1960 john deere garden tractor pops out of second gear

[cokester1958]

I have a 1960 john deere 110 garden tractor that keeps popping out of second gear anyone know of a fix?

[yankeerider]

If it's like the later (early 70's) models, the transaxle counts on a spring loaded ball bearing pressing against a groove in the shifter rod to hold it in gear. Over time, normal wear smooths out the edge of the groove, reducing its holding power. The solution is likely to involve replacing that shifter rod if it's still available-which wouldn't surprise me- or getting a machine shop to fab one for you. You may also find that the gears are worn on the edges, producing a side load which pushes them out of mesh.

[kevin37b]

Yankeerider is correct . There are detent balls and springs to keep trans. in a certain gear . The springs break or get weak and the balls get edges worn in them . Since 2nd is the most used gear , it is usually the first to show symptoms . Lots of good info and How To's on Weekend Freedom Machines web site . Most of the parts are still available . From what I have read , the repairs are not difficult . Mostly a matter of keeping all those little parts organized . Go to their forums , go to restoration and repair , then go to round fender tractors . Hope this helps .

[oldnslo]

If you have a good JD dealer they should even print out the repair procedure for this. I would advise getting it fixed since Ididn't on my 122 and it jumped out of gear and got locked in two gears which broke a couple of gewars and the tranny housing. Probably a freak occurance but it sure added to price of parts required to fix it back up. The fact that I was pulling 40 cinder blocks on a trailer at the time is irrelevant...

You may be able to view the shift rails by removing the shift lever. I can't remember ho large of an opening this is but think it was adequate to view damages on mine.