Shift Rod Seal

[lotsofminis]

I'm in the process of replacing the shift rod seal on my automatic  (1988).  I know that it is obvious that the old seal must come out, but does the metal piece that the seal slides in to also come out?

Thanks

Terry

[limby2000]

Hi Terry, does the seal not push into the alloy casing of the gearbox. The selector rod unscrews and then just hook out the old seal.

[lotsofminis]

I had no idea the shift rod was just screwed in.  I assumed that it was connected on the inside of the box.

So I have unscrewed the shift rod and I have another problem.  The length of the shift rod shaft is long so now it is hitting the subframe before it is complely free.

[lotsofminis]

Drill a hole in the subframe?

[Stu]

Suppose you could but it depends whether drilling  hole will weaken the frame?

Locating the rod back into the valve block selector lever will be the hardest bit. Easy with the gearbox on the bench but not so much when you cant see anything!

Below is the valve block (right) and brake servo unit (left) roughly as they would be installed in the gearbox casing. The rod screws into the thread of the selector arm on the valve block. This is located just to the left of the head of my spanner.

With the engine in the car its difficult to locate the thread, so you will need to have the front cover off the gearbox so you can guide it in.



You can see the rod below runnung through the box. Theres a gap at the end you can get a blade in to help it into position.



Hope it helps.

[lotsofminis]

Your responses and pictures have really helped.  I appreciate the time and pictures you have posted.

I don't really want to pull the unit out of the car, but may need too.

Thanks again for all your help.

Cheers

Terry

[jockduck]

OK. Just been out to check my spare auto box which is an early MK 2 so may not apply to yours, The clevis on the outer end of the change rod unscrews from the rod saving you from unscrewing the whole rod, do more recent boxes still use the pressed steel "cup" to hold the seal in place?
If you can still do this it will be a bit of a "root" to use Aussie vernacular to hook the old seal out, try not to scratch the casing.
Jock

[lotsofminis]

On my 1988 the shaft is 15" long.

So the shaft is now out.  The problem I'm now facing is it just doesn't seem possible to put a new seal in.  The indentation that goes around the shaft hole just seems way to small to fit the new seal into.  Am I missing something?

Thanks

Terry

[lotsofminis]

Well this is quite the dilemma.  I have a second auto trans, both are 998cc and I pulled the shift rod seal out of it.  They are not the same.  It's like they pressed in an additional metal piece where the seal goes.  Did they make two different types of seals? I've included a picture of the new seal that I have and will easily fit into the one tranny.  The second picture, the one with the red going half way around the indentation is quite different.  The pictures of the shaft holes are of the two different trans.  Sorry I couldn't get a better pictures.

Can anyone shed some light on this.

Thanks again.

Terry

Attachments:

[lotsofminis]

Please disregard the comment about the half red circle.  It isn't there.  The top picture is of the one that is strange.  The second picture is the one that will take the seal I have.

[lotsofminis]

Update:

Part of the mystery has been solved.  I put a hook inside and with a little pull out came this metal piece with the seal around it.  It appears that the seal goes around it and then the whole thing is tapped in.   My other tranny didn't have this metal piece and it didn't show any signs of leakage.

Attachments:

[lotsofminis]

Mystery solved.  The rubber seal is incased in metal.

I feel stupid.

Thanks all.

[limby2000]

Reverse engineering, you can't beat it.

[hbroodryk]

There is no reason whatsoever to feel stupid if you have solved a problem! Doesn't matter how you got to the right answer, you got to the right answer...

[mra-minis]

Please note until I can purchase the MRA-Minis URL I can be contacted on [e-mail]

Ok, there are 2 different seals and now a 3rd one has been found ..... the first two are for different shaft sizes whilst the second one only appears to have been fitted to USA export models .... ;-)

Ok the shaft is easy on the later model AP, because there is a "toffee" brown plastic "funnel", if you look at Stu's (Edit: not Terry's) (Limby2000) photo's above of the valve block assembly and actuator chest connected by 3 aluminium pipes there you will find the device I am talking about, make sure it is fitted the correct way round.

[mra-minis]

Feb 6, 2016 18:07:15 GMT Stu said:

This is the photo I meant.... on the 3 pipes you can just make out the little plastic "funnel" this guides the selector rod back home. :-)

[Stu]

Mar 13, 2016 0:24:07 GMT mra-minis said:

Please note until I can purchase the MRA-Minis URL I can be contacted on [e-mail]

Ok, there are 2 different seals and now a 3rd one has been found ..... the first two are for different shaft sizes whilst the second one only appears to have been fitted to USA export models .... ;-)

Ok the shaft is easy on the later model AP, because there is a "toffee" brown plastic "funnel", if you look at Terry's (Limby2000) photo's above of the valve block assembly and actuator chest connected by 3 aluminium pipes there you will find the device I am talking about, make sure it is fitted the correct way round.

Hey thats my photo not Terry's !    

[limby2000]

Yep, its Stu,s. Can't take the credit for that one Martin. Good pic though.

[mra-minis]

Mar 14, 2016 18:04:28 GMT limby2000 said:

Yep, its Stu,s. Can't take the credit for that one Martin. Good pic though.

Oops.. Sorry Stu, :-)

There we go, all nicely modified to read "Stu"

[Stu]

You're a gent. Thank you