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Re: 4 speed selector spring

Thanks Ruairidh, that is basically what I thought, although in my case I don't think item 8 will apply I suspect the hardest part will be extracting the broken spring.

Re: 4 speed selector spring

Personally I'd rather take the box out and do it on the bench, just in case I dropped the ball (sic)

or the spring.

One of those jobs where Murphy's Law will more than likely apply.

Location: Gard, France 30960. Used to be Languedoc-Roussillon but now it's Occitanie

Re: 4 speed selector spring

Likewise - considerably less fraught with box on the bench.

Re: 4 speed selector spring

Dave you do not mention what model car you have. I can remove the gearbox from my Ruby from inside the car leaving the engine and everything else in place. Regarding temporary measures I can recal back in the early 60s people used rubber rings cut from old inner tubes to hold the gear shift in place.

John Mason.

Location: Nottinghamshire

Re: 4 speed selector spring

A crafty solution. For some reason failed springs seem reasonably common.

It is a long time since I did such work and I do not want to spend time playing with a spare to check, but when tinkering with Seven boxes with the interlock removed is there any risk of popping the synchro balls, a risk with some other makes? Somewhat more irksome than a selector spring!

Location: Auckland, NZ

Re: 4 speed selector spring

Been there and I have the T shirt somewhere. In a 4 speed special descending a very steep hill in Cornwall in bottom gear, when we got to the bottom the transmission was locked and the gearlever solid. Removed the top of the box and put the selector back in neutral with a borrowed big crow bar, this resulted in all the synchro balls and springs flying out. So I drained the oil and collected all the springs and balls and put the oil back in the box. We then had a lovely day on the beach, it was our honeymoon. The only way out was up the same steep hill and I soon learnt to balance the amount of power with the amount of effort to hold it in gear. It was some years before I stripped the box to refit the synchro balls & springs. This has happened to at least 2 other Sevens that I know of, I think they were both recovered home.
Did a dry run today on the bench with a spare box, as I didn't have a small enough magnet I made an electro magnet.

Re: 4 speed selector spring

It's an RN saloon with a 3 speed engine & clutch and two synchro (no risk of synchro balls and springs popping out Bob)4 speed close ratio gearbox, so items 2 and 3 on Ruairidh's list don't apply. The bore of a 3 speed clutch cover plate is bigger than a 4 speed so the selector rod will slide forward till it meets the clutch centre plate leaving enough room for the job. Once the selector is moved forward for the operation a red cap was inserted into the selector to stop anything disappearing into the works. The longest part of the operation was removing the spring and being certain all the bits (7)were removed. The electro magnet removed and refitted the ball, it's power being switched off when the ball was in place so it wasn't removed again. Quite a pleasant 2 hour job in the morning sunshine.

Re: 4 speed selector spring

Nice work Dave.