VS Ute SII 1997 - Manual Gearstick - Problem

[jokerflingo]

Hey guys just a quick question, i cant for the life of me figure out how this gearstick is meant to work. I have had the gearstick/console out of my ute for a while to install the stereo etc and now thought it would be a good time to sort out the turning gear knob problem.
The problem is when the gearstick/knob is installed, the top bit turns, i presume because the little X marking which can be seen inside the gearboot/knob and on the gearstick has broken off or?

Here is a few pictures and any info on how to install it back on whether by using brute force as was needed to remove it and how its meant to fix in to stop the top of the knob turning?






Is the bit on the top of the gearstick meant to be stuck up inside the gearboot knob? With the X markings aligned? To stop it turning or? And then forced down onto the gearstick?

Hope that makes sense
Thanks
Matt

[jokerflingo]

Bump Please?

[cander24]

Not quite sure that I fully understand your problem, but when your shifter assembly is all together can you just grab hold of the shifter knob and spin it around on the shaft? Also does the top of your shifter stick have a single slot or a cross like in the pic because a getrag shifter should only have a single slot that runs from front to back, with a corresponding tab inside the shifter knob which once lined up you just have to give a good whack from on top to clip it in. Hope that makes sense or have i missed the point?

Also as a side note, you shouldn't run all of your power, rca's and speaker wires all together down the centre of the cab as this is likely to result in a pretty ordinary sound at the speakers with a fair bit of distorsion/interference. Run power under drivers side sill panel, rca's down passenger side sill panel and speaker wires down the centre.

Let me know if you need a pic of my shifter setup and I should be able to organise one for you.

[Haydz]

rampage ftw :P

[jokerflingo]

Not quite sure that I fully understand your problem, but when your shifter assembly is all together can you just grab hold of the shifter knob and spin it around on the shaft? Also does the top of your shifter stick have a single slot or a cross like in the pic because a getrag shifter should only have a single slot that runs from front to back, with a corresponding tab inside the shifter knob which once lined up you just have to give a good whack from on top to clip it in. Hope that makes sense or have i missed the point?

Also as a side note, you shouldn't run all of your power, rca's and speaker wires all together down the centre of the cab as this is likely to result in a pretty ordinary sound at the speakers with a fair bit of distorsion/interference. Run power under drivers side sill panel, rca's down passenger side sill panel and speaker wires down the centre.

Let me know if you need a pic of my shifter setup and I should be able to organise one for you.

HAHA i knew someone would get pick on me about the RCA/Power cables and all i can say is i think that the saying is over-rated and am prepared to get flamed about it as to me the sound in my ute cab sounds awesome and has no distortion at all.

But back to the problem, i currently have it all back together but yes as you mentioned the knob spins freely on the shaft
Also the box is a Getrag shifter but it has a "X" marking on the gear shaft stick and inside the boot knob. Problem is i cant ever see this little X stopping it from turning.

Thank for the help so far
Matt

[cander24]

Is this with the standard getrag shifter knob? Does it look like anyone has altered anything with the shifter shaft such as shortened it or even cut it off and welded on a new one under all that tape? Because it should have a slot in it that runs from front to back and this slot is about 3mm wide and 8mm deep from memory. I'll get pics tonight and post them up for you.

[jokerflingo]

Is this with the standard getrag shifter knob? Does it look like anyone has altered anything with the shifter shaft such as shortened it or even cut it off and welded on a new one under all that tape? Because it should have a slot in it that runs from front to back and this slot is about 3mm wide and 8mm deep from memory. I'll get pics tonight and post them up for you.

Hmm, no it doesn't really look like its been altered but i have never seen another one so cant really compare, the shifter knob/boot is obviously original because when i was looking to buy my ute they were all the same but am not sure about the gear shaft itself? I was wondering if the X mark on the gear shaft itself was meant to be jammed up inside the gear/boot and then jammed down onto the shaft with one push? But am not sure if that made sense.

Pictures of yours would be much appreciated as the manual boot operates fine with no crunches or worn syncro's. The only annoying thing is the gear knob spinning which can hopefully be easily fixed and the sloppy gear shaft? Which is a known problem in these getrag's i believe, something to do with the bushes being worn or?

I believe a Billet Pro Shifter fixes this

Here is a little video for reference where you can see how the gear knob spins freely and also the sloppy gear shaft which doesnt affect driving/shifting what so ever is just a minor annoyance

http://s405.photobucket.com/albums/p...t=DSCN1944.flv

Thanks for the help
Matt

[cander24]

Yeah the 'X' marking on yours is not like anything I have ever seen on a getrag shifter before so thats why I think it has been altered at some point, probably just had the end of it lopped off to make the height of it a little shorter or to maybe fit an aftermarket shifter knob? And all getrag shifters have sideways slop similar to that so its not really anything to worry about, just as you say, can be a little annoying at times. The pics below are of my getrag shifter setup which you can see the slot that I am talking about and the corresponding plastic tab within the shifter knob at the top of the hole. If your handy with a file I suppose you could always file the slot into yours so it clips in like its supposed to.

[jokerflingo]

Yeah the 'X' marking on yours is not like anything I have ever seen on a getrag shifter before so thats why I think it has been altered at some point, probably just had the end of it lopped off to make the height of it a little shorter or to maybe fit an aftermarket shifter knob? And all getrag shifters have sideways slop similar to that so its not really anything to worry about, just as you say, can be a little annoying at times. The pics below are of my getrag shifter setup which you can see the slot that I am talking about and the corresponding plastic tab within the shifter knob at the top of the hole. If your handy with a file I suppose you could always file the slot into yours so it clips in like its supposed to.

Im thinking it may not look anything like yours because the piece that is meant to be jammed into the gear knob like yours is stuck on the gear shaft. What do you think? And i presume what your saying is that all that tape isn't original? Have you got any photo's of your gear shaft without the boot on it by chance? Also ill add i haven't actually even removed the gear knob from the gear boot before. So ill probably try that tomorrow.

Thanks
Matt

[cander24]

So does your gear knob have part of the metal shaft inside it? I dont believe the tape is original, i'd probably remove it and see whats under there out of curiosity and removing the knob from the boot is easy, the top of the boot just rolls into the groove in the bottom of the knob like in the pic below so basically just pull them apart. Be careful though as sometimes there is a cable tie on there to hold it on which you will be able to see if you turn the boot inside out. And yeah I can pull it apart again this afternoon and get more pics for you

[jokerflingo]

So does your gear knob have part of the metal shaft inside it? I dont believe the tape is original, i'd probably remove it and see whats under there out of curiosity and removing the knob from the boot is easy, the top of the boot just rolls into the groove in the bottom of the knob like in the pic below so basically just pull them apart. Be careful though as sometimes there is a cable tie on there to hold it on which you will be able to see if you turn the boot inside out. And yeah I can pull it apart again this afternoon and get more pics for you

Well i have got an update for you, it turns out that i was right, the little piece that was meant to be stuck up in the gear knob which in turn clips onto the gear shaft wasn't fixed to the gear knob at all instead it was just clipped onto the gear shaft itself therefore doing pretty much nothing at all.







So now my question is how on earth is that little piece meant to be stuck up inside the gear knob to stop it turning/spinning once it is clipped onto the gear shaft? I see that the inside of the gear knob and end of the little piece have a "X" mark on them but i cant see how this would fix them in place and it looks as if it may have partially broken. So is that any type of glue that would hold them together and not allow them to spin? So that once the gear knob is clipped onto the gear shaft it wont allow it to spin? Because i presume the little piece inside of your gear knob does not turn/spin right? And would it be metal on metal or plastic on metal or plastic on plastic?

Hope the above makes sense

Any help is much appreciated
Thanks
Matt

[cander24]

Ah well that makes a lot more sense now. I couldn't really see that detail in the first lot of pics. I just pulled my console apart again and got some pics for you but theres not really much point in putting them up now as I can see your shifter shaft is all standard as it is supposed to be. My guess as to what has happened is that someone has tried to remove the knob by twisting it like you do on a T5 rather than pulling it straignt up and in doing so has broken the joint which holds that tubular insert in the shifter knob, so yes that little piece does not spin in mine at all. To fix it you are going to need to glue the tubular piece back into the shifter knob. Thoroughly clean the ouside of this little plastic piece and the hole inside the shifter knob to make sure they are free from any grease/oil etc and maybe even scratch it up a bit with 320grit sandpaper to give the glue something to bite into. Personally I would glue it with a two pack epoxy glue with a slow curing time such as high strength 24hr araldite. Clip the tubular plastic piece onto the shifter shaft, ensuring that the plastic tab inside it correctly locates in the slot in the top of the shaft. Then mix up your glue and apply it to the outside of this plastic tube piece and also up inside the hole of the shifter knob. Then push the knob onto the shaft all the way until it bottoms out and turn it by hand so that the numbers are nice and straight and then leave it to dry. Dont go too heavy handed with the glue either as there will likely be a bit of excess glue squeeze out that you will have to clean up. Make sure you dont get any glue on the metal shaft either as this could make removing the knob quite hard. To me the insert looks to be plastic and the knob itself some form of hard rubber.

[jokerflingo]

Well just an update, my dad borrowed some of the araldite super strength from work and we glued it all up tonight and clipped it onto the gear shaft and have let it set with the gear knob pointing straight, so hoping by Saturday it'll be all set hard as a rock as that would have given it over 36+ hours drying time.
If it doesn't hold i guess well have to drill a little bolt through the back of the knob to hold it in place or figure out something else.

Now all i want is a Billet Shifter :P

[cander24]

Good to hear its all under control. Let us know how it turns out.

[jokerflingo]

Good to hear its all under control. Let us know how it turns out.

Well it all seems to be well, the gear knob doesn't turn now and it hasn't come unstuck

Just curious how was the gearboot from factory? As it seems everyone's is different including yours?

Heres my setup now,



Thanks
Matt

[cander24]

Yeah i've noticed everyone has a different way of fitting the boot and as far as I know the way I have fitted mine is the way they came from the factory. To fit yours the same as mine you will need to turn the plastic rectaungular retainer over so that the lip is on top and not the bottom. Also note the retainer has "Front" written on one side. With the boot attached to the retainer it then installs from the top side of the console insert and on the underside then has 4 metal clips that push on to hold the retainer firmly to the console insert with the gearboot itself trapped in between. Hope that makes sense. Its basically a reversal of the way yours is installed, but either way seems to work fine.

[jokerflingo]

Yeah i've noticed everyone has a different way of fitting the boot and as far as I know the way I have fitted mine is the way they came from the factory. To fit yours the same as mine you will need to turn the plastic rectaungular retainer over so that the lip is on top and not the bottom. Also note the retainer has "Front" written on one side. With the boot attached to the retainer it then installs from the top side of the console insert and on the underside then has 4 metal clips that push on to hold the retainer firmly to the console insert with the gearboot itself trapped in between. Hope that makes sense. Its basically a reversal of the way yours is installed, but either way seems to work fine.

I would of thought mine was correct because the way mine was installed previously the cover was upside down and as soon as i turned it over it actually clipped into the slot. Which i presume is how it was meant to work from factory. I don't believe they come from the factory like yours lol, cause it looks weird coming from the sides of it. Anyway each to their own.

Thanks for all your help m8 and i hope i can squeeze into this group buy.
Matt