MGB MGB Shift Lever Removal?

[aeronca65t]

Am I missing something here?

My '69 B has a somewhat sticky shifter and I wanted to remove it so I can clean/lube/ have a look-see.

So I remove the leather boot and shift knob.
Then I remove the three screws that hold the retaining plate for the shifter to the trans. And I remove the round retaining plate.
Then I remove the left-side guide screw that goes in the slot that is cut in the ball of the shifter.
I cannot remove the right-side screw (at least easily) but I figure it should pull straight up and out anyway. No?

I pull and pull.
Then I mix pulling with profane language.
Still no go.
I use my slide hammer to try to yank it up and out.
No go.

Suggestions?

<span style="font-size: 8pt"> The entire deal looks like a giant version of a Sprite shifter, which I've removed maybe a zillion times. Is there some secret pin somewhere?</span>

 

[DrEntropy]

There is a spring tensioner behind the larger bolt head on the right side. But I don't recall that being able to keep it from being removed. ~should~ come out, Nial. In neutral? There is a nylon nubbin on the bottom of it I've seen get "funny" if the box has had excessive heat from lack-o-lube. That'd be about the only thing I can recall as a problem. Early boxes had a great-giant circlip to hold 'em but the four synchro one should be as you've described and come out easily.

 

[twigworker]

There isn't anything left to hold it in position. The other end sits in a small plastic cup which in turn slips into a bore in the back end of the shift rod. If you have the top plate off there isn't anything left.

BTW: Don't lose the specail spring washers that were under the special shouldered cap screws that held the top plate in place. When you do get the lever out clean everything up well with solvent, including removal and cleaning of the brass anti-rattle plunger and it's spring before you put it all back together again. When you do go back together use either molybdenum disulfide or wheel bearing grease all over the fulcrum ball and down in the bottom end. Word to the wise...Stick the little plastic cup onto the bottom ball of the lever first and then VERY CAREFULLY slip the cup into the socket of the shift rod. DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT allow the cup to slip off and fall down into the transmission cross member. If this happens it is extremely frustrating to find and then retrieve the cup when it has been so devoured. Extremely!

You also might consider shortening the lever itself. It is easy. Either "turn down" the section of the lever just below the threads with careful application of a bench grinder or have a machine shop do it. Either way, reduce the diameter for a distance of about one and half or one and three quarter inches. Then run a die down the old threads and begin to cut new ones along the freshly machined section. When you get the threads cut to the bottom remove the die and cut the original threaded section off with a hack saw. Reinstall the jamb nut and knob and you are in business. I much prefer the shorter shift throw over the longer one as OEM. Jack

 

[DrEntropy]

"Thackeray Washers". Usually they're *smushed* into pieces anyway. New ones can be found by looking for them from Weber carb suppliers in a pinch.

My guess is the plastic nubbin has been somehow deformed.

 

[PAUL161]

"Thackeray Washers". Usually they're *smushed* into pieces anyway. New ones can be found by looking for them from Weber carb suppliers in a pinch.

My guess is the plastic nubbin has been somehow deformed.

Doc, doesn't Moss sell those retainer plate springs now? And bolts? I know I saw them somewhere.

 

[DrEntropy]

Just looked at the Moss catalog. Yup! The have 'em. But I remember those as crumbling to bits on first installation. Mebbe that has been addressed now.

 

[aeronca65t]

Hmmm?...I'll spray some more solvent and see if it will come loose.

But as I read the above, I <span style="text-decoration: underline">DO NOT</span> need to remove the right side screw (that goes into the shift lever ball-slot) to pull the shifter out. Right?

Thanks.

 

[DrEntropy]

IIRC, that "pin" does keep it from coming out. The slot in the shifter ball doesn't go all the way down. The tensioner/spring is the one which can stay in place.

 

[DrEntropy]

I "miss stood under you". Thought you said the pin one was out. Sorry.