Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Gear selection - Plus 8 R380

Hi all

The gear selection on my car has deteriorated rapidly of late, the lever has lost all precision and it’s getting increasingly hard to find the gears. I’ve had a look on GoMog (thanks Lorne), which lists a few possible causes - has anyone else had this problem and if so how did you fix it please?

I’ve had exactly this but on an lt77 in a converted MGB. The cup that located the gear stuck ball is held in place by a bolt through a flange. In my case the flange had come adrift from the cup and the gearstick was wobbling about wildly. I think this may be one of the issues mentioned inGoMog

Depending upon the year, good chance it's the shift retention cup on the shift. I learned to weld and stuck the tab back on! Lt77 transmission

This is not intended as a thread drift, just a break because the avatar of Bourbonmog recalls some nice time we have spent in Kentucky in 2017.

The dome shaped cup is part number UKC3159. Indelibly imprinted in my memory! I tried finding one for over 3 years! I found hens teeth and rocking horse poo easier to source! The tab that is used to bolt it to the selector case is the weak point. It is a known problem as gomog shows. A repair is possible by welding but add the extra tabs to stop it flexing and breaking again. I made a temporary tab to hold mine reasonably steady until I eventually found one by luck. New one had strengthening tabs. Also lubricate it to reduce friction against the lever ball underneath. Gear selection is better with a good fixed one.
Several owner clubs have similar issues for cars with the R380 box.
I kept the old cap in case needed in the future. It would need a new fixing tab and not yet done.
One other check is the bushes on the selector. Gomog gives details.
Also, how old is your clutch fluid? Basically brake fluid that needs changing as does brake fluid.

Clutch fluid is fine, it was changed along with the slave cylinder 3,000 miles ago.

The tab on the dome shaped cup is fine, there is a little movement if you try and move the remote housing so I’m hoping the bushes are the problem, I’ve ordered a set from Rimmer.

I’m concerned as there is almost no resistance to fore and aft movement of the gear lever, as well as being able to move it from side to side when it is in gear.

If it’s the bushes the movement will tend to be up and down. If it’s all moving side to side and fore and aft then it would be the mounting screws at the front of the remote. Access may be fiddly.

As all have said its a common problem a photo is a thousand words so see below uprated and streghthened version by me, screws are countersunk.

If I can figure out how to resize and upload photos I will show you, but I’ve found the problem - at the bottom of the gear lever there is a nylon bush with a spherical bearing in it which connects to the shift rod - this bush has disintegrated hence the vague change - just got to find a couple now - there’s one at either end of the rod.

The eight rubber bushes are at the end of their lives too so will be replaced.

We like to take friends to Maker's Mark. My wife loves gin, so we also go to the Castle and Key distillery. https://www.castleandkey.com/
When we picked up the morgan in Devon, we promptly bought a round for the pub of Maker's Mark.. Its not a birthday party without Kentucky Bourbon!!