Gear Stick Fix?

[pocolow]

Today I joined the growing ranks of Vans whose gear sticks have snapped.. . As you can see in the picture it has snapped where the grub screw /spring collar fits (the collar then fell out under the van ,but thankfully I found it). As it is a five speed stick I don't think new ones are available and a repair will be needed. Can the stick be fixed in place or do I have to remove it (how do I do that?) And what are the best way folks have used to fix the sticks.

Many Thanks, Mark

[pocolow]

My emergency fix is to jam a knife sharpening steel in from out of the kitchen drawer ..not quite factory spec.

[Titus A Duxass]

Bernd Jaeger does have new 5 speed 2wd gear levers (Schalthebel) in his shop for 99€

[AdrianC]

Are they prone to it, then? Is there any warning, or do they just go?

[Aidan]

Mark, 'fraid you'll have to strip it out of the van, that's all done from below with the wheel out of the carrier, pretty straight forward really, even on a TD like yours, basically remove the box, 4 m6 bolts, unjoin the gearstick and the front to back shaft, watch out for the nylon bushes falling out, and I think on a diesel you then undo the bracket attaching it all to the cahssis and bring the stick remains and plate etc.. down, but I have never done one on a TD so I may be wrong - on a petrol the gearstick is above the floor so just lifts up, but the TD floor is different hence the bracket in mid air

repair - tap both parts of the stick at M10 then get some threaded bar screw into one, then screw the other down, make some alignment marks using the grub screw depression as point of reference then weld the whole lot together and then grind it back to get a nice smooth stick, drill a new depression for the grub screw and refit it all

yes it's an issue, especially as the guides and the like get worn and gear selection becomes harder and peeps force them, the grub screw causes a stress fracture and the hollow stick isn't the best piece of metal the world has ever seen

[pocolow]

Ta for that Aidan, is is worth getting a repair kit off Brickwerks and doing all the bushes, springs, ect beneath the gear stick whilst it's out

Mark

[Aidan]

I guess it depends how the shift was before the stick broke, usually on 5 speed it's worn guides and the like that cause the difficulty in selecting gear and I'm still waiting for Ian SB to bring those and a repair kit into being to sort that out

[pocolow]

Dropped the spare wheel and had a look tonight...seems relatively straight forward, though I noticed the rubber bellows that cover the indent spring at the bottom of the gear lever has disintegrated and the spring is all over the place so that will need replacing too.

[peasant]

Mine broke a tiny bit further up.
Compressed the spring (good old cable ties) stuck an M10 Coachbolt (without head or thread) into both halves, aligned the two halves and had it welded together in situ. The nice fat weld now serves as "collar screw", holding the spring in place and the collar just sits loosely on top.

Has been working fine for a few months now.

But as your mechanics look pretty goosed, you might as well do it right

[Plasticman]

Wish I had a picky of mine but
After removing the stick assembly I cut the bottom bit (the hollow ) flush with the solid bar its attatched to, I then turned the stick down so it fitted inside the slightly opened up hollow bit and welded same,
I then welde a bar to the side of this to give support and prevent future breaks,
with a bit of heat I realigned the stick to a position I liked and made sure it was straight up to where the new grub screw hole would be, I slightly domed a washer to fit in place of the welded flange and tacked this on the underside, reassembled it all and marked the position of the spring retainig clamp, drilled a location hole and put it all back together, been ok for a few years, infact it cant now break,
the original design is Im sorry to say flawed.
this job sound a lot but almost quicker that writing it and certainly easier.
you get stuck give me a call and I'll do it for you
mike

[pocolow]

Have ordered the gear lever repair kit and new bellows for the indent spring from Brickwerks, whilst that's coming I will dismantle the gear lever and see if I can get it welded locally with some of the suggestions everyone has given me tonight...Thanks Guys

Mark

[pocolow]

Been dismantling the gear shift linkage box (beneath the gearlver) to get the lever out so it can be welded. Being a 5 speed box you have to jack up the front off the van and then take the spare tyre out to get to the linkage box. This is what you see.

After taking out the bolt connecting the front shift rod from the bottom of the gear lever, there were 8 other bolts to remove .(four bolting the box to the van floor and four holding the silver supporting strap). The complete box then can be lowered out(being careful to ease it past the coolant hoses and cables)
Then this is what you have..



Two more bolts out and then you can lift the lever plate off..

The old lever plate and plastic guides was replaced with a nice newly assembled one built up from the repair kit (Brickwerks)

After a good cleaning the shift linkage box looked better, but I'm trying to discern whether the shift guides are excessively worn or are they ment to look like this...what do you reckon?



Mark

[billy739]

the front guide is worn , they are meant to be the same and like the nearest one.

dosent seem to be a problem tho as long as everything else is ok.

learn where the gears are when driving. dont put pressure on the stick excessivly.

if you read the instruction manual it will tell you not to keep your hand on the stick when not changing ger as it will wear the b gearbox and shift mechanism excessivly!

[pocolow]

Got the welded gear lever back today(reinforcing bolt in the hollow lever at the break) .So I reassembled the lever with new lever plate, spring and new bellows over the detent spring at the bottom of the lever. The worn shift guides will have to wait for now. Hopefully tomorrow I will refit the lever to the van and reconect the forward shift rod with the new bolt and bush's supplied in the kit.

Mark

[pocolow]

All refitted to the van and glad to say it feels a lot better with more precise gear selection and the welded gear lever is holding up nicely. One thing though as you can see from the pictures the old detente spring had become partially detached when the bellows around it had rotted. (so I had no reference to how it fitted)

The spring appears to fit over a sliding metal shaft at the bottom of the gear lever and is held in place with a cir-clip. Then the plastic bellows go over this. The purpose of this (on a 5 speed) is to keep the lever in the 2nd/3rd..4th/5th neutral position. To get 1st or reverser you are pushing against the spring covered shaft.(still following) However since this never worked before now ,I have no idea how it should feel. Now when changing from 1st to 2nd there is a definite click coming from this spring /shaft arrangement. Have I put it together right? is this normal? . Any advice or ideas would be gratefully received.


Mark