Member Since: 04 Sep 2017
Location: Essex
Posts: 5
D3 Manual Gear Shift
I recently bought a 57 plate Disco3 XS with a manual gearbox. I pulled the manual gear shift knob and gaiter up to replace the gaiter, but on replacing it I seem to have completely screwed the gear shift. Having been relatively precise before the manual shift is now very loose and the 'throw' to engage gears is greatly extended. I can still select all the gears but they can be tricky to engage (particularly first). The gear shift seems to be higher than previously as well because when you change gear it pulls the gaiter off from its clips. When engaging first the gear knob almost hits the fascia.
Not sure what I have done but any advice much appreciated. Having read as much as I can I can't find any equivalent posts, but wondered if it may have something to do with the detent circlip? Although I don't know how I could have damaged that just by taking the gear knob off?
Any help or advice much appreciated.
Daryl Java Black Confused
5th Sep 2017 12:08 pm
Narpy
Member Since: 18 Jul 2011
Location: Stockport
Posts: 7830
Not detent.
Sounds like you've disengaged the plastic pivot at the base of the lever.
You'll have to go back through what you previously did and take a look.Mods:
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Garmin Nuvi + D4 Surround + Reversing Camera.
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Rear Boot Spoiler.
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5th Sep 2017 1:22 pm
DiscoDazzer
Member Since: 04 Sep 2017
Location: Essex
Posts: 5
I didn't go any further than just taking the gear knob and gaiter off and replacing them.
I can see the rubber gasket below in the top of the gear shift case but haven't tried to remove that yet.
Do you know if I can re-engage the plastic pivot from above and if so any guidance on how to do so?
Many thanks.
5th Sep 2017 3:43 pm
Narpy
Member Since: 18 Jul 2011
Location: Stockport
Posts: 7830
Have a read of this: http://www.disco3.co.uk/forum/topic133151.html see if it's what you're going through.Mods:
Front Fogs + Halos
FBH Remote Control
The 1st Ever RRS Modded Grill
Garmin Nuvi + D4 Surround + Reversing Camera.
D4 Steering Wheel.
Rear Boot Spoiler.
Twin Brake Lights.
Wing Mirror Indicator Repeaters.
Long Roof Rails
Make your own Narpy grill thread
I'm not scared, I'm outta here.
5th Sep 2017 4:43 pm
DiscoDazzer
Member Since: 04 Sep 2017
Location: Essex
Posts: 5
Dislocated Manual Shift Solved!
Thanks for your help Narpy. Did a bit more reading as per links you provided then just decided to dive in this morning. Sure enough I discovered a dislocated pivot ball beneath the rubber gaiter...
I had clearly managed to pull the ball out of it's socket when removing the gear knob by pulling up hard as suggested in other posts and on Powerfulukltd YouTube video. If anyone gets to reading this, I would sound a note of caution to avoid dislocating the pivot ball. I propose an alternative method which I'll detail in a separate post.
Firstly though, I wanted to share how I fixed the dislocated ball. Please note you can't just push it back in, and hitting it with a big hammer doesn't help either (I tried!). If you persist with trying to force the ball back in to the socket you will damage the socket basket structure which seems to be quite delicate. Instead I tried a different approach noticing that there were small arrows pointing inwards on all the elements of the basket. If you work them inwards while pulling up the plastic basket comes free from the metal shift assembly...
It is then free to open up and slip back over the pivot ball. I added some grease while I had the opportunity...
After that the basket and relocated ball fit easily back into the metal shift assembly by pushing firmly but gently down...
Job done! Saved £69.00 on new gear change linkage (ULA500010) and a couple of hundred in labour charges if I had taken it to a dealership.
Hope this is helpful for others and thanks again to Narpy for initial leads. Check out how I suggest removing the gear knob to avoid dislocating the pivot ball.
6th Sep 2017 12:55 pm
Narpy
Member Since: 18 Jul 2011
Location: Stockport
Posts: 7830
Yeah, that's the kiddy.
Good description how to repair it too, well done. Mods:
Front Fogs + Halos
FBH Remote Control
The 1st Ever RRS Modded Grill
Garmin Nuvi + D4 Surround + Reversing Camera.
D4 Steering Wheel.
Rear Boot Spoiler.
Twin Brake Lights.
Wing Mirror Indicator Repeaters.
Long Roof Rails
Make your own Narpy grill thread
I'm not scared, I'm outta here.
6th Sep 2017 1:10 pm
DiscoDazzer
Member Since: 04 Sep 2017
Location: Essex
Posts: 5
How to safely remove manual gear knob and gaiter
I experimented with a 'safer' way of removing the gear knob and gaiter to avoid the risk of dislocating the pivot ball again. All other instructions I have seen suggest pulling up hard with both hands, but in my case this also pulled the pivot ball out of the bottom of the gear lever.
So... Unclip the gaiter by pushing in at the base on both sides. Remove the gear shift bezel by levering off from inside edge. There are four steel clips, two at the front and two at the side. They may come off so make sure you retrieve them to re-use later. Take a pair of pliers and place the handles around the gear shift shaft above the collar which should be firmly held in place with an Allan screw. Tuck the end of the handles under the edge of the plastic centre console. Put a cable tie around the bottom of the handles to hold the pliers in place. Find a suitably sized piece of wood from your 'man wood store' and place it on the business end of the pliers and the passenger seat.
Place knee on piece of wood exerting firm but gentle downwards force to prevent ball pulling out from socket. With two free hands firmly pull the gear knob up and off...
You can disassemble the gear knob by removing the two circular side plugs and the two screws which allows the centre part to be removed. A quick spray over with silver car paint restores any worn surfaces before reassembly. If the gaiter is worn buy some black leather of faux leather and use the old gaiter as a pattern to run up a new one (by someone who knows how to drive a sewing machine!). Make sure you remove the plastic surround from the bottom of the gaiter before binning it. Glue your new gaiter in place and reassemble with gear knob. refit to gear shift. Job done! Saved another £80 on new parts.
Please note - instructions above worked for me, but I take no responsibility for what you do to your own car!
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Thanks for your help Narpy. Did a bit more reading as per links you provided then just decided to dive in this morning. Sure enough I discovered a dislocated pivot ball beneath the rubber gaiter...
