Hello helpful Alberta Volvo online friends, who I haven't met yet but plan to this year,

A couple of questions:
1. My '67 122S isn't going into first, and will barely shift into second. It's the 4 speed manual with electronic overdrive, not stock on the car. I guess it's a M41? I'm being lazy by posting so quickly because I haven't had time to jack the car up, but I'm wondering if there are any obvious suggestions. The manual says my car probably has a clutch cable, and I'm guessing that it might just need to be adjusted a bit. If it has a hydraulic clutch then I'll check the fluid levels.

2. Up to this point when I need to get under my car, I take my normal roadside jack and slowly go around the car putting jack stands in and raising them. It takes forever and I'm tired of doing it. I'm going to buy a floor jack, probably on my way home tonight.

Where is the best place to jack up a 122S with a floor jack in the front and the back?

3. I bought a second 122S. A 1966 2-door. I'm currently working on getting it home from the US. This one is a drivable project car, and I'll probably sell my super nice '67 sedan.

Thanks,
Dustin

Hi Dustin,

Qu #1 - not-sure, but I used to often shift my 122 without using the clutch, ever tried that? If it goes in easy, you know it is the clutch, but it does require some practise (fun though ). I don't have a good picture of the inner-workings of a tranny, but someone here can probably help you.

Jack-points: probably rear diff and front cross-member. Then you can put jack-stands under the old jack-points, or on the axle in the back and frame on the front. Mine is currently up 3 feet on the jack-points.

When are you going to stop-by? I've just sandblasted the whole bottom of my car - so it is all covered in plastic and masked-up - so not this week, but I'd love to see your wheels.

James

If you can get it into reverse at all, it's definitely not your clutch adjustment or the pilot bearing. Were it an M45 I'd say that you should adjust your reverse lockout plate. It's probably a bushing thing, or you bent your linkage somewhere. Possibly the bushings on the shift fork that moves the synchro hub back and forth, possibly the big spherical shifter bushing at the base of the lever, possibly the one inside at the bottom of the lever. Did it happen all of a sudden, or has it been getting gradually worse? I think there's the odd 544/122 M40 laying around here and there that you could inspect and swap out.

The issue is usually that the pivot on the top of the transmission is warn. This happens as the trans top is aluminum/brass and the shifter pivot is steel. The wear prevents the proper engagement of the transmission into 1st/2nd or 3rd/4th. With my M40, 3rd gear was very difficult to engage out of #2 gate. When they get really warn, the gear selector inside the transmission (dogs) can't be moved into the correct position to access any gears.

It can be fixed by filing out the wear and insering a plate. Maybe it could even be welded at this point and remachined. People on the brickboard will tell you to widen out the pivot. Please don't do that.

Hi guys,

I really appreciate the replies. I jumped the gun on posting because I was at work and this was nagging at me, and I didn't communicate the problem very well. I don't think your replies are wasted of course because someone will come here searching for them.

I realized that the clutch wasn't disengaging all the way tonight when I tried to roll the car with it in first gear and the clutch pedal depressed all the way (I didn't want to take it out of first so I could move it into position in my garage under its own power if I had to. I knew if I took it out of first I'd never get it back in). It wouldn't budge, even though the clutch pedal was all the way in.

Then I started it in neutral, and shifted into reverse. I grinded it into reverse, but with the pedal all the way in, the car was reversing. So I quickly put it into neutral, and adjusted the adjustment nut that changes the travel, right where the hydraulic plunger is next to the clutch there.

Now my clutch pedal feels great, and it shifts into gear. I'm going to go for a drive tonight when my wife gets home (I've got little kids in bed upstairs).

My hypothesis: This has been slowly happening for a long time as the clutch has worn, and should have been adjusted ages ago. It finally went past the point where it just wouldn't go into gear. The clutch has felt wrong since I got the car, but I've never driven a manual transmission 122 except for mine, so I didn't know better.

James: I'm looking forward to coming by. In the next couple weeks when we have a nice evening lets figure out when I can come see your car.

Thanks,
Dustin