Thread: Gearstick

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Another thing that could help put excessive force on the lever is that the engagement teeth on unsynchronised gears tend to get worn so that they don't just slide nicely past each other, and more force really does not help.

The design is not really ideal as there is a stress riser with the sharp angle between the lever and the ball, right at the point of maximum stress.

Iyo John,wouldn't welding be a negative for adding more stress/brittle at the bottom of the shaft therefore making it a "weaker" shaft? Ok as a temporary measure but not one for permanency?
The shaft material would be of a better/harder quality to fulfill it's function not some old bit of soft mild steel

The secret is to build up the shaft for about an inch above the ball into a sort of cone. Seems to solve the issue for (in my case) decades. I rather doubt the material is anything better than good mild steel, and I seriously doubt it is heat treated in any way. The occasional one I have rethreaded has not seemed to be anything better than that.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

The secret is to build up the shaft for about an inch above the ball into a sort of cone. Seems to solve the issue for (in my case) decades. I rather doubt the material is anything better than good mild steel, and I seriously doubt it is heat treated in any way. The occasional one I have rethreaded has not seemed to be anything better than that.

Thanks. That would support the weld like an all round diagonal Prop. A Butress in fact.
Excellent thought.

That was more or less the way mine had been welded. Anyway it lasted for the couple of hundred thousand kilometres I did while I owned. It wasn't pretty, but it did the job.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

The secret is to build up the shaft for about an inch above the ball into a sort of cone. Seems to solve the issue for (in my case) decades. I rather doubt the material is anything better than good mild steel, and I seriously doubt it is heat treated in any way. The occasional one I have rethreaded has not seemed to be anything better than that.

Good thinking!

Now that the Surf Coast is out of lockdown tomorrow, I can go and find a friendly machine shop/engineering place and see if they'll weld it for me (although I suppose I could add welder to the list of lockdown "essentials" for the future )

Or new gear levers are available for around 20quid from various places in the UK, which is tempting.

If getting a new lever, be aware that they are different between the four and the six, also that Series 3 is different again, so make sure you are ordering the right one. Critical differences are the bends.

Thanks JD.
I'm already finding that out!
My gear lever appears to have 2 bends in it and from what I can find out is part FRC1454.
This seems to have been superceded by FRC2046 which is for RHD 4 cyl and only has the one bend straight after the ball.

I'll try and get mine welded first....

With only one bend it will either foul the governor lever fitted as a hand throttle on may Australian 2as, or make life difficult for the centre passenger. Series 3 has only one bend, but the lever is not used on it, and there is more clearance on the dash where the instrument panel is on the 2a.