floppy shifter help

[robsanab]

Just went out to start the car and go out on the town, and hell, my shifter went floppy… fortunately just as i was leaving the driveway. Since it's late and cold and dark I won't be looking at it until tomorrow morning. Are there any typical linkage problems that i should look for?

I have an Aardvark 5sp conversion. Is there anything usual about his shift platform and parts, because this happened before about two years ago a couple months or so after my mechanic did the installation. I took it back to him of course and so I don't recall just what the issue was.

I'm surprised to see just circlips in the realOEM diagram. If it's one of those clips that popped off, what is usually the reason… something misaligned?

any input would be appreciated so that I can hopefully see the issue and fix it first thing in the morning… and if I can fix it so this doesn't happen again. Oh man, I'm not looking forward to this if it is raining tomorrow.

[kronus]

If either circlip came off the selector rod, the rod would have come out and no more shifting.

The slightly worse possibility is the retaining pin coming out of the knuckle on the transmission-side of the selector rod, which would cause the whole knuckle to come off and dangle on the end of the selector rod. This is slightly worse because that pin sucks to put back in.

The more worse possibility is your selector rod sheared in half, in which case you need to either weld it back together or get a new one. I'm perpetually afraid of this happening to mine, since it was shortened in spectacularly ghetto fashion to fit my 5spd.

[c.d.iesel]

no body knows - untill you get out and get under with a light and you inform us - fix it yourself this time and you'll do it right, and answer only to yerself if it breaks in the future.

[robsanab]

Dmitriy - thanks, just what I need to know to look for.

CD - sorry for the whining, but not having worked or looked at this before I always find it helpful to have some words of wisdom and/or a diagram. Like, "if this happened, I found it possible to fix it with this", etc. This is not a problem i want happening again when I'm on a steep hill in the middle of seattle a hundred miles away.

I'll be sure to post again soon if I'm flabbergasted after i look at it.

[BLUNT]

Rob Most likely the socket head screw or screws backed out of the shifter platform blocks. Get them good and clean and use a bit of loctite.

[plape]

read this thread for other reports of problems with Aardvark shifter parts and possible solutions:

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,57/page,viewtopic/p,870307/highlight,/#870307

[robsanab]

read this thread for other reports of problems with Aardvark shifter parts and possible solutions:

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,57/page,viewtopic/p,870307/highlight,/#870307

wow, perfect, thanks! I have this broken shifter bar right here and about to take it somewhere. I'm not sure what you mean by drilling it out but I do see how the welds seem to be just at the end of the 'pin' only... somehow it needs more surface to weld... I'll try and track down a good welder guy.

isn't this just a shortened stock piece? or is this truly a problem with the way aardvark puts this part together??

and good point in the other post... should do this to both pins.

thanks for bringing this up... i would have never found that post.

[kronus]

read this thread for other reports of problems with Aardvark shifter parts and possible solutions:

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,57/page,viewtopic/p,870307/highlight,/#870307

wow, perfect, thanks! I have this broken shifter bar right here and about to take it somewhere. I'm not sure what you mean by drilling it out but I do see how the welds seem to be just at the end of the 'pin' only... somehow it needs more surface to weld... I'll try and track down a good welder guy.

isn't this just a shortened stock piece? or is this truly a problem with the way aardvark puts this part together??

and good point in the other post... should do this to both pins.

thanks for bringing this up... i would have never found that post.

Best way to go would be a custom-length DSSR. UUC might make them in arbitrary dimensions, but you'd have to call/email to find out... or get a machinist to make one, since they're just lathed and machined round stock.

http://www.nexternal.com/uuc/articles/SSK-DSSR.htm

[robsanab]

Best way to go would be a custom-length DSSR. UUC might make them in arbitrary dimensions, but you'd have to call/email to find out... or get a machinist to make one, since they're just lathed and machined round stock.

http://www.nexternal.com/uuc/articles/SSK-DSSR.htm

cool product... looks like that would be THE fix, albeit likely pricey for a custom one. I will look into that. May be worth it for the piece of mind.

In the meantime I dropped it off to my mechanic guy and he had a couple ideas... he's going to drill thru the bar stock and the pin in order in insert a roll pin... then he will weld not only the end of the pin but try to get some weld around the shoulder of the pin.

[AceAndrew]

^^ I've seen a few of the DSSR rods brake as well. There is no cure all if something in there is misaligned.

Have you looked under the car yet? Have you called Dave at Aardvark?

[robsanab]

^^ I've seen a few of the DSSR rods brake as well. There is no cure all if something in there is misaligned.

Have you looked under the car yet? Have you called Dave at Aardvark?

if those break then there is no hope... maybe that's why everything is electronic now.

yes, the shifter bar is fixed up nice... everything looks aligned and tight... no awkward angles or anything. put back together easily. I do plan on calling/emailing Dave about it.

[robsanab]

yes, the shifter bar is fixed up nice... everything looks aligned and tight... no awkward angles or anything. put back together easily. I do plan on calling/emailing Dave about it.

for those interested... I did talk to aardvark Dave and he confirmed that he indeed had some "bad" shifter links a few years ago (which is when i bought my kit). What happened with mine was typical, the pressed in pin wasn't pressed in properly. He said my fix of properly welding it up was his fix as well... the last replacement had been sent out a long time and so he thinks that's the end of the bad batch. He reports no problems since that batch.

So, i will try to shift with gusto without worry that it will break again. My mechanic did a real nice weld/grind job on it and all related linkage appears in good shape and in alignment.