I am having a problem with my 72 pantera's
ZF Transaxle and I hope someone could help.
I can't get my trans to go into reverse. I
removed the side cover and the reverse light
switch was very loose so I tightned it and
reinstalled the side cover. Up to this time
everything was ok. I thought the reverse switch
was the problem so I removed it and placed a
small bolt and nut in the hole to seal it. I still can't get the shifter to go into reverse.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks
Bob Welter
Car# 3057

While a friend tries shifting into reverse, watch the shift shaft for looseness at the shift shaft-to-ZF clevis area. The holes in the clevis wear and/or the bolt loosens, and you lose motion. Another area is a loose shaft support under the headers; if the support wobbles during the shift, that may be enough to affect getting all gears. Finally, I once worked on a Pantera to which the owner had added a Hall fingerless shift-gate. The new part wouldn't allow the stick to lay over far enough to get reverse. Milling the slot on a 45 degree angle for the reverse position 'fixed' the problem.... which wasn't there with a stock shift gate. Beyond these suggestions, you can look inside the shifter box where your back up light mounts. On rare occasions, the linkage setscrews loosen up. There are supposed to be staked and lock-tited setscrews inside the transmission case, too....If you need to go that far, it may be time for an overhaul. Bring $$$$.

quote:

placed a
small bolt and nut in the hole to seal it

Since you had no trouble until you adjusted the switch, it follows you created the problem during that action.

Remove the small bolt and nut, leave the hole open, do not put the switch back in.

I bet you will now have reverse again.

Since that reverse switch is actuated by linkage that moves when the ZF sees reverse, if that linkage is blocked - by putting the switch too far in, by it loosening and moving too far in, or with a long bolt that does the same thing - I suspect that is the cause of your problem.

Larry

+1 on Larry's recommendation.

This is actually a common problem where the reveres switch (or bolt) is screwed in too far and doesn't allow the linkage to rotate far enough to select reverse. Remove the bolt and put the car in reverse and then screw in the reverse switch until you just light up the reverse lights (or until you have a closed circuit acorss the switch with a multimeter), then tighten up the switch lock nut and leave well alone.

Good luck,
Julian