Renovating 5 speed manual gearbox

[samdub]

Hi there,

I'm new here so apologies in advance for any general numptiness and breaking of rules etc.

I recently acquired a 1984 T25 camper with a 1.9L engine and 5 speed box. 2nd through 5th are pretty smooth but 1st and reverse are a bit of an effort so I've been reading the excellent article on the wiki about this with the idea of having a crack at the renovation with a mate.

I can see that there's the spring and pin that creates the detent for selecting 1st and reverse, and since mine needs a hefty push to engage the mechanism and makes a hefty clunk when going 1st to 2nd, I think that renovation of that front assembly might help. Does this sound reasonable and something that an enthusiastic amateur could take on?

Also I remember having a polo back in the day from the same year which had the same detent mechanism to engage reverse but not for first so I was wondering whether the push action is really needed to select first or whether it should engage (dog leg style like a Ferrari so I read haha!) without needing to push down?

Cheers, Sam

[Aidan]

Sam
you shouldn't have to push down to get 1st only reverse, but you do have to push against the spring in the bottom of the gearstick.
Reverse should be sideways against the spring, then down and forward, 1st should just be against spring pressure then back. Start at the back, cup and ball should be clean, greased and booted and well mated, rear bush reasonably snug on the shaft, ditto front bush and ball the stick pivots in should be reasonably firm and sprung upwards in usual position not loose and dropping through the floor
Most of the necessary parts to refurbish are available from brickwerks and the usual outlets, there are a couple of bits at the stick end that are nla and because of the springs can get propelled across the workshop when dismantling so be aware
go for it

[samdub]

Many thanks for that Aidan. I feel emboldened to dig more deeply into this now

She's having a new set of tyres fitted at the moment (I think that the spare was the original haha!) so when I get her back then I'll get back underneath and take your advice about starting at the back and then working forward

[CovKid]

Sound advice from Aidan as always. There can't be many original gearchange mechanisms now that are not worn out. The length alone means more torque required at gearstick for the changes and eventually it takes its toll, along with grit from the road. Go for it. The WIKI should guide you perfectly.