G-50 shift tower bushings

chuckr · 01-02-2007, 06:21 AM

I did a post last year 3/24/06 about this and got a few answers.
This was for my last car.... 89 911. I now have an 88 911 with
the same problem, noisey shifting ! The shifter feels... well,...
not right, kinda sloppy, noisey, not real soild. I'm guessing
by my miles, 165,000 that it is the shifter bushings.
None of the catalogs, either here on Pelican or elsewhere
give really good pics with part numbers for what to order
or replace for the G-50. Anybody got any advice or
suggestions ?

Thanks,
Chuck

jbrinkley · 01-02-2007, 10:06 AM

http://i14.tinypic.com/2yjr0gy.jpg

chuckr · 01-03-2007, 05:40 AM

Jerry,
You helped last time with this.... and thanks !
What I was/am looking for is a part or parts that needed
to be replaced to correct this problem. Pelican has a "kit"
for the 915 shifter and has all the parts necessary to rebuild
the G-50 shifter. Are you saying that all I need is the ball
cup bushing ? what about the O-rings ? I haven't taken
the shifter out yet, so I'm not sure exactly what is going on
in there. Thanks again for your help.
Chuck

jbrinkley · 01-03-2007, 07:37 AM

I guess I'd take it out first and look for anything broken. afaik there isn't a kit to rebuild, only new parts. I'm not at home or I'd look at mine, I'm not using it.
PM if you need some more help

Crachian · 01-03-2007, 08:14 AM

Chuck, there's also a plastic bushing, 950 424 224 03, I think.

I'll confirm tonight for you (I just bought these parts but haven't put them on yet).

chuckr · 01-03-2007, 08:55 AM

Thanks, guys !
I'm looking at parts from Pelican two bushings and two o rings
911-424-139-01 ball bushing
950-424-224-03 shift rod bushing
999-701-923-40 o-ring
999-701-012-50 o-ring
is this all that might be bad ?
Thqanks,
Chuck

KTL · 01-03-2007, 10:18 AM

Yes. Those are all of the wear items in the shifter housing. The plastic sleeve mount (#3 in Jerry's picture) could possibly crack and cause some sloppiness. But that's not very likely. You can look at it closely when you take everything apart.

Another piece to look at is at the other end of the tunnel. Be sure to look at the rubber isolator (#16 = parts 16a, b, c) that connects the shift rod of the shifter to the transaxle shift rod. The rubber could be worn, cracked. It's some rather robust & durable rubber so it should be okay, but be sure to check it. To improve the feel of the shifter you could replace the isolator with an equivalent thickness spacer made of metal or plastic. Would really tighten up the feel of the shifter- and also increase noise and vibration though.

Crachian · 01-11-2007, 02:51 PM

Finally got to this project. My shift rod bushing (950 424 224 03) was in pieces, and the ball cup bushing (911-424-139-01) had a slight amount of play in it. The shifter was filthy with deterioriated foam from the shift boot liner. Here are some pics:

There are three screws securing the console. The one at the rear, under the hand brake lever is hidden under the carpet.

After removing the shift knob and three screws, I just lifted the console up and over the shift lever.

The bushing was long gone, in pieces, which is what I expected since shifting was vague with lots of play, and the shifter rattled, particularly in second and fourth gears.

The rattle was the shift rod against the housing where the bushing goes.

Once it was out, I found that the two o-rings (999 701 012 50 & 999-701-923-40) were intact, but I replaced everything.

The ball cup bushing had very little play, but as I removed it, I discovered it was cracked.

After cleaning it all up and assembling, it went back in fairly easily. There is one trick to getting the shifter back in the tunnel with the rod through the bushing.

The shift rod bushing has a cutout on rear flange. That is to allow the rod to move up into position during assembly. I slid a rag under the shift rod so I could pull it straight up as I positioned the shifter in the tunnel. You can get the last bit of clearance needed by removing the rear tunnel cover and pushing the shift rod assemby rearward as you hold the rod up (in my case with the rag cradling it like a sling) and everything just may fall into place with the end of the rod clearing the lip of the new shift bushing and then sliding into the shifter.

Here you can see the cutout in the bushing (I think the orientation was 180 degrees off when I snapped this pic:

It took me about 3 hours including vacuum time. The result is restored normal, tight shifting and no rattles.

Crachian · 01-11-2007, 02:52 PM

couple more:

jbrinkley · 01-11-2007, 04:32 PM

what kind of camera is that, it looks way better than anything I've tried

Crachian · 01-11-2007, 05:30 PM

Hey Jerry, it's a Canon A530. Amazing how far cameras have come and how cheap they are now. Did you do your shifter yet?

jbrinkley · 01-12-2007, 02:00 AM

I figured, my wife lost the power shot something we had, it was a great camera.

I've done the bushings before but now I have a WEVO G50 shifter in there.

chuckr · 01-12-2007, 05:16 AM

WoW ! Thanks Crachian, this is fantastic ! great pics and a great
write up. My bushings are on order, should get them next week.
I'm pumped now that I can see what I'm getting into.
Thanks again !
Chuck

chuckr · 01-29-2007, 05:11 AM

OK guys... I managed to get to the shift tower bushing replacement
over the weekend. Crachian... Thanks tons for your input, the rag
to hold the rod up was shere genious ! I did have to do a bit of
filing on the tunnel to get more clearence, pushing the rod back
did not do enough for me to get the rod and bushing to go
through. I followed the Bentley manual instructions to the T
had it in 4th gear, did all I knew to do, getting that assembly
abck into the tunnel was trickey, even with your rag suggestion.
Now then.... After the install I went for a test drive... things
are not quite right. I noticed a bit of notchyness in 2nd going
to 3rd. I saw where there is some play in the bolts that connect
the shift tower to the tunnel. Does it matter where the assembly
sits in the elongated holes ? I installed it exactly as it came out.
With the bolts at the top end on the elongation. Is there an
adjustment to smooth out my shifting ?
thanks
CHuck

KTL · 01-29-2007, 05:31 AM

There's an adjustment recommendation in the factory service information, and it's mentioned in an Excellence article I scanned to Pelican awhile back

G50 Shift

Ultimately, the gear selection is determined by the internal mechanism in the trans. But obviously there can be some fine tuning with the shifter housing. Otherwise your shifting wouldn't be a bit stubborn after the new bushings.

ned903 · 04-19-2008, 09:42 AM

I am finally getting around to rebuilding the shift linkage on my '87 coupe. There have been few surprises thanks primarily to the posts here and on Rennlist. Thanks to every one for the great material!

I did run into a couple of surprises. One is (I think) very minor. It appears that at some earlier time the console was removed and the front lug was broken off. I'm planning on just re-installing it this was unless some of you have a better suggestion. (see photo)

The second surprise was a largee o-ring approximately 1 3/4" around and 1/4" thick.

I have heard of a factory attempt to relieve shifter rattle that involved a large o-ring. Is that what I have here? If so, is it worth replacing and exactly how and where should it be attached. It was loose when I found it.

Thanks for any answers!

KTL · 04-19-2008, 10:32 AM

Don't worry about that console lug. My car has that lug slip into a slit in the carpet and I don't think there's a screw hole in the tunnel to secure it? Whatever the case, my lug is not connected to anything of any consequence- just a slit in the carpet. I'd not worry about it.

The shifter rattle fix is NOT located in the shifter housing location. It's located in the rearward access panel where the shift rod connects to the transmission shift shaft coupler. See the link below for some o-ring fixes related to the notoriously noisy G50 gearbox

G50 o-ring noisy rattle fixes

ned903 · 04-19-2008, 10:43 AM

Thanks a bunch! That is exactly what had been done to my car. We should all have copies of the factory service manual!

vreference · 04-19-2008, 05:07 PM

Both the Rod Bushing and the Cup were destroyed on my car. 1st and 3rd could be in the exact same position when downshifting. Quick and easy job to replace - very precise now.

ned903 · 04-19-2008, 07:11 PM

I successfully completed the rebuild this afternoon. Just in time to drive 100 miles roundtrip on great Texas roads under a full moon. Car and drive were perfection!!

Even though the rebuilt was pretty straight forward, I did learn a few of things.

1. I replaced all of the small parts. This really should be a kit as it would make getting the parts from Pelican easier and there is absolutely no reason to do this and not replaced anything that could wear out.

2. Every one is right; the hard part is getting the shaft back through the shift bushing. In stead of supporting the shaft with a towel, I used a loop of nylon twine. After I looped it under the shaft, I used the hand break lever to support the shaft. This allowed me to use both hands to wok on getting the shifter and shaft realigned.

3. I made a 5 mm gauge by stacking the leaves from a feeler gauge. This made measuring the correct setback very easy.

4. Finally, I went to the building supply store and got a large rubber washer to replace the o-ring that had been added earlier to quite the rattle. I do not know if this made any difference whatsoever, but the shifter is quite and precise now.

Thanks to everyone for there input on this. Every time I finish a project I get brave enough to tackle the next one! On to the AC. I’ll really need it in a couple of weeks.