Gear Stick Play Advice...

Hi, I'm currently trying to remove some of the play out of the gear stick. The car has become a nightmare to drive. Changing up is tolerable but going down through the gears is a nightmare. The shifter has play in all directions. I've currently replaced the rear bush linkage and the "floppy gearshift fix bush" bush [brought from muddy mods] which has almost completely fixed the side to side floppiness.

The car is 2004 Freelander 1 TD4 manual, with the J02 [getrag] gearbox

Now am left with the front to back movement. The cars roll pin [STC4633] has been removed from the spring selector mechanism [STC4632] and has been replaced with a bolt, I think its a M6 [I didn't do this]. There's noticeable movement here almost like the bolt is too small for the S.S.Mech. which is making the S.S.Mech. spin like 2mm in either direction before picking up the shaft to the gear box, which in turn gets worse and worse as it goes through the linkage etc. back to the gear stick.

I have a few questions regarding this;

1. Can you remove the spring selector mechanism [STC4632] from the gear box, I think there's like 5 screws [STC4631] that hold it on. Is it just a case of undoing them and removing it or will this mess anything up in the gear box? Having it out of the car will make it easier to assess the situation and come up with a fix.

2. Has anyone come across this problem with the excessive movement from front to back? what you did to fix the problem? To be clear its the front to back motion at the gear stick end, on the S.S.Mech. its right to left. I'm thinking of just putting back in the OEM roll pin [STC4633], but I'm hesitant to do this as roll pins are a nightmare to work with and there must have been a reason why this was replaced in the first place with the bolt.

I've attached a picture showing where the movement is accruing.

Thanks for your time.

If there's any slop where the roll pin was, then this will be amplified over the distance. I'd remove the bolt, and drill the hole out for a larger bolt, and fit that. Make sure you use a tight fitting bolt, or better still a reamer.

Nodge68 said:

If there's any slop where the roll pin was, then this will be amplified over the distance. I'd remove the bolt, and drill the hole out for a larger bolt, and fit that. Make sure you use a tight fitting bolt, or better still a reamer.

Click to expand...

Thanks nodge68,

Can you remove the spring selector mechanism [STC4632] from the gear box, I think there's like 5 screws [STC4631] that hold it on. Is it just a case of undoing them and removing it or will this mess anything up in the gear box? Having it out of the car will make it easier to assess the situation and come up with a fix?

Thanks...

1problemafteranother said:

Thanks nodge68,

Can you remove the spring selector mechanism [STC4632] from the gear box, I think there's like 5 screws [STC4631] that hold it on. Is it just a case of undoing them and removing it or will this mess anything up in the gear box? Having it out of the car will make it easier to assess the situation and come up with a fix?

Thanks...

Click to expand...

I must admit that I've never tried on the Getrag box, however most gearbox selector mechanisms can be removed.

I've heard there's problems getting these out. There's a few threads on here that mention the removal of this but not one has any reply's.

You wouldn't happen to know the name of the tool to insert and remove the roll pin would you?

Thanks...

1problemafteranother said:

I've heard there's problems getting these out. There's a few threads on here that mention the removal of this but not one has any reply's.

You wouldn't happen to know the name of the tool to insert and remove the roll pin would you?

Thanks...

Click to expand...

I'd just use a parallel punch.

There's no chance of removing the spring selector mechanism in the car as the engine mount bracket is in the way, found out the hard way!

A parallel punch would work great, however there's no-way that would fit with it in-situ, there's like 3inch [75mm] or so each side just wouldn't fit.

If for what ever reason the gear box has to come out I'm going to just weld the parts together, its such a bad design.

However, After a good clean I've thrown it back together, using pretty much all the muddy mods parts you can buy for the gear linkage and replacing the M6 bolt for a high tensile one, and although there is still a little play front to back [at the gear stick] the gears change so much better.

Thanks.

If you have a trolley jack for support, there's nothing stopping you from removing the box mount, and lowering that side of the power unit to give more room. I've had to do that sort of things many times, including when removing the box from the vehicle.