Why a 87-88 tranny has no third and fourth gear

[xirdneh]

When shifted into 3rd and 4th gear there was nothing
today i took the tranny apart
the screw that pins the 3rd and 4th gear shift fork in place had unscrewed and fallen to the bottom of the tranny
i screwed it back in and put the tranny back together
this can only happen on the late model trannys that have aluminum shift forks for 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th gears as they use screws to pin them in place
the early models have steel shift forks and they are held in place by roll pins that are unlikely to work their way out

[Petros]

you could put lock-tight on the screws. or even "stake" them in place; use a metal punch to dent the metal next to the screw head in such a way the raised metal will lock the screw head from tuning.

[xirdneh]

i checked the tightness of the 1st/2nd gears fork and tightend up the loose screw to be the same

[Tercel__jon]

Well Ill be....I had the same thing happen a few years ago. Kept driving it and it then she got stuck in 5th. Good thing I kept it around. I figured it was something simple, I just never got around to pulling it apart.