[AT] OT--Where's reverse on an MGB??

[charlie hill]

Reminds me of a couple of vehicles from my past.  The  first was my Dad's 53 
Dodge 3/4 ton.  Something was wrong with the 3speed shifter on the column. 
To get it in reverse you had to grab the end of the lever in your right 
hand, run your left hand through the right side of the steering wheel and 
grab the shifter in the middle. Push the shifter up into second, pull it 
down into low and all in one motion push it up into reverse with your right 
hand while pulling the shifter towards you and up with your left hand.  Even 
then it took practice.

The other was a 13 speed fuller roadranger (RTO 12513) in a Brockway truck. 
The driver who had run the truck  since it was new took another job and I 
took the truck over.  Mac (former driver) told me the day he left that he 
needed to show me how to get it in reverse.  He had never complained to the 
boss about it being messed up and no one knew.  I guess he viewed it as job 
security.

Reverse was to the left against a spring detent and up.  To get it in there 
you had to place your right leg so that your knee was just over the right 
hand corner of the seat, pull the shift lever against your leg and while 
pulling it hard to the left and pushing against it with your knee, slip it 
off your knee and up.  It would go right in and no one watching would ever 
realize there was a problem with it.

A few weeks later, while my truck was in line waiting to be loaded on a 
logging job, the boss asked me to take his pickup and go for some parts. 
When I got back the whole logging job was shut down.  My truck  was parked 
in the hole between a barn and a big oak tree where you had to put  a truck 
in order to be able to back it down onto the log deck.  The boss had tried 
to back it on the deck.  A couple of the other truck drivers had tried.  The 
loader operator, also a driver, had tried.  When I got there they were 
standing around it trying to figure out how to drag it out of the way.  I 
asked them what was wrong.  They told me the transmission was shot in my 
truck and it wouldn't go in reverse. (boss was looking at me like I must 
have broken it).
I just grinned at them, got in the truck and backed it on the deck like 
nothing was wrong while they were cussing, stomping their hats, etc.  Like I 
said before, job security!

Charlie
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "warrensmith" <warrensmith at palmettobuilders.net>
To: <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 16, 2006 11:17 AM
Subject: [AT] OT--Where's reverse on an MGB??


> Reverse on an MGB is down and to the left. Sometimes its hard to get. I 
> habitually rev the engine slightly in neutral, clutch depressed, slide the 
> shifter up into first, then slide it down and to the left into reverse.
>
> Going from first to reverse is a lot easier for some reason. I guess it 
> has to do with the synchronizers.
>
> Good luck,
> Warren
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