The Dodge Challenger Message Board

I had a bad night

I was cruising down a sidestreet last night, slowing down (maybe doing 20-30mph) and I went to throw my slapstick shifter into N to throw some revs but the broken button on the top of the shifter became stuck and I threw the shifter all the way into R. Engine almost died out, tires hopped along ect...

I drove car around the rest of the night with no problems. Still had all my gears, still had reverse, no unusual sounds ect...

Just wondering what I could have damaged, if anything? I was worried about the trans/rear but after hearing no sounds or grinding from either now I am a little worried that I possibly could have damaged the u joint or driveshaft? Im probably being a little paranoid though being that I drove the car around for an hour or two afterwards with no problems. Think theres anything I should be worried about?

Don't worry.

The amount and cost of the work involved in checking everything that MIGHT have got damaged makes it unviable to bother. If it is driving alright I am sure it will be fine.

At the most you could take the pan off the transmission and look for signs of metal particals in the oil or filter. But only do that if you are REALLY worried. I am sure it will be OK.

My wife did this in the Cherokee. That was fine too.

Thanks, I needed the reassurance. I guess I need to go and fix my shifter asap . Now I finally see why they make reverse lockout shifters.

No offense, but reverse lock-out shifters are for shivy guys that dont know how to shift a four speed!

My friend on two occasions tried to pull back to 2nd on my Challenger and went into 1st by mistake.

With 4.30:1 gears that is a big mistake. Almost went off the road both occasions.

Fitted a shifter that would only go one position at a time after that. No more problems.

By the sounds of it, no damage was done, other than to the ego.
If there was internal damage, the areas of concern would be the rear band, the band apply servo and its components, the rear overrun sprag, and the overrun clutch cam. Any of these items could result in a broken case which may be difficult to repair.
Watch for any oil leaks (cracked case). You say it drives fine, so you may have been lucky.
transman

If it makes the ego feel any better I have done the same thing at about 30mph nothng happened but wheel hop and a red face... this was before the resto and niehter trans or rear end had any unusual problems when they were redone.... goes to show the toughness of the 727 ...

i think autos are pretty tough a mate of mine had an old fairlane years ago & we deliberatly threw it into reverse at 60mph & stood on the juice on a number of occasions with no obvious problems & that was only a c4 not a 727
cheers ian