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Gearlever/gearstick Rattle


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Hopefully this will help others....

I have been suffering from major gear-lever rattle for ages on my 4 and had been searching on the forum for some pointers. There was lots of info about the anti-rattle spring and the fun of getting it back in place without popping out again, I found this helpful and was able to replace this without any probs.

My issue was that the rattle still persisted, reinserting the spring/plunger, then replacing the spring/plunger didn’t make any difference at all :(  whenever I chatted about this to others I was given rather gloomy news of possible impending expensive gearbox failure.

I then came across some references to adding some rubber sleeving over the bottom part of the lever hidden under the spring retainer. This seemed worth trying, so I used some 5/8” internal diameter heater hose and cut it to fit really snuggly under the spring retainer (fitting the spring over it first, then sliding the two pieces over the lever worked best).

This did help - I had almost no rattle when in top - unfortunately still bad in the other gears.

I was chatting to my dad about this and he mentioned many years ago that a well-practiced way of improving this on some old MG’s he’d owned was to wrap the entire lever with a bicycle inner-tube :) - after we stopped laughing he did say that you couldn’t see it under the gaiter so it wasn’t much of an issue.

The more I thought about it, the gear-lever wrapping - as well a acting as a sound damper - would also stop the lever itself contacting any other metallic bits to cause metallic noises. So I started re-thinking the tubing idea and wondered if I had misunderstood the descriptions - or maybe they were just a bit cryptic - and there were never any pictures....  so I thought I’d try a different approach.

this time I wanted to make sure that the tubing extended through the spring-retainer so that it had a chance of damping anything from underneath and cushion movement between the lever and the retainer itself. I chose to try some thin-wall tubing which, as luck would have it, happily sits inside the hole in the retainer when fitted on the lever.

After fitting this, the good news is that I have a lovely rattle-free lever in all gears :)

The tubing I used was clear, had internal diameter of 16mm and outer diameter 19mm, cost a couple of quid from eBay and slides over the gear-lever easily with the addition of a bit of rubber-grease.

I have attached a couple of pictures for others who may find it helpful.

....... Andy 

FFBC8BE5-69E3-468E-AEF0-5E8CEB840607.jpeg

3347F626-D248-4F37-B601-7DB4BF4BA4D7.jpeg

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Hi Andi,

thank you for this info, I will try.

On my 4A it is much better with the original ball on top after a too heavy one was horrible noisy.

But in some moments it rattles anyway, so I try.

Ciao, Marco

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Hi Marco, 

Fingers-crossed it helps with your rattle as well :) 

I also use the original-style black-ball gear-knob, a drop of locktite every now and again usually keeps it from working loose.

....... Andy 

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Hi Andy,

had a close look and fitted a suitable hose.

The tin cap moves with the gear shift stick - but remains every time in a different position!

That would explain why the rattle nouce is only sometimes and most times not.

I gave this advice to my friend Thomas who also suffers under that annoying noice.

A like from me, hope that helps!

Ciao, Marco

 

 

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Hi Marco,

glad to hear it seems to be staying in place in all positions - to me, it appears that the the vital info is that the hose comes right up through the cap so that it acts as a cushion in every gear.

....... Andy 

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Sorry me,

the tin cap followes the gear stick but remains in a different position meens:

the gap between the tin cap and the gear stick is every time different and not concentric,

and not often - but sometimes - there is no gap, therefore my hope is on the added hose.

Ciao, Marco

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  • 1 month later...

Hi Andy,

I'm back from a 350 km tour today and I'm very pleased with the result!

NOT ONE SINGLE RATTLE ALL THE DAY! And moving the gearstick is lovely by its haptic.

For me you are the winner of the month and you deserve more laud for this post.

Please allow me to translate your post for the next issue of the German TR IG Suedwest magazin, and to use your photos.

Ciao, Marco

 

 

Edited by Z320
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Hi Marco,

Thank you for your kind words, I am delighted that this has proved successful for you as well!  Of course, you are welcome to reuse any of the the words and photographs - hopefully it will be helpful to others in your area/region, but I am happy to know that at least 1 more person has benefitted.

One of the things I love is that the total cost for the fix is only a few £/€ probably less if you can buy just 10cm of tube :) - the other is that it is simple (my brain does not like to over-complicate things!)

All the best...... Andy 

Edited by AndyR100
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+1 and a like from me - just done as part of lengthy  assembly, so might be awhile for confirmation. I had a piece of vinyl tube lying around that was a little smaller diameter, so cut a slit up the side and slipped in on without any problem.

Cheers,

Alf

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Sounds really good Andy.

I haven't had a problem with my TR4A (so far) but my MGB has suffered for over 40 years despite many attempts to solve the issue.  I don't hear it with the top down but will definitely give your fix a try at some stage.

Many thanks

Bob

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8 hours ago, silverfox4 said:

+1 and a like from me - just done as part of lengthy  assembly, so might be awhile for confirmation. I had a piece of vinyl tube lying around that was a little smaller diameter, so cut a slit up the side and slipped in on without any problem.

Cheers,

Alf

Thanks Alf,

with the cut i'd imagine it will keep the spring-retainer and stick away from each other - as long as it protrudes through the retainer it should work,  good luck with the reassembly :)

....... Andy

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2 hours ago, Bobble said:

Sounds really good Andy.

I haven't had a problem with my TR4A (so far) but my MGB has suffered for over 40 years despite many attempts to solve the issue.  I don't hear it with the top down but will definitely give your fix a try at some stage.

Many thanks

Bob

Hi Bob,

my earlier reference to discussing the problem with my dad was on the subject of MGB's - this is where the bicycle inner-tube suggestion came from, it was told to him by Ron Gammons of Brown and Gammons fame.

hope it works for you whichever car its on :) 

..... Andy

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