Greetings, I'm in the middle of a major service on an '86 TR and I am about to pull the plate to open the shifter box. I did multiple searches and didn't see a step by step procedure for replacing the shift shaft o-ring. The WSM didn't spell it out either. Are there any special steps needed? Can the shaft be pushed in enough to expose the o-ring, after disengaging it from the shift forks? Is the selector arm pinned or otherwise located on the shaft if I have to pull the shaft out the front? I know there are the detents waiting for me, but what's the trick to getting them back in (308's were vertical, these are horizontal)? I'll open it up this weekend and take a look, but I'd appreciate knowing the best way to proceed from the experts. Thank you in advance.
That seal is relatively straightforward. I'm assuming your changing it because it is leaking gear oil. The detents can come flying out so take the cover off slowly. When replacing or fine tuning the gears, you should bolt a little piece of wood across the detent area to simulate having the cover on (as per WSM but they use a special tool.) You will need to remove the exhaust manifolds, front Lt motor mount therefore you should probably block the engine. Remove the dust boot, open the tranny, 13 mm bolt holding the selector to shift rod. Loosen it, pull the shift rod out of transmission and slide the selector off of the rod, replace seal, insert rod, attach selector and tighten bolt. Having the side cover off now allows you to fine tune your shift linkage with someone in the car going through the gears. Hope this is what you were asking about. Brent
I'm sorry. I read it again and realized you are in the middle of a major. I thought the engine was in the car. Same steps minus the blocking the engine. The seal is very straightforward. Just sits in it's groove, does not need to be pressed in or anything. Brent.
Brent, Thank you for the advice. There are a couple things I'm still concerned about. 1. Is there anything that indexes the selector to the shift rod? Since the engine is out, I can only "eyeball" the end of the shift shaft to vertical. I suspect I can make the adjustments to the shift linkage at the turnbuckle after the engine is back in to correct for anything I'm off. 2. Will the detent/springs stay in position when putting the cover back on? Is there any special technique for doing this? Thank you again for your help.
The shift rod is just held in the gear box by the selector. You unscrew the selector and it will come out. The selector is just screwed onto the rod and will slide off the end. There is nothing that keeps it lined up. When you get in there it will all make sense. What you are supposed to do to line it back up when re-installingf is place the gearbox in 2nd gear (straight up and down and pushed in), and the gear shift in the car in second gear. Then adjust the turnbucle for equal play side to side within the gear, and adjust for length by watching the gear shift in the car. It takes a little bit of fine tuning. It is very similar to the 308 from an internal linkage point of view I found. The selectors look identical. On the 308 the shift rod was near impossible to remove. That's not the case with these. (I think you mentioned you did a 308?) The detents will not come flying out. Just take the cover off slowly. They are larger springs and larger balls than the 308. They will stay in place once the cover is removed. If you tilt the gear box ...then they would fall out. They will not fall into the gear box. They are the cheapest Ferrari part you could buy if you do happen to lose them. Hopefully I am answering your question.. Brent.
One other thing. There is a groove on the shift rod that that selector bolt will slide into. I think that is your question. So yes, you will be able to put the selector back in nearly the exact same spot that you removed it from. Brent.
Gentlemen, Thank you for the info and pictures. Fantastic. This is exactly what I was looking to read and see. It looks very straight forward. I'll have it apart tonight, and once it's back in the car, I'll make the appropriate adjustments in the shift linkage. Thank you again.
Also inspect the rubber bushing on the selector shaft (outside the trany). If the seal leaks, over time the rubber deteriorates and you start missing gears. Then you pull the engine/trany, send it to Calif for trany rebuild to find out the problem is just the bushing. Sure glad my wife doen't read this forum. FWIW Jeff Pintler 89 348tb, 86tr, 99 360 3-pedal
