Hey all, just bought me a liberty trans here not to long ago from another guy. I'm new to these, anyways finally got it in the car. The problem I'm having is it won't stay in third gear, every gear works great. Not sure were to look, adjusted it a bunch of times. Anyways I thought I'd ask here first.
Thanks!

Take the shifter lever off of the tranny side cover and see if the rectangle on the shift arm is worned so it is not square on the ends that the shift lever fit onto If so that may be the problem or part of the problem If not look remove the side cover and look to see if it is a early cover with rooster combs and brass shifting forks or the later one with the GM style cover with steel shifting forks. If it is the early one make sure the check balls, one on each side of the srping are in place, also look at the half moons that the check balls ride in. If those check out good the last thing that can cause what your having is the slider and the engagement rings on third gear being worn,not uncommon Or maybe the snap ring that holds the synchro hub on the main shaft (output shaft) is loose or missing Lots of gremlins out there, especially on used race parts Good luck, let us know what you find. BTW,I had a set of gears that I had to hold the shifter in third gear or it would pop out I ended up having it redone(new engagement ring on it, and put a new slider in the box and that fixed that 3-4 gear set

When the slider and the rings are at the end of their life span they pop out of gear. At WOT its real fun. If all adjustments are good its time to go back to Liberty to get "Face Plated" Don't waste any more money on "Pro Shifting" It is a thing of the past

I understood with a pro shifted trans you have to hold in gear or it will fly out of gear, nature of the beast .The advantage of the faceplate was they would not pop out of gear. aAuded to on the Liberty site

I recently rebuilt an 833/18 spline using brand new Liberty parts. I had the same issue. The trans would pop out of 3rd gear. After pulling the trans out 7 times and tearing it down on the bench to make sure I didn't mess up, I was at wit's end. I then called friends Herb McCandless(Mr. 4 speed)and Arlen Vanke for advice. Both told me to lightly loosen the side cover bolts and smack the right rear corner of the side cover upwards with a hammer and retighten the bolt's. Dang if that didn't work.

you should not have to hold a pro shift in gear, if its a used trans probably needs a new proshift ring. they wear out and when there's not enough material left they will do that.

this is what a fresh proshift looks like

When those rings are used up there is no holding it in gear! It'll tear your arm out of its socket.

I've tried to get "one more pass" and when they are done they're done

face plating only way to go. I have one of each an the pro shifted one will not stay in third evin holding a 1970 pistlegrip it still pops out.
The gear an slider are bad.
A face plated trans next best thing to autotrans

If the ring looks good, the slider is worn out. As said in the other post , go face plate. Cost is the same for replacement. I've never had a problem with 3 rd gear kicking out, always 4th.

Ugh guys, not the news I'm wanting to hear, looks like I'm going to be pulling the trans out and go from there.

If I face plate it, does the whole trans got to go back to liberty? Any idea on cost?

I had Liberty faceplate 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. It was about $80/per gear, but you'll also need new sliders ($125/ea?). They have a new slider/fork setup that allows 1st gear to stay as a synchro. I took the whole trans apart and just shipped what they needed.

My order was over $600.00 but I had them do alot more stuff like rebuild the side cover, cryogentically(sp?) treat all the internals, etc. Call and talk with them, nice folks. May take awhile, mine was 8 week turn around.

In the pic, the old syncro sliders are in the bottom right for comparison.

Call and talk to Paul. He does all the "old" trannys. I had my trans gears face-plated this past winter. Wow what a differance from a pro-shifted trans to a face-plated one. Whole new world. Especially on the street. Ship them the whole trans and let them go to town. It costs $$$$, but it is worth it in the long run. The little extra stuff they do is unreal. Plus I needed a lot of parts. This is what it looked like before I shipped it out. If I can find the picture.

like stated the face plated route is the way to go, its much more street and downshift friendly. last time i did one they were not able to faceplate second yet so i only had it on 3&4. their super easy to work on if you have a press.

Wow guys thanks for the wealth of information, greatly appreciated! I'll get at it here sometime and take it apart,I had my last one apart so I hope it's not too bad.
Thanks
Zak

Plus the face plated gears are MUCH EASIER to shift. (In my opinion.) When driving on the street you have to drive it like an old truck. The basic old 2-second shift. But when on the track, it shifts much faster and easier. Sounds like an auto.