MTFCA Forum

Took my car for a ride. Oil, water, and gas are good. Pulled up to the garage to put it away. She quit on me. I tried to crank her and she was in gear. Makes no sense, right? No matter where the brake lever is, she is in gear. Pushed her into the garage and now I have to start tearing her apart. Good thing I have another car, so I can still enjoy the summer.

Now I have a project for the winter. Any thoughts?

If you push the left pedal half way down is it in neutral?
Something wrong with the clutch linkage. Quite possibly you will see the problem if you pull the inspection cover

David

things rarely just spontaneously break like that. Look for an out of adjustment bolt on the neutral cam that rattled loose.

First, let the car cool off and try again. Very likely vapor lock or rough idle and after it quit became flooded when you tried to start it. Most likely it is a spark or fuel related. Those are easy to check and to fix if a problem.
Norm

Adam Doleshal hit it on the head. He said do not make it difficult. Diagnose the problem. He told me to check the outside linkage. Maybe if I had removed the floor boards first and then gone on the forum I would have seen how simple the fix was.
I was thinking I was going to have to pull the engine and work on the transmission.
Two bolts loosened up and there went my control. Adam also reminded me to go over the whole car every
year and check all the nuts and bolts. Maybe I would have seen this earlier.

Thanks again for your help.

If the bolts holding the control shaft mounts are long enough, you can use lock washers but also double nut them and tighten them good with 2 wrenches.

David
Your experience on your T recalled this letter sent to Henry Ford in the early years of his autos, before the Model T.

Letter was written by a customer, who had both praise and faults on his Ford.

Here is an excerpt :

Boston, September 19, 1906. Mr. Henry Ford, Detroit, Michigan
Dear Sir,

....In fact, many of the nuts on the car did not seem to hold. In my mud guards and step, and also the bolts which held engine down to the crank case loosened several times, and many other bolts and nuts throughout the car troubled me extremely by becoming loose and needing almost constant care. In fact, I lost some nuts that hold the frame to the springs before I knew that they were loose; they needing practically daily care to keep them tight.

Very truly yours,
F. H. Briggs

Pretty sure Henry read this letter, as the Model T has those pesky castle nuts and cotter pins everwhere!

They are there for good reasons, as you now know;)

I missed something in your original post. the car was stuck in high even with the hand lever pulled back. Look at the cam undr where the bolt from the clutch lever at the side of the hogs head. Sometimes it is bent and the bolt slips down by the side of the cam. it sometime helps if you turn the bolt upside down with the head against the cam. This will give you a wider surface.
Norm

Thanks Norm. Will do.