Hey Guys... I've been busy with school and the wife and I just had a baby as well. The CJ has been parked for about 4 months down here in hot and humid Florida, in the driveway, soft top and doors.

I went out Monday evening to take her for a spin and get her back on the road. When I went to start her the manual shifter was stuck/jammed up. I worked it a bit and was able to break her free; I backed out of the driveway, got around the corner and could not get it out of second gear.

It'll be tomorrow before I can get in there and take the covers off to get down in the shifter area, but would a shot of lithium grease do the trick?

Other options? Thanks gear heads! I have yet to consult my rebuild manual... that is step 2 in the event I don't get a reply here. I'm getting back to work and will check in this evening to see the replys.

Appreciate the assistance! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Just curious here but could you start it just by pushing in the clutch, or did you have to put the trans in neutral?

I had an instance where my 64 nova had been sitting in Seattle for a year, and when I went back and tried to start it the clutch had actually rusted to the flywheel and pressure plate, but after starting it in gear messing around with it a few times it broke free, and worked fine.

I am not sure if the T176 has any external linkages (I am sure someone will know), but if it does I would check to make sure all of them were free and none of them were stuck.

Sean

I can start it either way... My rebuilders manual shows me how ot rebuild it, but not tinker with it! After work tomorrow, I'm going to get into it... Thanks for the note.

I would try doing an oil change and see if that helps.

WTF? 10-4 Brother.

After re-reading your initial post, sounds like the typical T-176 shifter problem. Sometimes the problem is with the cap that hold the shifter stick in the shifter cover, sometimes it's the stick pivot pins that get loose.

Can you move the shifter through the gears with the engine off?

On occasion.. I'm not stuck in 2nd anymore. Now I'm having intermitten issues with the gears sticking. I have the most success when the engine in running and I pop the clutch. On occasion, it is smooth in 1st and 2nd gear; 3rd and 4th are hit and miss and she won't go into reverse at all.

Its really weird that all was fine and dandy and this issue developed through not driving it when it was down. I'll check back in again in the next day or so and drop a note on where things are at.

Thanks - Mike