A few months ago, a friend and I went to look at a 1926 Model T touring and a 1925 Model TT for sale. I decided to pass on the Model T Touring because it looked too much like my Maxwell, so I opted for the TT.

Unfortunately, when the above-mentioned friend and I went to look at the TT we were told it had been sitting for 10+ years so I immediately worried about a frozen engine. I put the truck in neutral, grabbed the crank and gave a tug. Nothing. I gave a greater tug, still nothing. My friend did the same with no movement of the engine. I decided to pass on the truck.

At home, I got to thinking about how different the T trans is, and started thinking maybe a band is stuck and not the engine. We returned the next day to check it out. We blocked the front wheels, put the trans into what should be neutral, raised a rear wheel off the ground and I gave a hearty tug. Bingo! The crank turned, the engine turned, the trans turned, and oops, so did the wheel that was off the ground. OK, the trans is stuck in gear. I bought the truck and when I got it home I worked out a plan to free the trans. 

Full disclosure here: I am a lifelong tinkerer and by no means a mechanic. I offer this article to explain what I did to fix my problem, and it may or may not be your answer. 

The first and easiest thing was to check the adjustment on the emergency brake/neutral/direct drive handle. By visual inspection as I moved the handle I could tell it was correctly adjusted. The low gear pedal also moved to the correct position as I moved the brake lever back and forth. The next step was to open the trans inspection cover and see if one or more bands was incorrectly adjusted and holding the trans. As each pedal was depressed and released the corresponding band contracted and released. No problem there! Therefore the trans must be stuck in direct drive.

After extensive reading, I discovered that this is a fairly common problem for Ts that have set for extended periods. Apparently the oil gets really thick, gooey and sometimes solidifies between the clutch plates. This solidifying can cause the clutch disks to bind together, thereby causing the trans to be stuck in direct drive. Unfortunately, the only fix I found (at first) was to take apart the trans and separate and clean the clutch plates-all of them. Yikes! Being more lazy than crazy I began looking for another solution. I found two articles that said to unstick the plates you need to run the engine until it warms up and leave it running. This will heat up the oil gooed between the plates and let them release. 

Because the engine had not been run in a decade, I spent a week getting the engine ready to run, including new oil and fresh radiator water. I blocked the front wheels, jacked up the rear wheels and put the trans in neutral. Amazingly, it did not take long for the engine to spring to life, along with wheel that was spinning off the ground. After an hour it was still spinning so I sadly shut it down. Not willing to give up, the next day was the same routine. After an hour I noticed the wheel off the ground was turning very slowly so I carefully pressed my shoe against the tire, and whoopee, it stopped! To verify success I shut down the engine, lowered the wheel, removed the front wheel blocks (make sure you have enough room to stop in case the T jumps forward), made sure the truck was in neutral, and started the truck. There was no forward lurch and the truck stayed where it was. Success!

In order to get the most old oil and goo out, after shutting down the engine, I carefully drained the oil while the truck was still warm and put in new oil. After running the truck and driving it a little to check trans performance, I again changed the oil to further remove any left over gunk. It has since operated perfectly. I hope this article is some help to anyone facing the same issue. Good luck.

Remember, block those front wheels, use jack stands, stay out from under the truck while it is running and most importantly, use common sense!