Gear change issues / crunching / excess play

[bmouthboyo]

Hi Guys,

A while back I had an issue with my clutch slave piston leaking and as a result with only 50 meters to go to my drive I had to get the van back using only a partially engaging and disengaging clutch. After a lot of jerking, forcing and crunching I got into my drive.

However at this point it was stuck firm in 1st gear. In my rage at the situation I used brute force to pull it out of first gear, she was stuck fast!

I heard what I think sounded like a spring or piece of metal drop, from what I thought sounded like the front area under the cab.

Anyway no she has a lot of play changing gears and if I do not double clutch it crunches when going into 1st. It also sometimes pops out of 3rd gear.

I am abroad at the moment so not able to work on her but wanted to gather some advice as to what my situation might be. I have attached some pictures I took of the linkage area up front under the cab. Do they show anything out of place? I was unsure why there is rub marks on the side of the casing?

Cheers

[bmouthboyo]

If I had pulled the gear stick so hold it changed the positioning of the shift rod, so in effect moving one of the gear level joints, could that cause crunching?

Similar to when people replace parts of the gear linkage and don't put it back together the same.

[Winchweight]

You can get all the parts to refurb the gear linkage from Brickwerks and those front bits are a doddle and took me just an hour to do. I've not done the other linkages down the line but provided you take care with the alignment, they shouldn't be too hard to change.

Also consider doing the onion bearing where it passes into the cab. Mine was shot and I couldn't get into gear, and the lever sometimes got stuck. Changed this and all is silky smooth now.

I suppose if your linkages are poorly set up and damaged then you could end up crunching the gears. Refurb the linkages, then try it, it's cheaper than sending off your gearbox. But when you've done it, if the issues remain, talk to Aidan Talbot, gearbox refurb guru and forum member.