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!!

Replace all of them and the rod busing at the same time. no longer available from rimmer. I did them all when I repaired the cup. Just seemed to make sense when the center tunnel was out.
Triumph TR7 Gear Selectors and Shafts
Gear Lever - Seat/Bush - UKC9338

I know I found one, but can't remember where. Sorry for the lack of help.

Well done Mike. Don't bother resizing photos, you'll never get them uploaded directly here. Just upload them to a photo hosting site and then use the BBCode link to display them in a thread here.
If you aren't signed up to any photo hosting site, one of our members, Peter (Gambalinga), created one at: www.tm-img.com Tim Harris you know (Hamwich) is also involved.

Thanks chaps.

Rimmer are sending me the bushes and a couple of grub screws (though my gub screw feels like it’s welded in), TR Revington are showing stocks of the UKC9338 cup and ball to go with it so I’ve ordered them, no one else appears to have them.

Mick

I know I am coming late into this conversation, but some of the earlier posts mentioned a LT77 gearbox , but a year 2000 +8 will have an R380 as per your original post title . I trust the part number is for the later box.

Hi Andy

Yes you’re right, it is an R380 in mine and UKC9338 is supposedly for this box, but apparently the parts are interchangeable with the LT77, we shall see - watch this space!

I have the later gearbox manual if you are worried. PM me. On mine it was the cup & Lorne added that to the GoMog manual.

The offending parts

http://www.tm-img.com/image/LgrIu
http://www.tm-img.com/image/LgsD7

Thanks for the offer John. It looks like the problem is the nylon bush at the bottom of the gear lever, I’ll report back once I’ve replaced it and the remote mounting bushes.

Glad you are making progress. Just to say, your grub screw(s) may be secured with Loctite or similar. When using an Allen key to loosen the grub screw (and sorry if this is blindingly obvious....) please ensure it is EXACTLY the right size, if it's a bit too small you will risk ruining the hex in the grub screw and then it will be near impossible to extract it.

Peter

Whilst I’ve ordered a couple of replacement grub screws, current thinking is to leave well alone as I can’t budge it at the mo!

I don't think you've allowed these to be public Mike (so can't see them). If you post the BBCode link, the pics will show in the thread, rather than just a link.
Instructions for posting photos are here: https://www.tm-img.com/page/ifu

The link to the instructions doesn’t work for me… I’ll have a play and see if I can work it out.

Perhaps this helps (You need to read "the whole story" )


How to save and post a picture

I’ve had issues with the cup and the bias spring, generally speaking if you have issues with 3rd and 4th it’ll be the spring -,which are like rocky horse dermot to find, you might be lucky and find one one on eBay.

I got some spring steel wire from a local Spring Manufacturer and made a couple . If you go down this path make sure you do all bending “cold”, then put in the hottest oven you can muster for 1/2 an hour to stress relieve - only cost a couple of quid for the suppliers. Coffee Fund
Cheers

Thanks to Rimmers and a TVR specialist all the required parts have been sourced and fitted, though the gear change is now very stiff. I’ve resisted the temptation of taking to the balls with some abrasive and just ed greased everything well and hope a few miles will ease matters. The longest wait was for some P clips to secure the handbrake cable - the originals were plastic and two of the four were broken - now all brass. As soon as it stops raining I’ll give it a run out.