Shift Rod 86 Carrera

[sindo57]

Hello everyone i have one question if so one would be kind enough to help.
I am changing the bushing rubbers in the shifters like the ball cup, the rod bushing, and the coupler bushings. i have found that the shifter rod on the front tip of it where the shift rod head goes connect to has play like it wiggles




is this normal ?
is it broken ?

Thank you for all your help.

[mpetry]

Are you sure that the ball cup is not loose? It should have one of those conical bolts to secure it to the shift rod. Maybe it's just worked loose, that would cause a little wobble. You can tighten it up with an allen key.

If that doesn't tighten it up then possibly the end has broken off the rod, but never heard of that.

[gtc]

Originally Posted by sindo57

is this normal?
is it broken?

Not really normal (mine is still fine), but yes, it happens.

From what I've heard, the transaxle needs to come out of the car in order to remove the shift rod from the tunnel.

[sindo57]

mpetry and gtc
i held the end tip without the ball cup on and it has a little bit of play. the rod the tip of it.
So what i am getting from this is that there is no moveable part is the front mainly on the rod.

if i need to change it should i go with an original or go with an aftermarket part ?

thank you all for your replys

[mpetry]

Well if the little tip on the end of the rod has broken off, then the bad news is the shift rod has to come out - and to do that you gotta drop the trans and motor!

I know somebody who re-installed the whole thing and forgot to put the shift rod in - and there's just no way.

Now if I had this problem - and I was sure that the little tip was loose inside - I'd start thinking about either JBWelding it - or coming up with some other way. Maybe you can drill and thru-bolt it ?

Can you get a pic of what you have - down in the hole ? My memory is a bit fuzzy regarding how this part is held together. Is it riveted? Has a spot-weld broken ?

[sindo57]

mpetry
the tip is not broken off and it seems it was pressed in, not welded maybe with all the years it has it started to come loose. It seems to wiggle left and right not in and out.






thank you for your help

[mpetry]

Great pics! thanks for posting. It looks like it's pressed into a piece of brass, doesn't it? Here's what I'd do... First, disconnect it from the trans at the coupler, then try to drill thru the rod with a small drill and then drive a pin in there, with a slight interference fit. There may be a problem with the rod sliding thru the bushing so be careful where you put the hole if you take this route.

The other thing you could try is to use a punch and stake the bushing where the inner piece comes out, so you have a couple of notches at the interface, and see if it tightens up. If it does, then run a bead of JBWeld around the circumference.

Whatever you do, make sure you mark "right side up" on the shift rod with a sharpie - it has a kink in it that snakes around the parking brake in the tunnel, so don't mess with that. And if you start whacking on it, disconnect it from the transmission.

Before you JBWeld it, clean everything with brake cleaner, and slightly heat the JBWeld with a hairdryer so that it will have a chance of "flowing" into the gap. Just to give you the best chance of a successful fix.

Let us know what you find out.