Trying to replace the bushes and rubber gaters on my gear linkage...... be damned if i can seperate the front coupling any tricks or tips????? Ive tried hitting it with a hammer



Sean

I found it easier to seperate once I had disconnected it from the gearstick, that and a healthy soaking of duck oil the night before. Then get tools to grip the tubes and then try and rotate them in opposite directions. This eventually loosened them up and when loose I eased them apart. Once off I used emery cloth to remove the surface rust on both surfaces and grease before re-attaching incase you need to seperate them again.

I know this doesn't help ... but I once had to cut one off as there was no way it was going to shift !

However, I have since been told that if you take out both grub screws and keep soaking in WD40 (or similar) for a few days, then grind to little flats in each tube, you can get an adjustable (or monkey wrench) on each and rotate until you break the rust ....

worth a go I guess

Jim the Van wrote:I found it easier to seperate once I had disconnected it from the gearstick, that and a healthy soaking of duck oil the night before. Then get tools to grip the tubes and then try and rotate them in opposite directions. This eventually loosened them up and when loose I eased them apart. Once off I used emery cloth to remove the surface rust on both surfaces and grease before re-attaching incase you need to seperate them again.

yeah i removed the gear stick first off and gave it a good dowsing of WD40 i have a new coupling to replace the old one cos the threads are pretty shot on the one thats on at the moment so if all else fails ill be breaking out the grinder i guess

Is there anything i should be aware of when joining them back up ???? so the front shaft is in gear position 1 for example and the rear section is in gear position 1 if that makes sense
Sean

Hi Sean,

Had a load of trouble disconnecting my shift rod years ago. In the end I got a blow torch from a DIY shop, and heated the joint until it was glowing red, came apart quite easily after that with a couple of pairs of water pump pliers.

Hope this helps!!

Andy

Cheers for the tip Andy im hoping to make a little more progress when i venture to the garage again...... i hate coming up against obstacles like this that seem to eat up time with little or no progress

Sean

Heat worked for me Sean..

berpsta wrote:Cheers for the tip Andy im hoping to make a little more progress when i venture to the garage again...... i hate coming up against obstacles like this that seem to eat up time with little or no progress

Sean

No worries Sean & good luck!

I've never been without that blow torch since and its got me out of all manner of scrapes.

Andy

If you heat it up to cherry red then cool it very quickly using water, co2, etc it will break down the rust. Try this trick on a rusted nut and bolt and you will see what I mean!

try 2 pairs of large molegrips twisting them against each other and hit the gearlinkage from both sides at same times with 2 hammers to brake the rust