| Author | Message | ||
     Martin Cutler Experienced User Username: martin_cutler Post Number: 28 Registered: 7-2007 |
I hit a speed bump on saturday in the Freestone & Webb MK VI. I was probably doing 10 mph. It was a nasty little one, no paint on it to warn you, and the resulting jolt to the car did a very strange thing. I happened to be in neutral at the time. I coasted to a stop with the gear lever totally jammed, no movement at all. It was in neutral in the 3/4 slot. I could start the car, push the clutch in and out, but the gear lever was stuck solid. I happened to do this at Wollongong, around 2 hours south of home. With the aid of the NRMA, I was able to get home again without towing, but I invite your ideas on, firstly, what happened, secondly, how I fixed it, and thirdly, how to stop this happening again. No prizes for the correct answer, only the satisfaction of being very clever!! Cheers Marty | ||
| Richard Treacy Grand Master Username: richard_treacy Post Number: 1353 Registered: 4-2003 |
Martin, I would not be too concerned, as presumably the thump was enough to wobble the drivetrain and push the selectors into the wrong state. This is not unknown on these cars, and I shall search the various writeups on the topic in Flying Lady and Praeclarvm. Take heart. I went over a hump at 50 klicks near my home in Mosman (Sydney) in a new Mitsubishi the day I had returned from Geneva, Switzerland, for a year. The hump was not there before I left. The motor lifted, hit and ruined the bonnet, destroyed the distributor and ruined the transmission. The dealer tried to repair it for weeks, but I gave up and bought a new red Commodore V8 after repeated returns to the dealer. That Mitsubishi V6 had 20km on the clock. Ask our club member who scaled a 2 metre fence after a humpback bridge onto a football field at Goondiwindi in a Silver Cloud at 110MPH and came to rest with no damage. | ||
| Martin Cutler Experienced User Username: martin_cutler Post Number: 33 Registered: 7-2007 |
Hi mate, you are correct. I got the NRMA man to cut a hole in the floor, I will tidy it up and make it a permanent inspection hatch. Took him 10 minutes to cut the hole, and 2 seconds with a torch and a screwdriver to return the selector forks to the neutral position. Big question is, however, how do I stop it from happening again? Are the detent springs weak with age? Marty | ||
| Bill Coburn Moderator Username: bill_coburn Post Number: 953 Registered: 4-2003 |
Martin I think you will find that the rear engine mount is rotten with oil and the ride control flexible line is also hosing down the area. Lastly the side buffers that stop the engine falling over also rot and fall out of their holders. Fix all those and you should have no more trouble. Clever to cut a slot in the floor to rectify the problem. Removing the front floor is one bastard of a job especially on coach built cars and where rust has got to the screws. | ||
| Paul Yorke Prolific User Username: paul_yorke Post Number: 129 Registered: 6-2006 |
I'd agree with checking engine mounts. In fact I did 'almost' post it earlier. I must remember that you have to press post twice ! | ||
| Bill Coburn Moderator Username: bill_coburn Post Number: 954 Registered: 4-2003 |
For those that read these posts out of curiosity rather than necessity, it may be of interest to realise that with that quaint but not unique design feature of having the gear lever stuck over near the drivers door on right hand drive cars, necessitated mounting the gear change mechanism on the chassis and the selector finger and rods of course remained in the gearbox. So with the engine shaking around (let's not delude ourselves)and the selector finger in the gearbox held relatively rigid down among the selectors it was always a wonder to me that more more jamming did not occur. The selectors consist of hardened 'U' pieces bolted to the selector rods and the finger simply pushed or pulled the rod. If the car was in gear and the rear of the engine and hence gearbox moved sideways the finger slid out of the 'U' into freedon land and simply waved around in the gear box until the box was returned to where it should be and the selectors sorted out. There was one other bit that causes problems as I remember and that is the stay rod at the very back of the engine. This is designed to stop the engine eating the radiator on a sudden stop. It has two rubber buffers with a spacer to prevent vibration but these eventually rot in the oil inevitably spread around the area. The other event is that the stay rod actually snaps under tension! |
