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Ford Type 2 gearbox, gear lever shake
steve m - 22/8/14 at 10:10 AM

Hi all

I seem to of developed a gear lever shake, it appears in all gears, but a lot worse in fourth when at a steady RPM

Ive changed the plastic saddle, and although the gear change is now a lot smoother, the gear knob shake is worse
I can live with the problem, but just wondered "why"


regards

steve

pekwah1 - 22/8/14 at 10:12 AM

something to do with the gearbox/engine mounts causing too much vibration?

britishtrident - 22/8/14 at 10:17 AM

Have you changed the gear knob, the weight (more correctly mass) of the knob and length of gear stick changes the natural frequency of the gear lever vibration. That is why most tintop gear lever knobs are fairly heavy.

A knob with a rubber bush insert works best because the rubber between the outer part of the knob and gear lever gives in some inherent. damping.

steve m - 22/8/14 at 10:45 AM

Andy, I did suspect mounts, but as far as I can see/feel all appear to be doing there job, two on the engine, and one on the gear box

BT, the whole gear lever/knob assembly has been on the car for a few years, and not really been a problem,

Im out in the car in a while, might take a vid

steve

pekwah1 - 22/8/14 at 03:51 PM

hit a bump and bent your prop shaft?

steve m - 22/8/14 at 08:06 PM

don't think so M8, as theres no vibration, or noise, just a very vibrating gear stick,

Xtreme Kermit - 23/8/14 at 01:23 PM

Gearbox bearings on the way out?

Sam_68 - 23/8/14 at 03:10 PM

quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
Have you changed the gear knob, the weight (more correctly mass) of the knob and length of gear stick changes the natural frequency of the gear lever vibration. That is why most tintop gear lever knobs are fairly heavy.

A knob with a rubber bush insert works best because the rubber between the outer part of the knob and gear lever gives in some inherent. damping.


This is a strong possibility; it may be just a natural frequency thing.

Consider yourself in good company: Lotus had the same problem with the original Elan, and solved it by using a rubber bush to connect the shaft of the gearlever. I changed both my Elans back to a solid shaft with a (heavier) billet aluminium gearknob, because I didn't like the 'squidgyness' that the rubber bush introduced into the feel of the gearchange.

You can always experiment by taping additional weight to the gearlever shaft to see if it cures the vibe.

ian.stewart - 30/8/14 at 08:22 PM

Are you using a quaife type quickshift???? they all rattle, its because they use a rose/spherical joint as a pivot, if that's the case take the lever apart and see if the joint has a small lube hole in the side, if so drill a hole thru the side of the housing level to where the grease point is and fit a grease nipple, that way you can grease the joint and stop it rattling,-------------- Otherwise dismantle the lever and smear all the spherical parts you can find with a heavy HMP grease, not moly, reassemble and it should cure your problem for a while.

steve m - 31/8/14 at 10:25 AM

thanks for the idea's

It is a quick shift, and I had to modify it a bit to fit, but as said its been on the car for 5 plus years and never caused a problem, until the whole lot came off I my hand a few weeks ago

ive reassembled it, and now it shakes/vibrates quite badly

Paul Turner - 31/8/14 at 11:03 AM

quote:
Originally posted by steve m
thanks for the idea's

It is a quick shift, and I had to modify it a bit to fit, but as said its been on the car for 5 plus years and never caused a problem, until the whole lot came off I my hand a few weeks ago

ive reassembled it, and now it shakes/vibrates quite badly


So after 5 years with no issues the lever came off in your hands and now it vibrates.

I would suggest that its been reassembled incorrectly or the fault that caused it to come off has not been sorted.

Based on the new and very important info its 100% a lever issue. Would be nice to get all the info in the original post.

[Edited on 31/8/14 by Paul Turner]