DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

I've never been happy with the shifting in my 69T (901). Essentially moving the gear lever between the 2/3 and 4/5 planes all feels a bit notchy and over-centre-y. Hold that thought.

Over the last couple of weeks 3rd to 4th has been a bit more difficult than previously. Bulking at going into 4th.

At BH the other evening, the gear change seemed to get harder, then on the way home, we ended up with 2nd and 3rd only (very slow journey). Then lost all gear change at home. So I have just taken it apart. The culprit was the front conical screw which had come out. And there is loads of play in the shift coupler at the back, even though it has clearly had new purple bushes (powerflex)? Also the threaded hole for the conical bolt is super-nadgered. So I can easily get a new rear coupling.

Then as I took it apart, the bottom of the gear lever was separate from the shift bush it locates in. Now it looks to me like you have to put (pop) that bush on the bottom of the gear lever and then put it in the connector piece. See photo. Is that correct? It looks to me like it's been operating without being properly engaged into the bush, hence the not very nice movement between 2/3 and 4/5 planes. Is that likely?

And finally, as I'm in there, is there any merit in any of the short shift kits? They are pretty pricey and if I can make my shift work like I think it should, then all would be fine. But I just thought I'd see if anyone raved about the change of a short shift kit for the 901 box.

IMG_20200808_124530 by graham Ridgway, on Flickr

Thanks
Graham

So on looking further the square headed special bolt has a hole drilled in its head. Hmmm I thought, looks like something you'd lockwire. The Haynes manual says remove the lock wire to take it apart, so perhaps that's why it came out?

So on looking further the square headed special bolt has a hole drilled in its head. Hmmm I thought, looks like something you'd lockwire. The Haynes manual says remove the lock wire to take it apart, so perhaps that's why it came out?

The mauve bushes in the Universl Joint should have an oval hole in them to allow the Detent Balls to drop nicely into the Slots in the Selector Rods (inside the box) without any load from the gear selection rods (outside the box)

You are on the right track, andif youfitround hole rear coupling bushed, you have a slightly shorter shift but you have to be super accurate setting the mechanism to avoid having the box not quite 'home' in a gear and risk of jumping out.
I've had round hole bushes in my 915 coupling for literally 3 decades.

I personally would not complicate things with a short shift, and that cup does pop onto the bottom of the lever, can be quite a push to snap it home.
All bushes have to be perfect, and alignment has to be closely made as expressed above.
Porsche did things for good reason.

Yes, they need lockwire Graham. Happened in my beetle years ago, which I diagnosed whilst slowing down with a floppy gear-lever and only one gear engaged.....could only be one thing! I suspect the worsening of the shift was as the whole thing was adjusting itself as you drove with it getting ever looser.

Mike Smith wrote:The mauve bushes in the Universl Joint should have an oval hole in them to allow the Detent Balls to drop nicely into the Slots in the Selector Rods (inside the box) without any load from the gear selection rods (outside the box)

Thanks that's very handy to know. I was confused as to how what I thought were new bushes could have been written so quickly.

I'll recheck the threaded hole as that's not very well before buying a new fitting.

rhd racer wrote:Yes, they need lockwire Graham. Happened in my beetle years ago, which I diagnosed whilst slowing down with a floppy gear-lever and only one gear engaged.....could only be one thing! I suspect the worsening of the shift was as the whole thing was adjusting itself as you drove with it getting ever looser.

Thanks for the confirmation, I'll do some searching for a photo to see where the lockwire goes.

911hillclimber wrote:You are on the right track, andif youfitround hole rear coupling bushed, you have a slightly shorter shift but you have to be super accurate setting the mechanism to avoid having the box not quite 'home' in a gear and risk of jumping out.
I've had round hole bushes in my 915 coupling for literally 3 decades.

I personally would not complicate things with a short shift, and that cup does pop onto the bottom of the lever, can be quite a push to snap it home.
All bushes have to be perfect, and alignment has to be closely made as expressed above.
Porsche did things for good reason.

Yes, I think you are right Graham. If I am correct in my guess that it was incorrectly assembled, it should be a lot better.

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If you buy a new conical screw it comes with an allen head & a longer threaded portion so that you can fit a (locking) nut ...



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Thanks Andy, is that at the front end under the gear stick in place of the square headed bolt? Or for the rear fitting?

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Sorry - just noticed you said the front screw ...

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Just been checking the rear fitting and the bolt hole is well and truly knadgered and the fitting has ovalised, so I'll get a new one and use a lock nut anyway. Then I'll lock wire the front one.
Graham

Doesn’t the front screw have a nyloc style bit to stop it backing out ... or am I imagining that ? .... I too had this come loose a few years ago which resulted in shift difficulty

Front screw is just a plain screw with a square head (with a taper at the end). The head is drilled for lockwire, which it will get!