shifter in neutral trans still in third

[MrBushhog]

MF 231 820 hrs use a 6 ft woods finish mower and rotary cutter.
the other day i was using the finish mower to cut 5 ac. went to load it back up on the trailer but the shifter was in neutral and the trans was still in third. i was still able to load it up and pull it home. let it sit for awhile at the shop then was going to put in the shop. as soon as the front tires hit the concrete floor of the shop the trans went into neutral. everything works fine even shifts smoother. now...what happened?
the shifter would move side to side but would not budge at all to go up or down to go in another gear. any ideas?

[rmully]

Stuck clutch ....bump might have "unstuck" it

[MrBushhog]

kinda thought that too, but i could still press in the clutch and it would stop rolling as normal

[beenthere]

Stuck clutch?
How would/could that be?

[Don87]

I haven't had a tractor tranny apart, but the only thing that comes to mind from my car,pickup, tractor-trailer experience, would be a bent shifting fork.
Hope this helps

Edit: Come to think of it, a bad synchronizer could possibly do the same thing.
Either way, the tranny needs to be taken apart to find out for sure.

[MrBushhog]

still running great must have been a fluke

[Woodcanoeguy]

It was common in the 35's and 135's for the shifters to get stuck. Usually after quite a bit of wear however. You had to take off the tranny fill plug and use a large screwdriver to force the collar forward or back to get it loose. Maybe same with 231.

[MrBushhog]

thanks for the info woodcanoeguy....will take a look into that. the fill plug is right there by the shifter.

[soulasphil]

The bottom end of the gear lever gets worn out with the years. What would happen on my MF 135 is that the lever would get free leaving the transmission in reverse whatever you tried. The solution as mentioned above was to put it back in neutral with a big screw driver through the filler hole.

[massey driver]

Another solution is to remove the shifter fork from the trans.You do this by lifting up on the rubber boot and driving the pin out that holds the shifter in the trans.It's spring loaded so it will want to jump out at you.Once you have the shifter out build up the end of the shifter with a bit of weld [the trick is just a bit of weld] and you'll be good to go and it'll stop the problem.Larry