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...some previous owner removed the control lever from the transmission!
It sounds as if your freewheel mechanism may be dragging or binding, which could be caused by debris caught between the hub and the sleeve. That may be why the previous owner locked the freewheel and then removed the lever. When freewheeling is engaged, the wheels should spin, uh, freely, and there shouldn't be loud noise or roughness from the freewheel mechanism.
If there ARE signs of dragging or binding, you probably should lock it again and not try to use it until you can remove the transmission and see what's wrong with it. If it IS dragging and you keep driving it, you'll increase the damage to the internal parts.
On the other hand, a certain amount of "unsmoothness" when it engages is typical. As someone else posted, you want to bring up the revs gently when using freewheel, but you'll still feel a slight surge as it catches. If you bring up the revs harshly, you'll definitely feel it when engine speed catches up with car speed. At least, you'll feel that until the hub eventually shatters, and then you're REALLY hosed!
I've got some pics of the freewheel guts on my Saab-stories website: You can see my broken freewheel hub at the very end of the 'Engine Bay Rehab, Stage I' and beginning of 'Engine Bay Rehab, Stage II' sections, and there are some pictures of the shafts and locking sleeve in the second half of the 'Transaxle Autopsy' section. Click the link below to visit the site, then click one of the links down the left side to see the section you want. This might help you visualize what's going on inside your own transaxle.
posted by 68.13.13...
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