Push down for reverse has lost its spring!

[vern4130]

Hi all, been a while since I've been here as bigger project has taken over (house!), so the van has been a little neglected, please forgive me!

Anyway, as the subject suggests, I have a gearbox prob...cant find a solution on wiki or archive so...

Have been out and about in the van today, no probs at all, last stop at the shop I came back out and tried to get into reverse, it would push down but not go forward to select the gear. I tried letting the clutch out in neutral as that does the job sometimes but still no go. Then I gave it a real good shove and it went in, but didn't sound happy about it.

I drove home and the shifting was really odd, sounded bad and but I could get all gears, and Reverse I didn't need to push down for.

I;ve parked up and it seems the gear stick has dropped a bit basically, so I can get all gears without pushing down at all, I can lift the stick up about 10mm and so I guess whatever spring used to hold it up in that position has died and fallen out on my way home.

Can anyone help with:

1. Does this matter short term? Can I drive around with it like this (best man at a wedding in a couple of weeks and need to stay in the van)
2. Fixing it (!), do you know what it is thats died and what needs doing to fix it? I'm pretty competent but dont have garage facitilites any more so fingers crossed I can lift off the mechanism visible under the rubber gaiter in the cab, replace that and all will be well?!!

Any help appreciated, cheers!

[KINGPRAWN]

Have you checked that the collar that keeps tension on the spring hasn't slipped up the stick??... You need a little hex key to tighten it again!

[CovKid]

If you look at the base of your gear lever, you'll probably find that the spring, which should rest against the plastic onion, has now sunk into it and the gear lever dropped by 1/2" or so. It has reached the end of its useful life. Ask me how I know.....

Try lifting the stick to see what I mean.

You just need a new gear lever repair kit (front). - You don't need garage facilities either really. Explanation here for front repair:

https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Ge ... hanism_Pt1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Look at your gear lever and compare to this pic, noting how spring sits against onion?

[vern4130]

Thanks guys, had a quick look and CovKid think you might be right. Not doing bad for over 200,000 on the clock I suppose!

Sounds like I might need one of these then http://www.brickwerks.co.uk/index.php/t ... -14mm.html

Thanks for the link to the renovation page, very useful. On mine it looks like the repair kit section I linked to above unbolts from inside the cab, does this mean I can do the repair without dropping out the linkage do you know? If no one knows there's one way to find out!

Cheers again

[CovKid]

You are correct, you can do the part change from above.

You'll probably find that parts beneath onion are also shot/worn but this shouldn't stop plans for the wedding. That aspect could wait. You could I suppose in an emergency (considered it myself at one point) slide down a small washer with an internal diameter of 14mm (12mm on others) that the spring can sit on, but to be honest thats a bit of a bodge and you'd be better off replacing the onion. Note my additional comments in the WIKI on using a little abrasive paper on the onion to stop it catching. The Brickwerks 14mm kit is a compromise (a modded 12mm kit) and whilst it works great, a little time spent removing the hard edge I mention, makes for smoother movement.

Ah, the joys of a 5 speed mechanism....

Oh, and you'll need a grip like Desperate Dan to assemble the new onion.

[vern4130]

Brilliant, thanks for the help

Kit arrived from brickwerks today and looks good. Looking at the van the bit the spring sits on has totally gone! Hopefully relatively straight forward swap.

Thanks for the advice and good work on the Wiki that stuff really helps.

I'm off to have a few cow pies in preparation for swapping the 12mm bit for the 14mm bit