Gear Lever Bushings or Gearbox ?

[PeterPortugal]

Hi Guys,

I replaced all my (manual transmission) gear lever / shifter bushings front and back some time ago. The car has been driven very little since, less than 50 miles. The improvement was dramatic.

I took it to get an inspection last week and when I got back to my house I noticed a regression. Before, when I wanted to select reverse there was definitely a positive resistance to be overcome as I moved the gear lever over to the left beyond where 1st and 2nd could be found. This resistance is presumably built in to stop the driver inadvertently selecting reverse instead of 1st.

That resistance is now gone totally. Otherwise the gear lever action is the same. Any suggestions as to where to look first?

Regards

Peter

[mrfatboy]

I can’t comment on the internals of the transmission.

I replaced all my bushings a couple of years ago. I still had some “slop” in the gear shift. Upon further inspection part of the main gear shift rod was worn also. See picture. This was 3 years so hard to remember.

From memory, The rod is not all one piece. It has its own bushing. However, it can’t be replaced. You need to buy a brand new rod. I’m not sure if even available.

After searching this forum I found someone with the same problem. Their solution was to tack weld the two pieces together. Problem solved. 👍

If you search on the forum you might find the original discussion and pictures. Maybe others can to a better job describing the issue 😀

[ejboyd5]

The "circled" connecting piece was initially incorporated into the shift linkage of the 190 SL to dampen vibrations cased by the 4-cylinder engine. The very early 300 SLs had a somewhat similar insulation piece that was quickly replaced as unnecessary with a solid metal coupling since the troublesome vibrations were not present in the 6-cylinder engine.  As the OP has not stated which vehicle he is having trouble with, it is difficult to cite a drawing specific to his parts arrangement. Assuming his transmission case is like the picture submitted by mrfatboy, I suggest the problem does not lie with the circled bushing but rather with the spring (part 151) that resides within the cover whose job it is to provide the resistance that has gone missing.

[PeterPortugal]

Guys,

Thanks for replying. I have been offline for a while so sorry for the delay.

It's a 1963 W111 but I believe the linkage and box is the same as a 230SL.

I think Part No 151 sounds plausible because as I stated I re-bushed the whole linkage and have done very few miles since.

The problem is getting to Part No 151 aka the "Pressure Spring" (136-265-02-93) does not look easy !! At least I can still buy one though.

Thanks again

Peter