shifter shaft

[rollin'72t]

I have a 72 911t with a very loose shifter. I have replaced the knuckle thing right behind the driver seats and also the shifter ball socket and springs.

I still have to dig to find 2nd and it comes all the way down to the driver seat.

I have also discovered the shaft that connects the shifter to the knuckle in the tunnel behind the driver seat is broken up at the shifter.

My question is does anybody know if I can remove this shaft without taking out the engine? If so can you give me a picture or a idea how?

THanks
Ben

[bfunke]

Can you post a picture? The shifter shaft should be sturdy and very difficult to break. By "knuckle thing" I assume you mean the shift coupler under the access plate on the rear floor? Moving forward there is a compressing clamp holding the shift coupler tight on the shaft splines. Further forward is an angle bracket with a ring grommet that supports the front part of the shaft just behind the shift knob. This grommet of hardens and breaks creating a very sloppy shift. From there is the metal cup which should be secured to the front end of the shaft with a square head pin bolt and safety wire. The pin should be engaged into a hole in the side of the shaft and tightened so there is no play. The safety wire keeps it from backing out. The nylon socket seated on the ball end of the shift lever should securely sit in the cup. Look at the shifter base. The plate with the springs at the bottom should not be excessively worn and should be retained with a couple of sturdy springs over pins held in by circlips. Above the plate is a large taper spring with nylong bushings that shoud not be broken. Finally the socket in the base may be cracked or corroded through and open up when shifting between gates creating slop.

I can't recall if the shift rod can be removed from the front but removing the engine is certainly easier than removing the fuel tank so I'd just plan on dropping the engine if you need to replace that rod.

[Bob Kontak]

Nice write-up bfunke.

Ben - Here is a link with a diagram. I have never read of the shift tube/rod failing. Doubt it is your problem.

Loose gear shift.

[Scott R]

The shift rod failed on my SC, in bumper to bumper traffic no less. There is an "end" on the shaft that's epoxied to the main shaft, it can get lose. I followed a helpful response to my posting of this same question and it worked.

Remove the transaxel cross member
jack up the rear of the engine
pull the shaft out

It's a tight fit but you can do it. I then welded the epoxy section together forever. Why the factory used glue on this is beyond me. But my worn shifting components, and worn transaxel caused an excessive amount of wear on that end piece and it broke free.

Might be your issue as well...

[RoninLB]

my 1977 shaft is two parts welded at the forward end

the weld may start to split and eventually fail

[chris_seven]

In most of the shifter shafts that I have seen the machined spigot that locates the shift rod head is a press and crimp fit into the tube and 8 out of 10 have some play at least in the rotational direction, really bad ones also have some axial float.

It is difficult to weld or braze this joint with the shift tube in place but it is possible to drill through the tube and the machined part and then fit a roll pin which will fix this problem.

[tobluforu]

Sounds like a job for good old jb weld (if its not broke but loose) and maybe something all owners should check if and when they pull their engines. Yes I know jb isn't the greatest, but if its hard to weld these then its worth a shot.

[rollin'72t]

this is the shaft that failed please let me know if there is an easy way to get it out to replace it?

thanks

[rollin'72t]

would this cause a very loose shift? 1st gear is almost all the way to the dash, and the 2nd gear is almost all the way to the seat.

thanks

[Walt Fricke]

I like the idea of jacking the transmission up.

But I saw a discussion here where someone said he was able to get it out by pulling the handbrake, I think, and getting it out through that hole. Or maybe the coupler plate? He said it was tight. I wouldn't have thought it could be done, but he did it. A search might turn that one up.

Tranny side sounds like it might be easier. I hate pulling the handbrake/heater control assembly.

[rollin'72t]

I am not sure I under stand the jacking up the transmission. wouldnt you want to lower the transmission to get it out.

[kfosburg]

Not sure how far back that shaft needs to move, but a quick test you could do would be to use a strong hose clamp around the cracked piece to tighten it up. Might be worth a try to see if it's the cracked part or not causing your problem before removing everything.

Karl

[Walt Fricke]

Rollin

The shift shaft of the transmission sticks into and through a hole in the chassis. The hole is a lot larger than the shaft (rubber boots close the gap). If you remove the transmission carrier (not hard to do), you can raise the transmission until the shift shaft (which is what connects to the shift coupler, or the knuckle thingy if you will, but you would first disconnect all this) bumps into the top of the hole.

Now you have created some room for the long rod to be wiggled out. Besides, the shift shaft is very close to the very bottom of the transmission. So when things move up, you won't have the transmission (or as much of it) to bump into when maneuvering the long tube out. As Scott R could tell you.

Get the picture now?

Some clever race shop guys cut the chassis in this area so you can drop the tranny shift shaft down through to allow pulling the tranny with the engine still in the car or for other reasons. But you wouldn't do that here.

Walt

[Scott R]

+1 Walt is dead on. And that's exactly where mine broke as well.

[Walt Fricke]

This is a fine discussion. Because I am learning of a way something can go wrong which hasn't happened to me! I have more of that than I would like.