CJ3A Cannot Shift Into Gear - Stuck in Neutral

[teddysjeepbeep]

Hey Folks - Looking for some ideas on inspection before I get started.

Hopped in my CJ3A on the first sunny day of spring after 4 months in the garage, it started up, but can no longer shift into any Gear, it just grinds.  The clutch pedal felt normal.  It shifts in/out of all gears if the engine is not running.  Last time I drove it, there were no issues with shifting.  I can't really move the High/Low or Transfer gears, but those usually need a little motion with regular gears before I can move them sometimes.

My guess is to start with a closer look at the clutch pedal linkage to see if anything is broken.  Then next inspect the fork, throwout bearing and pressure plate.

My worry is it's time to replace the clutch friction disk itself as it possibly seized up over the winter.  Just seems odd to me that this kind of thing happened after sitting in a garage in the low 50F that it would degrade like this. 

Anything can happen with these things though.  Seems like every March I'm surprised by something hindering my summer joyrides.

Cheers!

[SteveKfl]

Did you put it in gear and then try to "rock the vehicle" to break the freeze/seize and/or gears-alignments, or maybe even use key to bump-start the "transmission's movement" to get everything in "neutral"?

[Rus Curtis]

It shifts, engine off.  It grinds, engine running.

Did you try starting it in gear, clutch peddle pushed in?  Wondering if it lurches.

[teddysjeepbeep]

I was able to get it unstuck after attempting to start while in gear.  That knocked it loose pretty quick!  I tried rocking the vehicle in gear first, but wasn't able to get enough motion to un-torque the sticky clutch.

Thanks for the ideas!!  I was hesitant to try that until you suggested it.

After that I was able to drive it around the neighborhood and work through all the gears no problem.  The kids had fun riding along.


Considering the clutch was stuck, is this a sign of future replacement or just something that happens on old parts?

[Mark W.]

Its common for a clutch that sits for a while on these to rust to the flywheel I remember back in the day having to break loose dads/my jeep a couple times when it had sat for a few months