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MG MGF Technical - Gear linkage cable ..

Hi all,

managed to get the broken gearing finally done today.

Remember, I hit a small rock on the road 4 weeks ago. Ball joint broke off from gear cable end, bracket for gear cable crumpled. And some minor dents to the underbody.

However after getting all together with help of a self made adaptor all worked well so far, but the reverse gear played up nearly never working.

The reason was easy to find. The *working range* got to short due to the added adaptor measure. Solution was to cut about three mils off from the plastic guide tube where the cable end shaft gets out.

Got the gear lever adjusted without dismantling the gear stick assy. There was enough thread to get the gearstick *back* to correct neutral location.

Another interest finally went on any resolution regarding the slackly wonky gear stick...
SSK-kit ??? no, to expensive for someone who just buys a new flat ;)
Will go for one in next year, probably.

No, silly old Dieter used a DIY spacer sheet metal and beloved 2-component adhesive to getting rid of the play ;-)
Still crap, but improvement by 70% (IMO)
I just tightened both lock-nuts/bolts to play "zero" and pushed a 0.5mm aluminum sheet metal between housing an the white plastic slide. OK, it rubs and the stick is calm now.

I think it was Mike S. who said the other day:
Just forget any try to improve the existing gear stick assy.
My comment: "Mike, you are so right. !" Please keep an SSK in stock 4me :-) 2be ordered 2005.

Pics of this _?interesting?_ ;-) unusual repair of an unusual problem.
http://www.mgfcar.de/gear_select/bad_road.html
On top and half way down are new pics. Far down a selection of older.
Site gets improved of course... at any time.

Regards
Dieter
PS. found the hard top heated window not working after having closed the radio console ... Errrr !!
Dieter K.

Nice work Dieter ! Ubung macht meister,nicht wahr?
Sorry to say it seems that we will not meet on this years "Electronica" ;O(.
BR, Carl.
Carl Blom

Nice work Dieter :o) But an SSK would be better for faster slick changes perhaps - when finances allow! :o)
Rob Bell

>SSK would be better for faster slick changes perhaps - when finances allow! :o)

Yes, but from having seen the original and the craftsman design SSK, I think it's an improvement on *play/clearance* and feeling at the gear stick.
A 25k Euro sports car shouldn't have such poor detail installed. *Savings at the wrong place*.

However, I'm pleased with the silly DIY add on sheet metal spacer currently. http://www.mgfcar.de/gear_select/assy_bracket.jpg

I had a londer test ride today through Hersfeld City. Nothing to worry about gearing. It feels like from new now. Not perfect, but reasonable.
Would recommend this re-working for other who have the skills to getting of the radio console, tighen the gear stick hinges and fill the gap between housing and plastic slide.

@Carl,
sorry you couldn't make it this year. :(

> Ubung macht meister,nicht wahr?
LOL.. for sure. :)

Regards
Dieter
Dieter K.

Neat solution there Dieter.
Rob Bell

WRT the MS Slickshift.......they certainly improve the feeling and operation of the gearshift.....however, I have fitted two of them now in our racing cars and in one the gearstick itself cracked at the point where it enters the alloy and on the other, both the gearstick broke in the same place as the other one cracked and the small bolt in the bottom of the alloy which drives the cable broke in a similar fashion. For the moment they have been rethreaded until I find time to make a gearshift out of Superman D*ck material. I never cease to be amazed at how many racing cars over the years have failed to finish due to broken gearshifts and broken throttle cables. Obviously the gearlevers are subjected to much higher loads than the designers anticipate, and usually the throttle levers are not properly adjusted and the cables tend to be undersized for the job they do, presumably to keep yhem flexible.

Racing this weekend at Sandown. Our grid is 37 cars ranging from TCs through to MGFs. The quickest cars are MGBs fitted with 5litre V8s against which we do not have much chance in our MGF. Still we all have tremendous fun and the cameraderie is fantastic.

Regards....David M

d mottram

Dieter

Nice work. "but the reverse gear played up nearly never working."

I wonder if yours is just an extreme example of bad adjustment making reverse gear crunch. Before my gear cable finally broke, the crunch was getting more frequent and I just put it down to the age of the car, (my wife said it was my drving). Since replacing the cable and adjusting it, I've have no problems at all.

If others are suffering from a bad case of the reverse crunch, it would be worth taking at the gearbox end of the cables for excessive play in the system.

Chris
Chris

> it would be worth taking at the gearbox end of the cables for excessive play in the system.

Fully agree.
Another matter IMO for the breaking gear cable is the _over all_ location of the flexi wire/fixed 6mm shaft within the cable.

Simple English try to explain.
The rear end of the cable does a nearly circular movement while gearing through first to fifth or reverse.

In comparison to explain.
It's like you hold a pencil horizontal agains your workdesk lead. Hold tight the tip at the desk between two fingers.

Now wove the other outer end.
The volume included by this movement is a cone.

Are you with me ?
Ok, next stage. Put the cone tip virtual to the gear cable tube rear fixture bracked (currently) as fixed point.
*see* the balljoint at the gear linkage ball *circle* with radius of the cone base.

Still with me ?
OK, this only works if the _cone tip_ is flexible, ist it ?

Now the trouble with this simple model.
In truth there are two of this cones with different _height_ due to the gearing level between gear 1-3-5 and a second cone for gearing between 2-4-R.
1-3-5 is a _high_ cone
2-4-R is a _short cone
(Don't beat me if the sequence above is written wrong, take it just as sample)

Aswell in true live we havn't movement on the full circumference, but only on segments of the cone base diameter.

Anyway, err, can't explain in English, need to have a drawing.
Showing that the point where the flexible wire part meets the strong 6mm shaft is most important for long term reliability of the cable.

Finally my theory is to adjust the rear ball joint thread as short as possible to get the _shaft2wire crimp_ inside the white tube as far as possible into direction gear linkage ball joint. So to the rear.
Missing thread for this action can be found at the front assy. It's about 1" thread lenght.

Hope this makes sense. (... I daubt) ;)

Regards
Dieter
PS. didn't mention more about the white plastic tube and its ball bearing inside the big end of the cable tube ... just to keep it as simple as possible.
Dieter K.

This thread was discussed between 31/10/2004 and 02/11/2004

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