Bell crank replaced, shifting problems.

[Barbour]

As my gear change was pretty sloppy I got the bell crank upgrade from MG Mania

http://mgmanialtd.com/index.php?id_prod ... er=product

My garage put it in place, only to find it's very hard now to get the gear lever in first or second. They could not get it right really.

The only way to get it in first without too much force is to first shift to third, let the car roll a bit, than swiftly go from third to first.

I can only go to second by pulling the lever towards the left quite firmly.

The rest of the gears work quite nicely.

Any thoughts and tips are greatly appreciated.

[willyphixitt]

Sounds like the cross gate link needs adjustment.
hth
willyphixitt

[Barbour]

Sounds like the cross gate link needs adjustment.
hth
willyphixitt

Thank you for your reply, as English is not my first language I struggle to understand/visualise what you mean by cross gate link, could you please elaborate?

[willyphixitt]

Hi Barbour,
It's the left/right movement of the gear stick. I suspect that when you move across the box that the gearbox end of the cable is not fully in line with the fore and aft movement of the gear change shaft in the gearbox. Hence the difficulty in getting 1st and 2nd gear. Does that make sense to you? Hope it does. Can't remember if you need to lengthen or shorten the linkage at the gearbox bell crank. You will need to have someone move the gearstick over to 1st/2nd side and see at the gearbox input shaft which way you need to adjust the length of the cable. Good luck.
willyphixitt

[Steve White]

The link you posted points to an MGTF bell crank, is this what you have had fitted?
The bell cranks are different on the MGF and TF as one of the gear change cables is a different length.

[Barbour]

The link you posted points to an MGTF bell crank, is this what you have had fitted?
The bell cranks are different on the MGF and TF as one of the gear change cables is a different length.

My bad, wrong link, sharp eye, cheers!

I had ordered the correct version for the MG-F.

[Barbour]

Hi Barbour,
It's the left/right movement of the gear stick. I suspect that when you move across the box that the gearbox end of the cable is not fully in line with the fore and aft movement of the gear change shaft in the gearbox. Hence the difficulty in getting 1st and 2nd gear. Does that make sense to you? Hope it does. Can't remember if you need to lengthen or shorten the linkage at the gearbox bell crank. You will need to have someone move the gearstick over to 1st/2nd side and see at the gearbox input shaft which way you need to adjust the length of the cable. Good luck.
willyphixitt

Thank you for enlightening me, I'll get to it this week.

[talkingcars]

Have a look at https://www.the-t-bar.com/forum/54-how- ... gear-lever

[Barbour]

Thank you for the advice all of you, it's quite fiddly, but I'm slowly getting there

Editp: Dropped a spanner down the gear shift mechanism, dammit...

Any suggestions how to get that out?

Remove the panel on the underside?

[talkingcars]

Remove the panel on the underside?

No, it has to come out through the same hole.
Can you see it?

[alect]

Hi Barbour
Remember me? we met last autumn when you came over to collect a soft top I was giving away.

I also bought one of these kits for my previous car, an Abingdon, I found that one of the ball ends was quite a bit shorter that the originals and that there was therefore insufficient adjustment left in the cable to enable all the gears to engage, in my case it was reverse that was causing me a problem, so I devised a modification using a 5mm bolt and part of the old gear change end.
I posted this here back in 2015 and have attempted to copy it below I hope it has come out alright.
Any questions please message me


Quote

Postby alect » Sun Mar 08, 2015 12:43 pm
I recently fitted a new gear change quadrant that I bought from MG Mania in an attempt to improve the wooly gear change on the Abingdon, very easy to fit once the roll pin is out but I could not get reverse.
There are two cables, one selects the gears and the other traverses the gate, the original factory cable end on the gate cable is 40mm from centre but the supplied rod end is only 27mm. So far too short to work properley
The gear selection end is fine as supplied
I searched rod end suppliers to see if it was possible to buy a more suitable rod end but no luck, so resorted to bit of ingenuity.

here you can see the difference in length of the original knackered end and the new spherical joint.


I decided to try to make some sort of adapter using the threaded portion of the scrap cable end and 5mm cap screw I had lying around.
I cut a piece of thread off the cap screw and wound it into the new joint, screwed on the old end, measured 40mm from the centre and trimmed it off with a hacksaw.


Top

here you get the idea


I refitted the modified rod end and reverse gear is now back where it belongs

difficault to take this picture but it is all back to together, and the gears all go in and out nicely.


So if any of you are tempted to get one of these quadrants bear in mind a little modification is required.
I am looking forward to finishing off all the other jobs outstanding and getting the Abingdon back on the road to try out the new gear change and the TT exhaust.

[Steve White]

Interesting, when I purchased my bell crank from Mike Satur some years ago it came supplied with a threaded adapter to do exactly what you have done.
I assumed it was designed to allow the bell crank to be used on both the F and TF by either using the adapter or not depending on which length of gear cable you had.
On my car the adapter was a slightly too long, so I had to get the male thread lengthened so it would screw further into the rod end and give the correct adjustment.

[Barbour]

Hi Barbour
Remember me? we met last autumn when you came over to collect a soft top I was giving away.

Hi Alec, ofcourse I remember, thank you again, also for the advice given here on this problem, hope you will be able to get the Abingdon out soon, I have the Toyosports SS exhaust, very nice, the TT is a bit louder isn't it?

Cheers mate!

[alect]

Hi Barbour

The quote was from 2015 so the Abingdon, alas, is long gone, however the one you saw in my garage has been finished and was MOT'd last week for the first time in 8 years, although I am now messing with the Hydrogas hopingto get the problems with that sorted this week.

The TT exhaust was far too loud for me, so sticking with what Iv'e got on this one.

Good luck with your gear change.

Alec

[alect]

One more thing,

I have a spare old gear change cable end and some of the 5mm bolts that I used last time, so if you would like to try this method and the garage have thrown away your old items I can send them to you if you wish, just let me know your address and I will post them out.
Be quick tho as I am off to Gran Canaria next Monday for 2 weeks.

Cheers
Alec

[Barbour]

One more thing,

I have a spare old gear change cable end and some of the 5mm bolts that I used last time, so if you would like to try this method and the garage have thrown away your old items I can send them to you if you wish, just let me know your address and I will post them out.
Be quick tho as I am off to Gran Canaria next Monday for 2 weeks.

Cheers
Alec

I've send you a PM, thanks again Alec.

[alect]

Hi Wilfred

I will post them tomorrow.

I have included the longer of the two cable ends, a 5mm capscrew and a 5mm nut ( you wont need that when you put it all back together)
The method I suggest is, cut off the screw at the end of the thread where I have left it, remove the nut over the cut portion of thread, that will restore the threads where the hacksaw will have damaged them, discard the nut, screw the whole thing into the new ball end, measure 40m from the ball centre and cut the hexagon piece at that point, replace on the gear change cable adjust and way you go, 10 mins max!

Good luck with it and let me know how you get on.

[Barbour]

Thanks for the instructions, I'll get on with it as soon as my buddy mechanic is back on foot, he just had it operated on, and at 72 things heal slower.

Thank you all together, and enjoy the warmth of Gran Canaria!