Dave WM

I have looked and looked, the closest I could find was that one cross sectional view. It really comes down to how its supposed to work. That animation video demos how the dogs are suppose to work, the way the pad functions etc... My guess is that at some point some one was in yours and reversed those, understandable mistake, evidenced by the odd digging in on the pad. You can always just install the trans and try it out, if it works it works, if you have shifting issues with 5th and or rev, well, you know where to start. I know it kinda stinks the idea of having to try it and maybe remove and fix and try again, but that is pretty much where you are. I agree the FSM should have been a LOT more clear on the way those should be installed (since the dogs are asymmetric on that sychro).

go to 38.48

maybe the striker was already in the closed position with the door open. When we were kids we would push the striker closed with the door open. the when trying to close the door it would just hit the striker and not engage, door would not latch. Anyone mess with the door latch lately with the door open? if the door does not sag, I would not worry about the hinge.

that's what bothers me, that blocking ring (brass) should never get out of index with the dog. The way it is, you can prob use the transmission, just may have times when getting out of rev takes a few tries. Again I am NO expert, its just my opinion from hours of research and my one rebuild.

yes I did, still think there is a problem, that dog is getting chewed up for a reason. I understand not wanting to take it apart, just seems like its not right. Hope EuroDat chimes in. Worse case is you get a severe block out making getting out of reverse difficult, once out and the blocking ring is back to where it should be, then all is ok. try with it assembled in reverse, turn the output shaft, then see how well it comes out. Maybe the same as spinning the input, but you need to try various combos before assuming all will be ok.

this is a good video on the process

that dog looks like it has metal chewed out from the slider ramming into it (would not happen if the pad stayed under the slider). With it assembled try turning the output shaft and then see if it will come out of rev. I still don't like the way the 5th gear blocking ring (brass) can turn independently of the hub. That brass ring has cutouts that are supposed to stay lined up with the shift dogs. Anyway of asking the PO if it was ever rebuilt? Also those teeth on the 5th gear that engage the slider look very rounded over, may cause issues (but maybe typical wear, mine did not seem so great either).

Rev only engages about 75% of the teeth. was that way on the two I opened up. I hope the OP gets some more video up soon so we can get a closer look. He should get some close ups of those dogs. The most troubling thing is the way his brass ring would spin independently of the inner hub. That should be locked loosely only allow to move 1/2 tooth either way. My guess is when the slider is forward the dogs pivot up enough on the back to clear the cut outs in the brass ring. Then he has to move it around while waiting for them to align again enough for the dogs to slip back in when the slider is push back to neutral. Just seem that there is no way this could have shifted well coming out of reverse like this, I suppose the brass ring would spin around fast enough to quickly find its correct place.

the standard test is to open the door, and see if you can lift it up, grab from the bottom outside pull up. Should be little to no "slop" that is the car should move with the door. you can also tell by seeing if the door "lifts" as its closed. That is the door rising up on the striker plate. Some times it gets so bad you have to lift the door up and close at the same time. compare driver to passenger, generally the driver will be bad since it gets a lot more use. compare the slop to the good passenger side. Just take it to the body shop, they will know if its messed up or not. The wear is not easy to see, its hidden inside the hinge pin bores.

I just keep getting hung up on it having worked per the PO. Unless he is just wrong about that I would hesitate to recommend taking it apart. Really Really need to know if that is for sure. IF taking apart to see where the springs are (assuming the sychro is the same as mine) relative to the dog pads, its an easy thing to do, and you need to get a new main shaft nut. At least it would not require hub removal (assume its on the right way) to just reverse those dogs. BTW putting those dogs on and installing the slider would help to have 3 hands. Maybe hard to do with the hub still on the shaft and that is not an easy part to get off, need a puller with some real long reach. When I assembled mine it was on a table and I had easy access, it was still a bit of a challenge.

one mine you never see the entire dog pad exposed from the slider, there is always some part of it covered regardless of rev or 5th selection. Since you have it out of the bell housing you may want to look closely at how the dogs look on the other gears, do they also stay under the slider at all times?

thanks, I have been meaning to fix that, my driver side is just starting to show some slop.

38397? could not find 338397

exactly. IF someone had been inside it, it would be an easy mistake to make, I know I almost did. I still have issues with the PO saying it was fine, that is a problem. hoping Eurodat can chime in on what he thinks. I am no expert, just recently been into one. that exploded pic is pretty low res, that is why I used the machine cross sectional view when trying to determine the correct way to install.

this is why you cant go 100% by the manual. that thrust washer goes between the 1st gear and the bearing on the adapter plate. It shows it this way in many of the manuals I found for a 5speed. think it was right on the 4speed manual. I guess the pic could be seen as the bushing fits thru the washer but still a bit confusing I would have preferred to have the thrust washer shown behind the gear for clarity.

Will do should be fun to have others too meet and or drive with along the way.

I will let you know as the plans firm up, still quite a ways off, but its been a thing I have wanted to do for a long time.

one more thing to consider, maybe it will work anyway since you never go from 5th to rev due to the lockout mech. Which I need to know does yours have that? bolt to the side of the trans designed to prevent going from 5th to rev? Maybe yours does NOT have that and this is a way to keep you from going from 5th to rev by accident? check for the rev lockout. 83 should have had it but just be sure you really have an 83 and not an early 5 speed. nevermind all the above, you said it has a hard time coming out of rev that is just wrong.

here is the exploded view see how the dogs look different here, but they also have the thrust washer on 1st wrong (not in that part of the pic but clearly wrong in the manual).

on yours it seems like the shift dogs on 5 were installed backwards which is why I wondered if it had been worked on. Do the stakes on the shaft nuts look factory (one punch mark) or do they seem like punched more than once (re used). I don't think the dogs on the other gears have a direction but the 5/rev def do. the odd thing is if the PO said it was good then mine is wrong, I have not tested mine out yet, but it does go in and out of gears as it should. from the looks of yours the dog is popping up to far when you go into rev, then it has a hard time getting that thickened part (lets call it the dog pad) to fit back under the slider. Also not shown was my brass ring never moved around like yours does regardless of gear. it just stays loosely locked in place with the hub and could only move about 1/2 tooth either way.

here is the link

if you look closely here you can see the dog as the long end towards the back. this is how I have it installed. The key is the dog spring should be directly under the pad (thick part) of the dog. the exploded drawing is confusing since it looks like its the other way around. I have found problems with the exploded drawing, like the 1st gear thrust washer is shown on the wrong side of the gear, so I trust this image which is also in the FSM for dog setup on the 5th/reverse slider hub.

getting the video uploaded now, very diff looking from yours on those dogs. Has anyone been into that trans?

are all the balls and springs installed on the shift fork rods? that should provide a pretty good stop as well. I was trying to use the FSM description of the dogs, that is what I called them as well, but did want to use the FSM terms if you were looking at it.

looks like door alignment issues. As stated before, 1st thing to check is hinge play, if that is sloppy need to fix, next would be to adj the door hinge bolts and/or striker plate. body shop should be able to deal with this.