Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi Guys,

Having spent all day swopping out the old gearbox, which used to jump out of fourth when I took my foot off the throttle, for a spare 'box of dubious parentage from the depth of the garage, I still have a problem.

The new 'box seems to be nice and tight when selecting the gears, selects the full range of gears both stationary and when moving but is still jumping out of fourth, although this time whilst travelling at speed.

Could the remote control on the 'box have any bearing on the failure to stay in gear? The 'box is the standard ribbed type 1098 'box, although using the shorter 948 gear lever. Could this set up cause problems?

Any advise gratefully received.

Thanks

John

YES!! I had the same problem when I bought my car, it had been uprated from 948 to 1098, but the original lever retained. There is a very subtle difference between the levers which caused jumping out of gear,fitting a 1098 one sorted it out for me! You aren't near North Essex(nearly Suffolk) by chance? I have a spare lever getting in the way at the moment!

Since the 'lever' has nothing to do with holding the gears 'in' - I guess then the problem really is that the incorrect lever doesn't get the gear 'in' properly in the first place ? Is that a fair assessment?

I'm guessing that this is the problem. I've looked around in the garage and come up with 4 gear levers, although one is for an 803 'box. All of the levers seem to be quite short, but all 3 are of different lengths .

I guess the best bet is to try the 2 most likely ones and see if this cures the problem.

No joy with the gear levers i have.

I'm now on the lookout for a 1098 gear lever

John

You could take the side cover off and look inside when you select 4th gear with any of the levers - to see if it engages properly.



Check the selector fork securing bolt is tight and locked - and when 4th gear is selected - can the selector be moved over to the right any further ?

Hi Guys,

Fitted a repalcement gear lever this evening (Thanks Linear Audio), however, I still can't select 4th gear, in fact i can't even hold the gear lever in the 4th gear position. However, when the 'box was first fitted, 4th gear could be selected, as the car was driven from Biggin Hill.

The only other option I can explore is BMC's suggestion of taking the access cover off and seeing if the selector can be moved further forward.

Regards

John

Not hard to look - but if it was ok at first and now is not, surely suggests something has come loose inside the box.

The 1098 IS longer (the bit that goes inside the 'ole). I had the same problem too as the 950 stick is too short to be able to select the gears fully.

I think I have every variation of Minor gearlevers. Now just waiting for the opportunity to drain the 'box and get to the access panel and see if I can adjust the selectors.

Regards

John

John, I'm so sorry to hear you still have (worsened?) problems. At least you know you have a correct lever
If the selector looks solid, and not to be overly worn, then could it be a weak/ broken detent spring on the selector rod? From what I can make out, this is accessible also when you take the side cover off, but perhaps BMC could verify?

There are two little springs - but honestly - unless they are completely missing, I think this unlikely to be the answer.....

Ho Ho Ho,

after spending most of the day under the car and getting covered in several different kinds of filth (including slimy dum dum) I still don't think I'm any nearer curing the gearbox.

I managed to get the car stuck in gear, forth, of course. I managed to free the gearbox, but discovered I now had an incredibly slack throttle cable. Lo and behold, the cable has broken right down at the adjuster.

My patience has now just about run out.

Oh the joys of Minor ownership

Regards

John

The throttle cable has now been changed. However, the gearbox still won't stay in forth gear.

Would the remote control on the the top of the gearbox extenstion have any bearing on the problem? I can swop over the remote from the old gearbox if needs be.

Regards

John

No harm trying ! Does the gear appear to be fully engaged when you look in the side casing?

It appeared to be, the selector fork was tight on its shaft, so I'm assuming that forth gear is selected.

After fixing the throttle cable this afternoon, I took the car for a brief test run. I managed to get the car to select forth whilst on the move once, but it was by using more force than i deemed to be reasonably necessary. However, I did only manage to do it once. Every time after that was greeted by jumping out of gear again.

I assume that changing the remote is a reasonably staright forward job, as opposed to changing the gearbox?

Regards

John

Maybe not - since you will need to lift the floor to get at it, which is not necessary for a gearbox swop..... It's unlikely to fix the problem - I would swop the gearbox...

Any reason to think there is a problem with the remote?
It's easy to change but unlikely to have an issue.

Clutching at straws I guess. The next option is to fit the 5 speed 'box I suppose.

Big job - just pop in another 1098 box, plenty of them about!