Subaru shift forks won't slide

[Dave 53]

Putting in the LSD in my Subaru 5 speed has been a long stretched out project, but I'm chipping away at it.

I pulled the gear clusters out, so I'm trying to move an empty fork. The 1-2 shift fork and 3-4 shift fork rods rotate fine but won't slide back and forth. The 5th - reverse fork works fine.

Something mechanical that I can't figure out is jamming them up. I took the detent spring and ball bearing out on one of them and that didn't help.

It's a very simple system and after fiddling with it for an hour, I just can't figure out what is jamming them up.

And ideas?

[lance corsi]

Dave, some shift shafts have a mechanical interlock that prevents unwanted shaft movements. Sometimes it’s as simple as a detent ball that prevents both shafts from moving together. Not that familiar with the specific subie transmissions but it could be your problem.

[Dave 53]

Dave, some shift shafts have a mechanical interlock that prevents unwanted shaft movements. Sometimes it’s as simple as a detent ball that prevents both shafts from moving together. Not that familiar with the specific subie transmissions but it could be your problem.

Yep. There is a very clever and I might add hidden interlock system. It allows only one shift fork at a time to go out of neutral. I was trying to move the 1-2 fork and/or 3-4 fork while the 5-R fork was in gear. My original error was not making sure all three forks were in neutral when reassembling the case.