Gear change

[rowge]

SE 1989, just back on road, I can only find 5th gear 50 percent of the time, my hand is close to the CD player in 1st and 3rd, yesterday 2nd was difficult, is this likely to be adjustment, or replacement of balljoints, they are a bit slack.

[Sparky]

Bit of both, I'd say.  Refurb the translator.  If you have the manual, it'll tell you how to do an initial setup for the gearchange, but I find all Esprits are slightly different and you can refine by trial and error.  Best to have an assistant sitting in the car whilst adjusting - saves time!

 

Master gearchange can also get a bit sloppy, but translator is normally the culprit.

[andydclements]

If it's adjustment then the gate will be skewed , either 1st, 3rd, 5th & reverse all to right too far or left too far, back too far or forward too far.

If the gate is wide so reverse is too far left and 5th too far right, 3rd too far forward and 4th too far back, then it's slack in the system. This can be ball joints, cables moving (cable tie them in a few places), translator bearings or bushes in selector, possibly a mix of more than one or anything that's not secured as it should be (bolts loose etc). 

 

Of course it can also be internals of the box wearing but it's far less likely than those service/ disposable causes.

 

 

Have somebody move the gear stick gently and only a small amount while you look at the ball joint movement and try and restrict it. If the cable moves with no slack but the shaft into the gearbox has slack then suspect ball joints. If there's slack between gear stick and cables check the cables are not moving, if they are static then suspect the brass & rubber bushes in the selector mechanism.

[rowge]

Had a visit to the hard shoulder today due to rose joint failure during gear change, managed to get the car into 3rd gear and got off the hard shoulder and to work, now wired the rose joint together temporarily to get home now have reverse 2nd and 4th, what luxury, anyway PNM, SJs and esprit engineering do kits any thoughts on which is best value/best fit cheers Steve

[dodge1979]

I fitted a pnm kit just under 3 yrs ago...ive just replaced all joints again due to wear, im not saying theres is no good. But equally, the others may not be wonderful..

[rowge]

Ordered PNM kit today, then cut luggage tray in half to get easy access to translator, 4 rose joints shot also I have the cross shaft support bearing which was seized solid in its bracket and very loose on cross shaft and also the bracket was loose should i get a new bearing or upgrade to cross shaft sleeve, also not sure what gear I was in when I removed translator, do I need to be in neutral to install new kit if so how do I find neutral? Twist push pull until I find it? Can't wait to drive with slick great change though

Cheers Steve

[Vanya]

Neutral is probably best when working on the translator - the stick is spring loaded in the 3rd/4th gear plane at a slight angle. Mine was in the "right position" straight off although the manual states it should be held back at an angle of 7,5 degrees with the vertical axis.

 

If you have a lot of free play at the gearstick end then don't be disappointed if you notice no change whatsoever after fitting new rose joints at the translator end - you might have to complement the job with a bushing replacement at the master unit.

 

Best of luck!

[andydclements]

I keep considering the little enhancement some have done which is to stiffen the translator shaft by fitting a sleeve to it, but also considering a decent sleeve bearing so it simply cannot bend

[dodge1979]

You can twist and pull the selector shaft till yoy find neutral..youll know easy enough...get an assistant to hold the gear lever in the natural 3/4 position without moving it in order to set the cables adjustments onto the translator without pre loading the cables..

[rowge]

Translator shaft now sleeved and the sleeve welded to the end with the flange, also replaced keyway and circlip that were missing from the end of shaft, the original shaft and flange are blazed so careful when welding or the heat will cause the parts to separate, and lose alignment cheers Steve

[rowge]

PNM kit arrived, found some 6mm ball joints from RS components £15 for 4 these look more robust so have fitted these instead, will monitor wear, and carry the spare joints in the car Just in case, set up as in manual, I now have 5 gears and reverse, movement has reduced and can change up and down at high revs, happy days, still think it can be improved so will look at front linkage when I refurb interior over the winter