Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Plus 8 LT77 (F) gearbox - 2nd gear selection

About 18 months ago down shifting into 2nd gear started to become difficult (and noisy) unless I carefully matched engine and gear speeds. Double declutching helped for a short while, but not any more!

Changing up from 1st into 2nd is fine but changing down has become a bit of a nightmare. The sounds from the box make it seem as if my clutch or actuating mechanism is not functioning. However I replaced the slave cylinder a couple of years ago and it still feels good and the clutch seems to work well.

When I do manage to select 2nd gear I am still able to pull the gear lever slightly further back towards me and this causes a secondary grinding sound, almost as though I am moving the selector mechanism into another gear. I have read that the original rubber bushes on the remote can wear and was wondering if this could be the cause of my problem.

Although my Plus 8 has only covered some 33K miles, she is of 1989 vintage and the rubber bushes on the remote could easily have perished by now. I am going back to France at the end of the month and would therefore like to source the most likely correct parts before flying over. I am partially resigned to rebuilding the gearbox but I might be over reacting. Anyone experienced the same problem?

(Incidentally the new Quaife LSD has performed faultlessly since fitting it in 2013.)

Michael

This is a known failing of the neoprene bushes that mount the remote mechanism to the gearbox. Essentially the perished bushes allow the bottom of the remote to contact the prop shaft. The misalignment compromises the change quality and the noise is the result of the contact.

Replacements are available from Rimmer Bros. Replacement involves removing both seats and the gearbox tunnel cover and changing the bushes. Reassembly involves repeating the process in reverse.

Hope this helps.

Hi Dave - thanks for this confirmation. Very helpful.

It sounds like an easy fix compared to the complete rear axle overhaul that I completed in 2013.

Do you have any hints on how to set up the adjustments on the remote, once I have changed these bushes or can I just change the bushes and hope for the best?

Flying doctor. If the bushings are not perished when you pull the cover, there is a second affliction that might be contributing and can be easily addressed with the tranny tunnel cover off. No parts required. Just adjusting. It's the bias spring. The bias spring affects the selection of gears on one side of the H pattern or the other side, and there is a write up at http://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/BiasSpringAdjustment.pdf

Cheers,

Essentially, it is best described as a dirty weekend's work!

Although there are two screws to adjust the detent springs, it is unnecessary to touch these as the whole remote detaches to replace the neoprene bushes.

You'll need to detach the speedo drive, remove the gear lever (one screw) and unbolt the handbrake lever so that there's clearance to withdraw the gearbox tunnel cover. Be careful not to short out any electrical contacts under the dash whilst removing the tunnel cover.

The tunnel screws are not the easiest in terms of accessibility, particularly those that attach the tunnel to the bulkhead.

There is a section on this problem in gomog.
It doesn't mention access to change the bushes though....David's tip re tran tunnel seems a must though. From what I remember they re very inaccessible!
If Iremember correctly replacement bushes of a tougher material are available?

Dave, Mark and so span,

Very many thanks for this very helpful advice - I had to remove the floor, seats and transmission tunnel cover when I rebuilt the rear axle. Hopefully I did not stick the carpet down too enthusiastically.

I will contact Rimmer Bros later today. It will be so nice to be able to fix this problem without major engineering work and to be able to easily select 2nd gear again.

Best wishes

Michael

I have the manual somewhere if you want it pm your email.
The cup that hold the spring for the gear selector has a tab that can also fail. Mine did that. Again an easy fix

Check out this link with Gomog. There's a good explanation of what maybe going on.

http://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/remoteissues.html

That cup is a poor design...mine's been welded a couple of times as the tab is weak.Nobody has any replacements either! Possibly an opportunity for an engineer to make some?