Herald: Gear lever circlip

[piran]

Having replaced the  gearbox on my herald (a saga on it's own) I though it would be a good idea to replace the springs, etc. on the gear lever. How wrong I was!

I've put everything back together but when I select reverse the circlip pops out of its groove and the spring comes loose - making gear selection from then on a bit awkward. Any ideas on what I can do to get it fitting correctly, or to not pop out?

 

Thanks

[Colin Lindsay]

Make sure it's a square-cut circlip; some suppliers sell rounder versions that won't grip the slot. Make sure the slot is clean too so that it seats properly. You could try squeezing the circlip gently in a vice to help it grip better, but don;t overdo it and don't widen it too much when refitting.

[Pete Lewis]

if you have a dremmel type tool with  a small cutting wheel you can grind out a better clean square cut groove

if its got worn and lost its defined sharp edge 

Pete

[piran]

The groove doesn't look too bad. It's fine if I push it straight up and down it's only when I move it over to reverse - it looks like the spring is fully compressed and then as you move it over it tries to compress more but has nowhere to go.

[johny]

yes reckon as you move the lever over the pressure on the circlip becomes onesided so it pops out😞

[piran]

Ok, so I've compared the new with the old: the new spring is much stronger and longer than the old and the new circlips just bend as you put them on. I refitted the old spring and circlip and the circlip pings nicely into place and it works perfectly (might be a bit sloppy in neutral). There's a huge difference in the circlips - the old one isn't going to come out anytime soon.

[johny]

Could you have used new spring with old circlip? Definitely dont want it accidentally slipping into reverse😨

[piran]

Well the old spring is so secure that it's very reluctant to come off at all. There's no danger of accidentally getting reverse as the spring is still fine for that it's only neutral that is I think a bit looser than with the new spring, it may mean I get a bit of rattle under load but if that's the price of actually getting it so that I can use reverse then I can live with that. I think the new spring is actually too long anyway so when you push down it's fully compressed and then when you push over to get reverse it tries to compress more and can't.

 

[piran]

it's almost as if the new circlips are mild steel and the old ones spring steel - there was such a huge difference putting them on.

[johny]

1 hour ago, piran said:

Well the old spring is so secure that it's very reluctant to come off at all. There's no danger of accidentally getting reverse as the spring is still fine for that it's only neutral that is I think a bit looser than with the new spring, it may mean I get a bit of rattle under load but if that's the price of actually getting it so that I can use reverse then I can live with that. I think the new spring is actually too long anyway so when you push down it's fully compressed and then when you push over to get reverse it tries to compress more and can't.

I wonder if your block plate is set correctly like this as there shouldnt be much downward movement of the lever required to engage reverse...

[piran]

I think that the kit I bought just has rubbish circlips (more like mild steel rather than spring steel of the old one) and the new spring is longer, stronger and thicker wire than the old one so just doesn't appear to quite fit.

[PeteH]

23 minutes ago, piran said:

I think that the kit I bought just has rubbish circlips (more like mild steel rather than spring steel of the old one) and the new spring is longer, stronger and thicker wire than the old one so just doesn't appear to quite fit.

Often wonder if those "non o/e" parts are made up from the "nearest" off the peg item`s and just bagged up?.

Pete

[johny]

I can understand a problem sourcing the circlips as the have to have the right profile and imperial size so are probably made (poorly) in house but cant see how they can get the spring wrong as its only got to compress a little! Anyway the supplier must be informed to give them a chance to rectify the issue. Heres the equivalent offering from Rimmerbros...