Triumph Repair: spitfire tranny, shifter forks tranny locked bentley

Question
Hello, I have a 1974 spitfire with a tranny issue. The tranny has locked up. I can move the shifter in all the gears but when I put in neutral it is still not free. I had to pull the drive shaft to free the car up so I could move it. Obviously it is something serious. In order of progression what steps would you take to diagnos the problem? thanks

Answer
It sounds like the shifter forks are disconnected or broken or no longer attached to the rail that the shift lever moves.

-Pull the tranny cover, remove the shift lever
-You will have either a 3 rail (3 rails, a wide connector) to the shift lever mounting,
or a single rail (one narrow rod) where the rods/rails connect into the transmission as a top cover.
-If a 3 rail, Remove the bolts holding down the top cover, and extract the shift connector assembly
-If a single rail, remove the sheet metal plate.

On a 3 rail, the shifter forks will come out with the connector assembly, so I suggest getting the bentley repair guide to now how to re--install before removing.

On a single rail, if you put the shifter back into the housing, you should see the single rod move with the shift lever, and move a set of forks that will slide gear clusters to engage gears.  If the forks are moving, and sliding gears, then the problem is likely more serious and something is frozen/locked up.  If the forks don't move, trouble shoot why they aren't; they may have worked loose from the rail.

In any event, I suggest you get the bentley repair guide and familiarize yourself with this removal & replacement; In any scenario it won't be a simple repair; you may have to pull the tranny out and fish around for a loose screw if the shifter forks came loose.