Gearshift lever bushes

[BobW]

I have a rattle at the base of my gearshift lever that tells me the nylon bushes have disintegrated where the lever connects to the rod that runs rearward. In preparation for this moment I bought a replacement pair from that someone on the Yahoo list ran up several years ago, but I see they are brass whereas RD's replacements are nylon or Delrin. My hand barely fits into the space available and I want to do this job only once (more). Does anyone have experience with the metal bushings? Should I use them or get RD's replacements?

[Pfreen]

I don’t know about the bushes, (I have the nylon), but to replace them, I disconnected the rear link from the transmission and the middle joint from the engine.  Then, remove the four nuts holding the shifter in place.  You can then pull the whole assembly back to reveal the shifter and bushing bolt through the hole in the tunnel.  It is still a bit of a pain, but a lot easier than trying to get to the bolt and bushing with the shifter attached.

I do not think that bushing makes much difference to shifter vibration.  It can introduce a lot of slop though if disintegrated   I believe the bushing attached to the bell housing makes a big difference to vibration.

[BDA]

I think it's SJ Sportscars who has brass ones. When I need new ones, I think I'll go to them.

[jbcollier]

The bronze ones will work fine.  Put one open end on your thumb.  Fill the bush with light oil and then squeeze the oil with your other thumb.  This will push oil into the bush and keep it lubricated for a long time.

[BobW]

Thanks! I'll try to work through the hole in the top of the tunnel first, keeping the suggestion to pull it all backwards in reserve. I seem to remember an aircraft nut on the bottom that is a pain to remove.

[Pfreen]

Check the ball joint bearing on the shift lever as well. Rd sells that bearing.

[Gary t]

Check the shoulder/pivot bolt also mine was badly worn.
Hard enough to get in there once no use doing it over.

[Gary t]

The Bolt should not turn when you remove the nut as there should be a bar welded to the fork to prevent it from turning.

[BobW]

I'd forgotten that.  Thanks.

[BobW]

I don’t know about the bushes, (I have the nylon), but to replace them, I disconnected the rear link from the transmission and the middle joint from the engine.  Then, remove the four nuts holding the shifter in place.  You can then pull the whole assembly back to reveal the shifter and bushing bolt through the hole in the tunnel.  It is still a bit of a pain, but a lot easier than trying to get to the bolt and bushing with the shifter attached.

i quickly saw the advantage of disconnecting the gear linkage, which I did in front of the engine. The rod and gear lever then slid back far enough that it wasn't too painful to work inside the tunnel. In addition to the bar welded to right hand side of the fork, there is also a washer under the head of the bolt with a large tab that just fits inside the bar. I tied the bronze bushes into the shift lever with fine sewing thread so as not to inadvertently drop one as I fitted the base of the lever back into the fork. I lubricated the captive ball with Silglyde. The shifting action has improved with the removal of the slop at the base of the lever. I also tightened further the bushes at the lateral linkage rod where it bolts into the gearbox housing.

My notes say this is my first time inside the linkage since 1990, when I did not have the correct bushes and used a thick nylon washer that fitted over the fat part of the bolt. I should not have to do this job again 

[Steve_Lindford]

These are from SJ Sports cars - I presume that two are needed??
https://www.sjsportscars.com/parts-and-accessories/SJ535.htm

[BDA]

Yep! Those are the ones!

[Fotog]

... to replace them, I disconnected the rear link from the transmission and the middle joint from the engine.  Then, remove the four nuts holding the shifter in place.

Do I understand that the screws are captive in the plate underneath inside the tunnel?  It's easy to anticipate the screws getting lost in there otherwise.  They aren't shown on the parts diagram.  Correcting wobbly shifter is on my list of improvements necessary.

-Vince

[Pfreen]

The four nuts are removed from the top of the tunnel.  Then, the four threaded bolts and the gear shifter slip through into the tunnel.  The four threaded bolts are threaded into shifter bearing housing keeping its two halves together.  Thus, no  hardware falls into the tunnel.

[Fotog]

Thank you.  Glad to hear that!
-V