On a recent post, I moaned that I thought that my gearbox had gone pop!!
I was driving about 8 miles from home, when suddenly I lost the use of some of my gears.
I was able to select reverse, 3rd, 4th and 5th, but not 1st and 2nd.
A real pain setting off from lights in 3rd!
I was convinced that the selector arm or meshing mechanism had failed, and thus not allowing me to get the first two gears.
The gear lever just moved about in any position from side to side, but this didn't stop me getting Reverse and 5th.
Had I not been able to get reverse or 5th, then I would have thought that the lateral shift ball-joint had come apart on the gearbox linkage. (Part 18)
Anyway I had a look today, and I found that the linkage in the drawings below, had become damaged / worn-out.
There is a spring steel 2 piece hollow pin that joins the two parts together.
Part number 21.
One end has a flange, and the other end is tapered to take a captive circlip.
The tapered narrow end upon which the retaining clip was meant to sit, had broken off.
This was allowing the joint to move quite a lot at the point where the taper sat.
Now the original split pin is no longer available, and I didn't have the time to wait for my dealer to order an equivalent one in!! This is my regular work horse!!
Now the fix!!
I cut off the remnants of the taper - as shown by the red line. Using sharp tin-snips.
I reshaped the two halves with a pair of pliers as the snips will distort / flatten the metal a little.
I then pushed the hollow split pin pieces back into the joint hole.
It is then possible to push an M6 bolt through the joint, inside the split pin (in the direction of the blue arrow..
Now I know we all know what nuts bolts and washers look like, but this is just to show the range available.
I had three sizes of washer available...
a standard M6 washer is approx 13mm ( 1/2") across.
the middle size is approx 16mm (5/8") across and
the large washer shown is 25mm (1") across...these are often called Sella Washers or Penny washers.
I used a middle sized M6 washer under the head of the screw (to retain the split pin) and also fitted another washer on the other end along with a Nyloc Nut.
The result, is that my linkage is firm again (no excessive movement) and my gears all select cleanly.
By the way, I had noticed a distinct difficulty getting into second over the last six months...This is no longer the case after this fix.
Not rocket science, but hope it helps someone.
The finished article.