Farmall A transmission question

[mcwinter]

I recently had my 39 Farmall A out to grade our gravel yard, mostly to warm up the engine for an oil change. At one point I shifted from 2nd to reverse and the transmission was locked up in two gears. I was able to get out of reverse and back to 2nd and continued on. What would be the most likely cause(s) of this condition? I don't know the early history of this tractor but it appears to have some hours on it and received a repaint probably 30-40 years ago.

[staninlowerAL]

JMHO, wear in the transmission. I've experienced this before on older Fords. Stan
EDIT: I found it helpful to make sure the tractor/transmission gears are completely stopped before changing to a different gear. Example, a deliberate pause in neutral before going into a different gear. Maybe even release the clutch pedal and "shake the shifter" while in neutral.

[Jim Becker]

This happens when the lower end of the shift lever slides out of the notch in the fork rail before the fork is fully in the neutral position. This is allowed due to wear on the bottom end of the shift lever (which started out as sort of a ball shape) and on the rails of the forks. You can mostly avoid this by moving the lever straight forward/backward while shifting and avoiding any tendency to cut the corners. A more permanent fix would be to build up the end of the lever and reshape the end to reduce the clearances.

[mcwinter]

Thanks Stan and Jim. I was more deliberate in shifting after the lockup and this prevented recurrence.

[SONNY]

My A is the same way! gotta go slow and straight line shifting on it too. Its an A thing I guess! lol!