Cannot get 4th and 5th gears (no shift rod attached) Options

[gurusevaka]

Hey everyone,

So after searching and searching plus reading dr evil´s supplement pages I still do not know if my tranny is toast or not. Here is the situation..

So i had really bad bushings for the shifter linkage. A non existent firewall bushing, a sloppy castellated shifter housing Bushing too. and while driving it waiting for my new bushings to arrive. the couple bushings disintegrated. Just before they gave way it was very hard to get into 4th and 5th gear. I could get it in but would have to push really hard to get it in and pull really hard to get out. Then I could not get in those gears at at. Since I was driving on the highway I pulled off at the the next exit to figure out what was going on. thats when I found out my bushings where toast and not even there.. both sides!!

Limped it out of the gas station to try to repair it into a parking lot close by. and then had someone come out and meet me with another shift rod with new bushings pressed into it. We tried to push it to a different location and could not get it into neutral. didn´t really think anything of it since the shifter was screwed. After we installed the rod. I could not get the car outta gear even when the shifter and the shift selector was in the neutral position. I could turn the wheels but it felt like it was in gear, would not turn freely... Had us stumped..

After towing it home and after some reading, I removed the two bolts and shift selector and put the tranny into neutral. and the wheels spun freely. I have now replaced all bushings and have a nice and tight shifter. But here is the problem.. (I hope all that back story will help to figure out the problem)..

I cannot shift the tranny into 4th or 5th gear. It does not matter if the shift rod is attached or not. Manually selecting the gears from under the car with no shift rod attached cannot get those gears either... all other gears will engaged with a good "click".

Did I miss aligning something when I put the tranny into neutral? is my tranny screwed now?

Also both wheels are of the ground and no matter what gear i put it in. the wheels will turn just as freely as if the tranny is in neutral. Is this normal? I thought the engine would engage if in gear??

Pls help! and thanks