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740 M46 Shifter Seized?

bmdubya1198

Active member
Joined
Aug 24, 2016
Location
Charlotte, NC
I finally pulled up the shift boot to see what's going on with my shifter, and I can't see anything too clearly wrong except that the whole "cage" is moving around.
I have very little movement from the shifter. It's in the center, but I'm not able to put the transmission into any gear. I thought it may be possible that these little bead things that were in the car may have gotten jammed in the ball joint, but I feel like it's probably something else.

When I bought the car, the PO told me that it had done that before, but eventually freed up. I got it free a couple times before but it still felt really hard and jammed back up soon after. I can't seem to get it free now.

Has anyone had this happen before? I don't want to spend money on a new shifter and have it turn out that the tranny is shot. I really think this has something to do with the shifter/linkages, but anything's possible I guess.

I'll get it up in the air at some point and look at the shifter, but it's been insanely hot and humid here lately, and my R is currently occupying my garage space during its M56 swap.

It's also worth mentioning that the shift lever itself is pretty messed up. It just looks pretty messed up... couldn't tell you what happened/who messed with it.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/V34Ev4YVT539Ga6u8
 
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I feel like suggesting that something might be stuck or getting in the way of something in the trans? It's weird that the whole cage is loose...

Perhaps it loosened itself up enough that it's functioning like a shoulder out of socket? So it just locks itself out?

FWIW... I have a known good M47 just sitting here that is unlikely to ever get used. I'm in Raleigh so...

No bellhousing on it though... I used that for my T5 swap.
 
I thought about that too... that the cage being loose may have something to do with it. The crooked shift lever may also be contributing. I don’t know who did what to this thing...

If it comes down to it, I’ll let you know if I want the M47. Thanks!
 
I'll have to take the whole thing apart and see what's going in in there. I'm really hoping this is all a shifter issue and not a problem with the trans.

On a possibly unrelated note, when I let off the clutch after starting the car, it makes a constant low pitch grinding sound until I disengage it again. I'm afraid the PO's "mechanic" or whomever did the clutch replacement/transmission rebuild did something wrong. Either that or the clutch is grinding off years of rust on the flywheel and the tranny is partly in gear from the crappy shifter.
 
That shifter support cage is held to the back of the trans with bushings on the bolts as Jen mentioned. It is also easy to bend the cage if you pry on it when removing or installing the trans with it on. Another thing that happens is the cross pin in the bottom of the shifter can seize in the shifter and it makes it very tough to remove. If it is too hard to remove I cut it out with a die grinder or hack saw and replace the shifter if that is what it takes.

Other things that make it tough to put in gear is a bad pilot bearing, a problem with how far the clutch slave cylinder moves or issues with the release fork inside the bell housing.
 
Well the only thing I notice as far as the clutch goes is the pedal doesn't come up all the way, and when I press it a couple times while just sitting in the car, I smell brake fluid. I feel like this car needs a FULL clutch job. At this point, I'll probably have to just drop the tranny.
Like I said, I will get the car in the air some time this week hopefully and check out the linkages.

I tapped out the pin securing the shift handle, and that came out fairly easily (much easier than that distributor drive dog!). The lever is supposed to be bent, yes?
Anyway, the shifter moves up and down inside of the cage a little bit, and the cage definitely has a lot of movement in it. However the little movement I get in the shift lever looks consistent between the linkages going to the transmission and the lever.
 
There are two ball socket bushings you can replace. You have to take the shifter apart to replace the upper one. they make a nice difference especially if you get the upgraded bushings from STS machining. There is also an oring in the shifter linkage coupler and the pins in the coupler can wear.
 
Since the cage is loose, there's a good chance that one of the bolts is preventing the shift rod from moving. Happened on my parents' original '84 245GL after I swapped it to M46. Transmission got stuck in 1st gear. One of the bolts had backed out and was laying on top of the extension housing when the shop that we took it to removed the transmission to check for a damaged shift fork assembly. After they reinstalled the bolt, the transmission worked properly (except for the dead 4th gear switch, which prevented the overdrive from engaging about 75% of the time - I fixed that at home).
 
I was planning on upgrading the bushings anyway, so this may be the best time to do so.

Good to know that's possible, I'm definitely going to check the cage closely.
 
Well the only thing I notice as far as the clutch goes is the pedal doesn't come up all the way, and when I press it a couple times while just sitting in the car, I smell brake fluid.

My clutch pedal doesn't come all the way up either, but everything functions just fine. So I tend to forget about it until someone mentions this or I catch my toe on the underside of the pedal and it flops. Plus I'm short, so it's easier to drive this way. :lol:
 
How does one remove the shift linkage from the bottom of the shift lever? It's hard to see, but is it a pin that needs to be punched out or do I need to just remove the shift lever?
 
There's a set screw (41) that holds the pin (9).

GR-57766.jpg


You may have trouble getting the pin out.

http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=342934
 
4mm allen set screw. I've had cars that people lost the set screw and use a very short 10mm bolt to replace it. That is the same 6mm x1.0 thread of the set screw but it's better to use the set screw. Be sure to only gently tighten it when reinstalling.
 
The screw is on the bottom, right? Since the shifter won't move, the driveshaft is completely in the way, so I can't even see the head of the screw. This car could not get more annoying...
 
Got it out, pulled the snap ring and lifted the shifter up and got the set screw loose, and the pin came out pretty easily.

The linkage moves side to side, but I cannot get it to move forward or backwards at all. I'm afraid it may be time to drop the transmission...
 
If you are trying to put the trans in a gear. You will need to push the clutch in. If that still doesn't help then you may need to look inside the trans with the top cover off.
 
Correct the trans top cover can be removed when the trans is out. It does take quite a bit of effort to put the trans in a gear without the shifter. So try getting the shifter somewhat sorted out and trying that again. It is a lever and will help you try to put it in gear.
 
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