Will not shift into gear with engine running

[Douthit]

I have a '46 CJ2A that i drive occasionally. the other day i went to drive it and it will not shift into gear. Meaning that the gears grind. If i turn it off, put it in gear and try to start (clutch pushed in), it will try to move. Like the clutch is not engaging / disengaging? I have not even tried to troubleshoot. shat could be the problem? Gear oil low/empty? clutch stuck? Would pulling it in gear possibly free it up? just asking before i start tearing into stuff.

[bmorgil]

As long as all the linkage is hooked up and you see the clutch fork is moving correctly in the bell housing, it sounds like the clutch disk has stuck to the flywheel or the pressure plate or both. Try rocking it back and forth in gear with the pedal on the floor disengaged. If it wont come loose, if you can get it started by pushing it in gear, get it running and hold the clutch pedal down disengaged. Hopefully if you can keep it running, give it some heavy braking with the clutch pedal on the floor. Usually the plate will brake loose. Sometimes worse things happen like it rips the center out of the clutch. No matter what if its stuck you may as well give it a try. The worst that can happen is you still have to put a clutch in it.

Look for a wide open spot. You don't want to loose focus and run over something should it decide to be real stuck!

[51 CJ3]

I had one stick in an old Ford tractor once. It was quite the surprise when it lurched out of the barn. I found out at the same time that tractor can be shifted from neutral into gear without using the clutch. Pops right into gear with no problem. To unstick it I had to get rolling forward, push in the clutch and drop the bucket at a digging angle. The clutch broke free when the bucket took a bite. That was several years ago. It hasn’t stuck since but I still don’t park anything behind it just in case.

[bmorgil]

Its amazing how a little rust and swelling will stick them solid! You see this happen a lot on cars that go under water.

[gmwillys]

I had one a few years back that one of the bolts fell out of the frame. This caused the crossbar actuator to rotate like normal for as far as the pedal feel, but it would not engage the clutch at all. A new bolt, and the clutch worked like new.