348 Gearshift Shaft Seal Removal? Help!

In my seemingly futile quest to keep my 348 from marking its territory all over my garage floor I've tracked down my worst leak to the transmission shift shaft seal, which appears to be a common leak.

I've gotten everything exposed, bought my $3 seal, but cannot for the life of me figure out how to get the damn seal out. I have a variety of picks, but none have seemed to be able to get any sort of hold onto the seal, and it just seems to want to tear (without actually coming out).

Can anyone tell me the best way to get this PITA thing removed?

 

Slide hammer seal puller.

 

Or carefully drill a small pilot hole in the seal. Partially screw a wood screw into the hole and yank it out with pliers.

 

I was able to get it out! Used a right angle pick, and a few choice curse words directed at the underside of the car.

Since I wasnt able to find pictures of this being done before... here's my breakdown.

Had to get the pick behind the seal carefully and coax it out SLOWLY so the pick wouldn't slip out.

To replace the seal, use a deep well socket to slip over the shaft and tap it with a hammer to seat the seal evenly. You'll likely have to unbolt the shift cables for this step to move them out of the way (as you can see in the picture).

Overall not a terrible job. Just annoying.

 

On another note.. anyone know where I can source another shift linkage boot or have one I can buy?

Part # 139802.

Don't need the plate just need the boot. Mine has seen better days.

 

Call and find out lead time. I paid a bit more for a used one on ebay some time ago. No affiliation, nor have I ordered from them before.

https://www.scuderiacarparts.com/part/2951/ferrari/139802/rubber-boot.html

 

Thanks I'll see if I can source it there.


In other news a little over a week since replacing the seal and my garage floor is completely dry!!!!

I did verify that the car does indeed still have fluids in it. Lol. So we're leak free for the time being. Has this ever happened in 348 world?

 

Well no luck. That boot is unavailable. Anyone have a used one that's not falling apart?

 

Hi, a new 348 owner here resurrecting an old thread. I need to change the same gasket but want to make sure what is the right way to remove the selector fork without messing up the adjustments. Do I just unscrew the clamp screw on the selector shaft (35 in the attached pic) and then the whole fork assembly (everything with letter B) can be pulled out of the way? Anything special that needs attention if I unbolt the shift cables from the fork?

Just want to take extra care because the gear change works quite well at the moment and the shifter adjustment does not sound too fun.


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You can undo and remove any bolt or nut (for access and/or to inspect, clean, re-grease) except the nuts that lock the cable forks (red line on the diagram). The linkage adjustment is done by turning the forks in or out (after releasing their locking nuts). Everything else goes back only one way and in only one predetermined position.

If for any reason you need to readjust the linkage, no panic; the adjustment is actually quite simple: 1) turning both forks in or out by the same amount will move the gear stick forward or backward; 2) turning the fork on only one cable in or out will move the gear stick laterally. You are good if, after the described adjustments, your gear stick, when in neutral, sits as shown on the second picture.

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Thanks for your help Miroljub! I got the parts out nicely without touching the cable fork bolts and got the gasket replaced today. However now when putting it all back together the passenger side cable fork bolt hole no longer reached the bolt hole in the translator assembly. Not sure what could have changed the setup but I think I will reassemble the parts once more before I start adjusting the cables.


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I presume you put the gearbox in neutral before disconnecting the cable assembly. If this is the case, then you have now either not positioned the gear stick in the centre of the gate or the "short" cable is not positioned and clamped correctly in the bracket. See the marked grooves and the correct cable positioning in the bracket on the pictures below.

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Remove big bolt. Pull bell crank off. Replace small bolt. Move shifter so big hole bell crank indexes on the post passively. Test shift in all gears. Adjust as needed

 

Looks like the reason for the bolts not lining up was that I had managed to move the selector shaft towards the rear of the car while working with the gasket. Once I moved the shaft a little the bell crank and the cables all went together. All good? Well... now I cannot move the gearstick to the right side (4th & 5th gears) . I think the driver's side cable fork is resisting the movement and hitting the bell crank corner but I didn't found out yet why it is doing that. Also the adjustments seem to be a little off still which is kind of strange because shifting has been quite smooth and I did not touch the setup at any point.

Stick was in neutral when I disassembled the selector parts, the cables are clamped correctly (I didn't have to remove them from the clamp), and the gearbox selector shaft is in the correct position with the bolt in the groove.

Thanks for all the advice so far, I will continue with the project when I find some time to crawl under the car again.

 

Not easy to tell but, looking at your picture in post #11, it seems that your gearbox is in reverse gear (at the time of picture), i.e. the selector shaft appears pushed into the gearbox. If this is the case, you should try to pull it out until it clicks into neutral. To do this, it is probably best if you disconnect the bellcrank from its block and move it away (keep the cables connected to the bellcrank). You should also temporarily remove the gear stick gate so that the gear stick can follow, without obstruction, the subsequent re-attachment of the bellcrank. After this, your gear stick should be in the centre.

I once completely disassembled everything, including disconnection of both cables from the bellcrank and from the bracket, removal of the bellcrank from the block etc., at the gear selector shaft (kept the gearbox in neutral all the time) and, after I reassembled everything, the gear stick came back to exactly the same centre position where I left it before disassembly. The picture below shows neutral position of the selector shaft on my 348 which you can try to compare with the current position of your shaft (with how much it sticks out).

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In any case, if you have not altered the positions of the forks on the cables, don't try to re-adjust them but look for other reasons causing the issue you are having. If you removed and reattached the bellcrank from its block, make sure it is not "upside down" (I don't know if this is possible) and that it swivels freely. Also make sure that the forks can swivel freely (within the range as allowed by the bellcrank) around the bolts.

 

CORRECTION: the above part of my earlier write-up should state: 2) turning the fork on one cable in and on the other cable out by the same amount will move the gear stick laterally.

 

Yes, it is possible, and yes, I had it upside down The flat side needs to be down and the tube side up. After I turned the bell crank around I got everything assembled back perfectly in few minutes and the gear stick is right in the middle. As you thought, the picture in #11 also still had the shaft deeper in the gear box ie. probably on reverse or second gear.

Thanks again for your detailed answers and patience!