Trouble shift three on tree Dodge A100

Has anyone had trouble shifting, sometimes I can drive for miles and have no trouble shifting, sometimes I can pull out of driveway and it won't shift from first to second. I stop at end of street go up front reach in grill and jiggle the two shift bars till they free up. I will get back in and go through the shift pattern with no problem I may drive for miles without a problem may go a few feet and may not shift again, any clues ?

Thank doni, actually when its not running and I do a dry shift it shift great it is when its running down the road where it hangs up but not always.

Thanks for the help doni will try that tommorrow , also plan to see if NAPA can get me some new bushings . I'm sure after 43 years they may be a little worn if they haven't been replaced recently.

OK heres my horrifing remidy, .... shift with athority, the rubber gromets are gone on my 3spd, 65 sportsman tranny.its never locked up on me, but ive allways been a little agressive on a 3 on the tree sinse owning a ford f100 that allways locked up when shifting 1st to 2nd. allways seemed to shift into 2nd when you held a grudge! does any one make new gromets for our As?

Wow that thick gasket that hold the two rods apart came lose from its bracket, ( really need a new one) I put some new screws and some washers to hold it in place what a difference. We cruised to get pizza tonight never hung up, And got tons of looks. May cruise up to Sonic drive in for a burger tommorrow. Donnie thanks again for your advice that is what I checked first

There is also a grease fitting at the bottom of the column where shift linkage attaches. It's accessible through the grille. Shoot some grease in there and that will help too.

Not sure if bushings from a Mopar car or pickup truck will work or not on an A-100. I can't imagine Dodge would create special bushings for the A's.

I had a '65 A-100 p/u with 318/3spd. It locked up on me in traffic. My fix was to swap in an automatic.

i had this same problem, what happened is when it goes to shift it locks both linkage bars together so it is trying to put it in reverse and second at the same time, all i did was slow down and make sure the lever drops all the way before pushing it up i dont know how to explain what happens better but all i know it that it does it if the shifter does not drop all the way, you can un do it by pulling the shifter up while it is in the second place and pulling it back into first that should free it up with out you having to get out

hope this helps some

try door hinge pin bushings. there is different sizes and some might be close. by the look of the linkage above some welding is in order and some grinding and filing.

Since the repair I had one mishap between first and second but I pulled over downshifted and had no other problem, shifting from second to third it just glides into gear. I keep checking local yards for A100's I got a list and it gets longer everyday and its not parts I need now but want to have my own lttle stockpille for later.

As a machinist, i wanted to make new bushing and new shifter kit, because my first 1965 van had this chronic problem and i had no tools and knowledge at the time( was 18) i was scared to drive it, no parts!! ...so this winter, for my 1966, i want to take the old shifter out and make the new one, so all the bushing will be new, i allready made the clutch pivot bushing, it cleard all the noise while i was pushing the clucht, and it gived it some more play.....by the way if anyone interested for shifter kits,or some other bushings, let me know, its always easier and cheaper when the set up are done once...or if anyone has the parts specs(plans)of the shifters, i would do it earlier....

i made a fairlead block that screws to the webbing on the econo where the shift rods go through. i made it out of u.h.m.w. plastic. its that white stuff that cutting boards and stuff are made out of. another great plastic for this is the grey-black molybedenum enriched stuff, or the blue oil impregnated plastic. once you install the guide block which is just a rectangle of material with two holes, smear some grease on the rods where they contact the block and it will be a very long time before you need to replace the fairlead. at the transmission, you may notice that the rods are walking around in the hammered out shift horns. just build up a shim stack of washers to lessen the play. between these two things you may notice a huge improvement in the shifting. another problem i had was that there is a little sheetmetal hat section under the steering wheel that stabilizes the end of the vertical shifting rod. on my van it was broken in half so i welded it back together and was able to shift into reverse without punching out the windscreen. hope this helps, its good to have a helper shift the gears while you are under the van checking for bent members, interference, and play in the system. peace steve