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Sun Aug 23, 2009 2:23 pm

A search of this forum and my Haynes manual did not answer my question. My Bentley manual is on order.

I am having trouble shifting - it is a bit difficult to find 2nd and too easy to hit reverse! I removed my shifter and discovered the stop plate was in backwards (front to back). This info I found in the forum search.

Now my question - I believe the notch in the stop plate is for the reverse lockout. Is it supposed to have an upward bend as shown below?

Note the brownish tinge is grease and not rust.

Also, is the flat area on the shifter supposed to be there?

Thanks for any and all help I have already received and hopefully more help coming my way.

Sun Aug 23, 2009 2:55 pm

everything in the photos looks normal.

Sun Aug 23, 2009 2:59 pm

germansupplyscott wrote: everything in the photos looks normal.

except the dislocated pin in the shifter ball.

Sun Aug 23, 2009 3:10 pm

hazetguy wrote: except the dislocated pin in the shifter ball.

isn't that just poking out the other way from the spring tension? the pin is often stuck fully into the ball but by design is is free to move back and forth. it is the shift rod that holds it pushed into the ball, but it often gets seized all the way in. does that make sense?

Sun Aug 23, 2009 3:15 pm

Not to hijack your thread - now I am lost. The pin on my shift ball comes out one side only and there is but one slot in the head of the socket.

I was kinda under the impression that when the shifter was pushed down, the ledge on the shifter could slide under the curved ramp. Mine was all broken up so I've followed other posts here trying to install it correctly.

Sun Aug 23, 2009 3:17 pm

Quote: everything in the photos looks normal.

except the dislocated pin in the shifter ball.

There is a spring on the pin that pushes it out a bit. Is this not normal, ie intended to minimize slop in the ball? The bus is a 1975.

I also have an Empi shifter that came extra with the bus. It has just a ball and no pin. How does that work? I am not installing it - just curious. I understand many here think the Empi shifter is junk.

Sun Aug 23, 2009 3:21 pm

ours is a 1977 and the pin is embedded in the bottom ball on the shifter. It has no spring and is not moveable. Does anyone know what year that area changed?

Sun Aug 23, 2009 3:29 pm

they all have springs. they are on the pin inside the shifter ball. the pin is supposed to be peened in the ball. you can see the peening pattern in the 3rd pic. the pin is not supposed to move out of the ball as seen in the pics.

Sun Aug 23, 2009 4:24 pm

Should I something with the pin before reinstalling it or will the socket keep it together?

Sun Aug 23, 2009 4:55 pm

what is the purpose of the pin being able to float? I thought it was fixed so it would hold the shifter from rotating, and that it just rode up and down in the vertical slot.

Sun Aug 23, 2009 5:51 pm

hazetguy wrote: the pin is supposed to be peened in the ball. you can see the peening pattern in the 3rd pic. the pin is not supposed to move out of the ball as seen in the pics.

not sure what picture you are referring to, maybe the link didn't make it into the posting. i have worked on many shifters and the pin is usually either free to move and can come completely out of the shift rod, or it is seized, doesn't move at all in the rod and once freed up it will fall out. never seen a bay bus shift rod that had the locating pin peened, or at least never noticed that feature. now i will have to dig into parts bins and see this for myself.

as for the pin floating, it doesn't move very much, once the shifter is in the socket of the front shift rod the spring just keeps some tension on the joint. if the pin is seized there is not as much tension in the joint between shift lever and rod, so there will be a bit more slop in the shifter.

Sun Aug 23, 2009 5:58 pm

Sorry to jump off-topic, but . . .

Gordonzo - That is one COOL paint job on your avatar! Got any more or bigger pics of that bus?!?

-Klauss

Sun Aug 23, 2009 5:58 pm

germansupplyscott wrote: hazetguy wrote: the pin is supposed to be peened in the ball. you can see the peening pattern in the 3rd pic. the pin is not supposed to move out of the ball as seen in the pics.

not sure what picture you are referring to, maybe the link didn't make it into the posting.

the serrated looking edge is the peening. it's visible in the 3rd pic.

gordonzo wrote:

1st pic

2nd pic

3rd pic

4th pic

Sun Aug 23, 2009 6:04 pm

hazetguy wrote: the serrated looking edge is the peening. it's visible in the 3rd pic.

OK, i see it now.

Sun Aug 23, 2009 6:26 pm

Am I missing something (I probably am). If the head is peened to keep it from moving, what is the purpose of the spring? Why not just a fixed pin?

And how does the Empi shifter function without a pin at all. I know many consider them junk but they must work, not?

Sun Aug 23, 2009 6:59 pm

gordonzo wrote: Am I missing something (I probably am). If the head is peened to keep it from moving, what is the purpose of the spring? Why not just a fixed pin?

it can move. it's like the ball on the end of the ratchet handle.

Sun Aug 23, 2009 7:01 pm

Ah! The lights just came on. Will it work ok without the peening? I am likely to mess up a perfectly good shifter.

Sun Aug 23, 2009 7:57 pm

Just looked at a Berg shifter. Looks good and rave reviews. How do they get away without having a pin on the shifter ball? Is the ball larger so it fits more snuggly?

Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:45 am

gordonzo wrote: Just looked at a Berg shifter. Looks good and rave reviews. How do they get away without having a pin on the shifter ball? Is the ball larger so it fits more snuggly?

the stock shifter has a pin for at least two reasons that i can come up with.
the first, and most obvious, is to locate the shifter in the ball socket of the shift rod. this is necessary because the shifter has a designated angle of operation, and if there was no pin, the shifter could and would rotate any which way it wanted to.
the second, and this is speculation based on many miles of road weary philosophizing, is that the ball end of the pin, which is sprung, helps keep slight pressure on the ball of the shifter in the socket to help keep rattling noise down, and to help make the shifting tighter (as minimal as that effect probably is).

the berg, and other aftermarket shifters, do not use a locating pin because the orientation of the shifter is held in position by the shifter box (mechanism) itself.

Mon Aug 24, 2009 8:03 am

Yea, man. Let's see some pictures of that bus!!!