Broken Bolt in Shifter Bearing Bracket

[arbita1]

I was reinstalling my shift housing today and one of the smaller bolts that attaches to the shift housing to the bearing bracket sheared off. The shaft of the bolt is in the bracket now.

What do I do? Just drill out the shaft and the rest should fall out?

[Oh Haha]

Start with a drill bit smaller in diamater than the sheared section. Drill straight through and progress to larger size bits until the threaded portion comes out.

The concept is to chew away the broken section but leave the threaded outside diameter.

I'm curious as to how you sheared the bolt, though. Was it crossthreaded?

[Walt Fricke]

If I've got the right bolt in mind - the one which holds the bracket which has the round bushing through which the long tube shaft runs, I'd just take it back apart. That way you can get the bracket, which will have the stub of the bolt in it, on your work bench. Much easier to work on it there in a vice.

If you just overtorqued it, or it was a defective bolt somehow, you should be able to screw the stub out. Nothing much should be holding it since there is now zero torque on it. There is probably some of it sticking out, and you ought to be able to unscrew this with your fingers.

If it is cross threaded or otherwise mucked up, you can try to drill it out, use a reverse twist drill, weld a nut on it, do this, do that. If you screw up the threads in the fitting, you can fix them with inserts.

But you can probably get a replacement bracket for very little money, and a used one for even less.

Walt

[arbita1]

I'm not sure what I did. I had all the bolts in loose so everything was lined up. I think I may have over-torqued it. (I was lazy and didn't check the torque before tightening it.)

It might be cross threaded too. It's really hard to get everything lined up. How do you guys get the shifter attached to the bracket. You have to lift the shift lever up to engage the bolts.

[schumicat]

re: your question, I have just been messing with the shifter to install the Seine gate kit, and I didn't have to lift the lever to attach the shifter to the bracket. I was able to bolt everything up with the bracket in place, just by lining up the holes in place (shifter to bracket and shifter to chassis).

Originally Posted by arbita1

I'm not sure what I did. I had all the bolts in loose so everything was lined up. I think I may have over-torqued it. (I was lazy and didn't check the torque before tightening it.)

It might be cross threaded too. It's really hard to get everything lined up. How do you guys get the shifter attached to the bracket. You have to lift the shift lever up to engage the bolts.

[arbita1]

Originally Posted by schumicat

re: your question, I have just been messing with the shifter to install the Seine gate kit, and I didn't have to lift the lever to attach the shifter to the bracket. I was able to bolt everything up with the bracket in place, just by lining up the holes in place (shifter to bracket and shifter to chassis).

When I do that the socket screws do not reach. I used a string looper around the shift rod and pulled through the shifter housing to lift up the rod and then try to align and thread the screws. It's a real PITA.

Why do my screws not reach and yours do?

[schumicat]

I may have an 84+ shifter housing (the Seine instructions say an opening in the housing had to be enlarged for 84+ models and I had to enlarge it even though I have an 82). I have no idea if it uses the same bolts. My bolts were allen head (I think 2 smaller ones for bracket were 4mm and 3 larger ones were 5mm).

[911pcars]

Originally Posted by arbita1

When I do that the socket screws do not reach. I used a string looper around the shift rod and pulled through the shifter housing to lift up the rod and then try to align and thread the screws. It's a real PITA.

Why do my screws not reach and yours do?

As Walt suggested, remove the support bracket and remove the broken screw thread. Inspect the threads, then reinstall.

When properly installed, the shift tube support bracket sits on top of the tunnel, sandwiched between it and the shift housing assy. It sounds like you're trying to install the entire bracket below the tunnel. This might be the reason you feel the existing M6 screws aren't long enough.

Hope this helps,
Sherwood

[arbita1]

Originally Posted by 911pcars

As Walt suggested, remove the support bracket and remove the broken screw thread. Inspect the threads, then reinstall.

When properly installed, the shift tube support bracket sits on top of the tunnel, sandwiched between it and the shift housing assy. It sounds like you're trying to install the entire bracket below the tunnel. This might be the reason you feel the existing M6 screws aren't long enough.

Hope this helps,
Sherwood

You're totally right. I was installing wrong and I had no idea. I think it was this way originally when I took it apart. Thanks!

[911pcars]

Originally Posted by schumicat

I may have an 84+ shifter housing (the Seine instructions say an opening in the housing had to be enlarged for 84+ models and I had to enlarge it even though I have an 82). I have no idea if it uses the same bolts. My bolts were allen head (I think 2 smaller ones for bracket were 4mm and 3 larger ones were 5mm).

The opening on the side of the shift housing is required when upgrading to to one of the factory short shifters. The shift lever pivot points are higher on these versions and allowance must be made for our longer pivot pin to exit the housing. The shift housing mounting bolts remain the same; M8 (3) and M6 (2).

BTW, the Weltmeister short shift kit uses an approximate 1/2" (~12mm) thick spacer under the shift housing which requires slightly longer bolts all around (usually supplied in the WM kit).

Sherwood
Seine Systems

[911pcars]

Originally Posted by arbita1

You're totally right. I was installing wrong and I had no idea. I think it was this way originally when I took it apart. Thanks!

No problem. Installation orientation of this bracket is a common misconception.

Sherwood

[arbita1]

Tonight I removed the shifter housing again. I was able to unscrew the broken shaft out of the bearing bracket with some needle nose plyers. It came out very easily, so I guess there isn't any damage to the threads on the bracket.

I installed the bracket in the right position this time. It was so much easier.

After I bolted everything in, I made a few shifts to see how it feels. The throws feel so much smoother now. I guess the ball cup, shift rod, and shift lever were all out of alignment due to the way I had installed it. That combined with the short shifter and Seine System kit really makes the shifting feel almost "normal". Of course this is just dry shifting in my garage with no shift knob. So I couldn't get the total feel.

Tomorrow, I'll try to get a new M6x20 socket screw from the hardware store and get everything back together. I can't to go for a test drive. Thanks for the help.