I'm not a top loader 'spert but I'm sure one will chime in soon. 

I have done some trans work though and I'm wondering if this could be an issue with not having the linkage adjusted just right.  With most manual transmissions, when you start to move one of the shift rails, it moves a ball or slider from that rail's detent into the detent in the adjacent rail.  This prevents two gears at one time.  I am assuming that the top loader uses a smilar system so it may be possible that the linkages or shift rails are not all in perfect timing.

Does this affect just first - second or is it keeping it from going into any gear including reverse?

Just guessin', hope it helps.

BB

I did the neutral alignment process and that all seems fine.  in neutral the rear wheels turn freely.  I can not go into any gear at this time.  how would i adjsut or fine tune the linkage after i ahve done the center hole set up?   i ahve been told that i may still need to fine tune the linkage even after the first alignment.

can i ahe one gear stuck but not in a gear so that theohters will not engage?  the shifter seems to be moving around to each gear properly but just not going into any gears.

thanks

If your shifter has stop bolts on it they may be too tight and not letting the transmission lever move far enough to engage a gear. Does the problem occur while the engine is running AND with it not running or only while running? Is the clutch properly disengaging to allow the transmission to shift?

There are detents and mechanisms in a toploader to prevent them from engaging two gears at once.  These are to a certain extent unique to each transmission and can only be interchanged with care.  Because of this, some shops will leave a few of these parts out.  As Bob suggests, disconnect the linkage arms at the transmission.  With the rear wheels off the ground rotate the driveshaft until you can engage first gear by carefully turning the appropriate actuator in the correct direction.  If it won't turn, it could be that you are partially into 3rd/4th preventing the shift.  If it goes into first properly, attempt to rotate the 3rd/4th gear actuator.  If the lock-outs are in place, you should not be able to turn 3rd/4th at all.  If it turns, it is real easy to get the shifter set up incorrectly and it is also real easy to try to turn your four-speed into a CVT because of all the extra teeth you will have.  With a properly set up Hurst you can probably avoid a crash but probably is not something I would drive.  If no lock-up occurs, engage each gear by turning the actuator arms and verify that the gears are engaging by turning the driveshaft.  You should feel a clear detent when rotating the actuators when they are in their centered position.  If the detent balls and springs are left out, it is difficult to set up the shifter to the true neutral position and is a situation that would also require pulling the transmission to correct.  If all of this checks out correctly, then the transmission is not the problem and you need to look at the shifter.

As Steve mentioned it is easy to install the shifter arms upside down and with enough work on the wrong actuators so search for some good photos on-line to confirm your mounting.

I have suspicions of the shifter itself.  Before you yank any arms, crawl underneath and have someone push the clutch in and try to engage each gear.  I think you may find the the shifter is moving back and forth and not actually moving any of the shifter rods and arms.  Other than broken parts, check the shifter lever/arm bolts.  If one dropped out, the arm will move back and forth like you are trying to shift and the left/right operation will seem to be OK because the shifter will still push properly side-to-side.  If that theory doesn't pan out, do some searches on shifter failure.  Let us know what you find along the way.  I have also had a situation where the shifter was not tight to the transmission casing allowing it to move back and forth.

Thank you men.  The 4 speed was part of a 66 Comet buy I made several years ago.  I do not know the servicability but the guy I bought it from said it was good and that he planned to use it in the Comet.  I did remove the cover and inspect and saw no issues with my inspection and generally just ran it through once.

I plan to remove one linkage at a time to see if one is interferring with another.  since i put in a new pressure plate and clutch and bearing along with a new z bar and all the clutch and fork linkage, I guess I should look to make sure if clutch is dis-engaging to allow shifitng.  Is there a general rule about where ot set the clutch linkage to get in the ball park?. right now I am  1 or so inches from the front of the bar.  Do I need to be more centered?

Thanks again for your great ideas and I will try out these things tomorrow when I get over to the garage.
Jerry

CCC, you should have about 1 to 1 1/2 inches of free travel at the pedal.  At the side of the transmission, with the linkage unhooked, use a crescent wrench (a short one if you tend to over tighten bolts, etc) on each of the shifters sticking out the side of the transmission - there should be three.  Each of the front two will have 3 distinct detents.  Move each of those to the middle detent.  Get a friend to move the gear selector from in the car forward and back and you should be able to visualize which way the shift linkage should fit on the transmission - pointing up, or pointing down.  Put the shift linkage on one at a time.  If it is the front one first, then get in the car and see if you can easily shift from 3d to 4th.  You may need your friend to turn the driveshaft in order to get the gears to shift.  Repeat at the middle position, it is for shifting 1st and 2nd.  Then, the rearmost is for reverse.  Do all this with the engine OFF.  If any of these steps does not work, then you have a bigger problem.  You might go to:  http://www.davidkeetoploaders.com/ and http://toploaderheaven.com/shifter_information/shifter_information.htm  They are both very informative sites for the toploader 4 speed transmission.  Also good source for parts.
Enjoy

OK with using the one linkage at a time process set up I am now able to shift 1 -2 -3 -4 but I am still having problems with reverse.  seems very hard to get in reverse gear and and then it is hard to get it to neutral.  but a couple of times it went nicely in and out of reverse.

since the trans was supposed to be rebuilt but 4-5 years ago and was sitting for all that time with no oil in it I am going to start it up and run it on the jack stand to try and free things up a little and then see what gives.

does this make since?

What gear oil are you using or do you intend to use?  When in doubt, avoid anything synthetic on older technology and go with the original oil for the application.  You can experiment with other lubes after you prove that it can work with what it was originally designed to use.  

GPatrick wrote:

What gear oil are you using or do you intend to use?  When in doubt, avoid anything synthetic on older technology and go with the original oil for the application.  You can experiment with other lubes after you prove that it can work with what it was originally designed to use.  

Check out David Kees page for this. He has a note about one from RedLine you can use, that isn't like normal Gear Oil, meaning it doesn't STINK... I used it in my Toploader and it worked awesome.