Volvo Community Forum. The Forums of the Volvo Owners Club

Forum Rules Volvo Owners Club About VOC Volvo Gallery Links Volvo History Volvo Press
Go Back   Volvo Owners Club Forum > "Technical Topics" > S40 / V40 '96-'04 General > x40 S1 Articles

Notices

x40 S1 Articles Article posts pertaining to x40 S1 Articles series Volvos

Information
  • VOC Members: There is no login facility using your VOC membership number or the details from page 3 of the club magazine. You need to register in the normal way
  • AOL Customers: Make sure you check the 'Remember me' check box otherwise the AOL system may log you out during the session. This is a known issue with AOL.
  • AOL, Yahoo and Plus.net users. Forum owners such as us are finding that AOL, Yahoo and Plus.net are blocking a lot of email generated from forums. This may mean your registration activation and other emails will not get to you, or they may appear in your spam mailbox

Thread Informations

GUIDE: Definitive cure for sloppy gear lever (Renault gbox)

Views : 8865

Replies : 1

Users Viewing This Thread :  

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old Sep 14th, 2009, 17:28   #1
kilou
Senior Member
 

Last Online: Jun 21st, 2022 14:33
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Lausanne
Default GUIDE: Definitive cure for sloppy gear lever (Renault gbox)

Many S/V40 owners have experienced issues with gearshifts. Often these symptoms are caused by wear in the nylon bushings at the end of the gearshift selection rod. The known cure to this problem is to renew these bushings as explained in this excellent guide made by JSeaman:

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=43008

Obviously renewing these bushings does work, is inexpensive and easy to do. New bushings will probably last for 100’000km so why bother? Because even with brand new bushings you get some faint slack since you cannot fully tighten the nut. As I was not happy with this design and wanted a definitive cure, the solution was fairly straightforward: install thrust bearings!

The idea is to replace the 2 nylon bushings with 2 small metal thrust bearings of the same size. Wear is minimal and the bearings are able to withstand a high axial load so that you can tighten the retaining nut on the selector to “press” the assembly between the jaws of the fork. The load is then transferred on the whole surface of the bearings and ALL free play is gone while the bearings allow for a smooth movement of the selector!!

Looking at nylon bushings, a good size for the thrust bearing is 10x20x5.5mm (read inner diameter/outer diameter/height). After a small journey on the web, the best match I could find was 10x18x5.5mm that come in a pack of 2 for about 17$…pretty good! Order placed here http://www.vxb.com/page/bearings/PROD/Thrust/Kit7156

The height of a bearing is exactly the thickness of a nylon bushing and the inner hole matches exactly the metal sleeve that goes through the bushings (you'll just need to grind the sleeve slightly).



So here we go for the install:

1. Jack the front of the car and support it on axle stands.
2. Access the assembly with nylon bushings and undo the retaining nut on the gearshift linkage


3. Pull the selector fork out and remove the bushing assembly (keep it in a safe place in case you want to undo this mod!)


4. IMPORTANT: Take the metal sleeve and grind a bit of metal (about 1mm) off its length. This will ensure that the whole load in the fork is carried by the bearings and not the sleeve. Also grind a bit each end of the sleeve (where the bearings will be placed) to allow the bearings to move correctly.
5. Wrap Teflon tape around the center of the metal sleeve up to a diamater of 1.2mm. This is to make the sleeve fit tightly in the hole of the selector arm. Make sure that you keep enough place on each end of the sleeve for the bearings!


6. Pack the bearings with a load of moly grease and place them at each end of the metal sleeve just as you would have placed new nylon bushings. Then carefully replace the selector fork over the bearings, fit the screw and the retaining nut and tighten it until there is no free play on the bearings.



7. Additionally you can place a plastic protection around the assembly to protect it from dirt/moisture and keep the grease inside. The plastic is attached with 2 zip ties.




Done!!

The difference is quite impressive for me: absolutely NO free play at all and the gearshifts are much more precise and feel lighter and smooth! I was concerned about vibrations in the lever with this mod since all freeplay is removed from the linkage...but definitely I have LESS vibrations than before so that's another good point! It’s even better than brand new nylon bushings and the “new” feel should last forever!

Happy motoring!
kilou is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following 10 Users Say Thank You to kilou For This Useful Post:
Old Sep 14th, 2009, 23:02   #2
kilou
Senior Member
 

Last Online: Jun 21st, 2022 14:33
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Lausanne
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by kilou View Post
4. IMPORTANT: Take the metal sleeve and grind a bit of metal (about 1mm) off its length.
By this I mean you need to shorten the length of the sleeve by about 1mm. The sleeve is then only used as a guide and allows the pressure on the fork (when tightening the nut) to be transferred on the bearings surface.
kilou is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 13:59.


Powered by vBulletin
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.