Unable to select gears

South Gippy Rover

Active Member
Aaarrrgghhhh!
At some point over the weekend someone has replaced my gearstick with a broom handle and a bucket of marbles!
The gear selection was never that great but now it’s almost impossible.
Now very difficult to select any gear including reverse.
Gear selection seems ok with the engine off.
Car is a 1975 3500s.

Guided by this forum’s previous post I have removed the gear lever and the acorn bush is fine.

However, the bush (90622363) that sits in the selector arm is missing.

Also, looking under the car I san see that I am missing one of the two bushes (591353) that slip over the selector rod and the second bush has slipped along the rod and is now out of position.

As I will order the offending items from Wadhams to Australia I want to make sure I get all the parts first time.

I want to check the bush on selector finger and have read the advice on this old post below but I am not quite sure what I am looking for.
I have removed the rubber plug and I can see the selector finger move as I go through the gears but I’m not sure where the bush is meant to be located.

Sloppy Gearshift 4cyl manual

Any advice appreciated.
Thanks,
Paul.
 
Are you sure that your car is fitted with 90622363, only the very late cars had them, and had the steel acorn on the bottom of the lever to match it.
If selection is OK without the engine running that's possibly a clutch problem. Is the spherical seat on the gearlever OK? The selector striker lever wears and then there is excess movement on it in the selector rods. The back of the gearbox has to be dropped right down to fit that (and 591353) to be able to remove the remote. Don't allow the engine to come too far back otherwise the rocker cover will break the petrol reserve tap.
 
Hi Harveyp6,
Thanks for the reply.
I’m not sure if my car was definitely fitted with part 90622363. I didn’t notice if the end of the gear lever was metal or plastic as it was covered in grease. I will remove it again and double check.
The spherical seat on the gear lever appears ok but I will replace it to save revisiting in the future.
Apologies for my ignorance, but what part is the selector striker lever. Is this the finger on the end of the selector rod?

Also, I have considered the clutch been at fault but the pedal feels no different. Saying that I’ve driven less than 50 kms all in since the car passed its roadworthy :(
With the clutch pedal fully depressed this is the position of the slave. I’m not sure how far back the skave should push the clutch lever. Does this look acceptable?

00961AB9-2B28-4AFF-B102-C87E6D96524B.jpeg

Thanks again.
Paul.
 
I’m not sure if my car was definitely fitted with part 90622363. I didn’t notice if the end of the gear lever was metal or plastic as it was covered in grease. I will remove it again and double check.

There should be a groove in the ring on the selector rod to take the bush, if that isn't there it doesn't have one.

The spherical seat on the gear lever appears ok but I will replace it to save revisiting in the future.

Good idea.

Apologies for my ignorance, but what part is the selector striker lever. Is this the finger on the end of the selector rod?

It is.


Also, I have considered the clutch been at fault but the pedal feels no different. Saying that I’ve driven less than 50 kms all in since the car passed its roadworthy :(
With the clutch pedal fully depressed this is the position of the slave. I’m not sure how far back the skave should push the clutch lever. Does this look acceptable?

View attachment 12315

If that's with your foot on the clutch I'd say it isn't set up correctly.

Here's how to set up the clutch:

Pull back the carpet and underlay and set the brake pedal height between the bottom of the pedal and the floor to 6 & 7/8"
Set the clutch pedal level with the brake. This is done on the threaded rod into the master cylinder (under the bonnet on the 3500S).
Push the clutch operating arm rearward until the release bearing touches the pressure plate and make sure the arm is one spline forward from vertical. Remove the arm and move it on the splines if it's not, and take care not to drop the nut in the bellhousing.
Pull back the slave cylinder boot. Adjust the pushrod so that the piston is about 1" away from the circlip. (Pedal at rest)
Wind the stop bolt all the way in. (Thats the one in the footwell.)
Then get someone to slowly depress the pedal as you look at the piston in the slave. What you need to get is the piston just touching the circlip when the pedal is on the stop, and you achieve this by adjusting the pushrod each time just before the pedal is depressed.
Once you get to the point that putting your foot on the clutch down to the stop makes the piston touch the circlip in the slave, lock the nut on the pushrod.
Then wind the stop bolt up one turn, and lock it with the nut.
Depress the pedal again and make sure there is at least 25thou clearance between the piston and the circlip in the slave.
If not wind the stop bolt up a little at a time.

Also make sure that the gearbox has the correct amount of oil.
 
Thanks for the info. I have read it previously and is very thorough. Thank you. It sounds more appealing than dropping the gearbox.
Is it as tricky as it reads?

Also, am I correct in assuming that the clutch lever should pivot further towards the back of the car with the clutch pedal fully depressed?

I forgot to mention previously that I did top up the gearbox oil. It was quite low, needing 0.8 litres. Hope no damage has been done.

Also, my clutch pedal must sit too high. On closer inspection there is a 3” spring (not in any of the books or illustrations) pulling the clutch pedal back down towards the floor so it stays in line with the brake pedal.
I will upload a photo when I get home from work this evening.

Removing the spring allows the clutch pedal to rise an extra 1-2”. (Way too high). Although there is absolutely no resistance felt when pushing the clutch pedal down through the extra travel gained with the spring removed.
The lower end of the spring hooks through a nut attached to a bracket welded to the floor. The nut/bracket combo looks original and like it should be there. Any ideas on its purpose if it’s not for after market springs?
Again, I will upload a photo this evening.

Cheers,

Paul.

Added a couple more photos to better demonstrate the clutch pedal.

631E7F1D-01D3-4061-8AF2-7D61F59468A1.jpeg
 

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Success!!!
The acorn bush was the culprit.
Although it looks ok I had nothing to compare it to.
I bought a new one and then realised how poor the original one actually was when they were side by side.
I still need to adjust the clutch pedal but I can now drive the car once more.

Thanks once again guys for all your help. :)
Paul.
 
Sorry to revive this old thread, but this is exactly where I am now. '77 TC. I removed the gear lever. The Nylon spherical seat bush appears to be Ok. Putting a strong light into the hole I can see a grooved rod, which the "acorn" slots into presumably. Should there be a bush here? 90622363? Thought I was nearly finished, apparently not. I'll go ahead and order a new seat bush anyway, should I get the other too?


20221018_163218.jpg
 
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That's brilliant Vern, when I was cleaning around it looked like something had completely disintegrated. I guessing that's what it was!
Would this be the right p/n 90622363 ?
 
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