (say,
1st gear - but any forward gear will work)
This will use the gear synchro to stop
the mainshaft from spinning. After this,
then engage reverse.

You do not have to fully engage the forward
gear - you just need to push in the gear lever
only slightly enough to employ the synchro.
You'll hear the transmission "whir" to a stop
- and you'll feel it through the gear knob.
After some practice, you'll get the "hang"
of this.

Sometimes, the mainshaft will stop
so that the gears face tooth-to-tooth.
When this happens, the gears will not
mesh and it will be very difficult to engage
reverse. In this case, put it in Neutral,
let up on the clutch - and try again.


2) Mechanical issue:

The clutch isn't fully disengaging when you
press on the pedal. Either the hydraulics need
to be bled or the throwout arm bushing, or pivot
pins are worn.
Daniel Wong

Thanks, I will give it a go

Nat
Nat

This thread was discussed between 08/09/2004 and 10/09/2004

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This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGB Technical BBS is active now.