Gear selection graduately harder to accomplish

[HJ2]

Hi all!

I noticed something strange lately. It gradually (over months) gets harder to select gears, especially when standing still.
It goes for all gears. 1st and 2nd are worst. Especially when driving to a full stop and just before the car stops entirely, it is almost impossible to engage 1st. Letting go of the clutch and re-engage it does not help.

Bowden cables are all fine, as is short shifter and selector mechanism.
Could this be to the dreaded 5th gear nut that gradually is on its way out, or could this be clutch related? I cannot imagine that all synchro's are worn out at the same time, especially 1st gear.

I refreshed gear oil about 2 years ago, so that should be fine.
Any pointers to this?

[rip]

Your symptoms sound similar (but not quite the same) as when my 5th gear nut became a little loose.
I would certainly have a look sooner rather than later. If it is the nut & you catch the problem early enough, it will only cost you 2 litres of oil.

[HJ2]

Time to buy some diesel for the garage heater then
Is there some sort of general consensus how to put everything on the shaft back in line?

[rip]

Ok, it will cost you 2 litres of gearbox oil & also a little extra for some heating oil

[RayD]

...

Clicky

Ray

[HJ2]

Thanks ray!

When the old elbow has healed from its trauma induced infection (don't ask!) It is time to pop the cover off and have a look.
I'll have a go (dry-run so to say) on a damaged spare gearbox and will make some pictures for the community.

After that i'll crawl under my car and see if there is any damage...

[HJ2]

Well,

I did buy those liters of Diesel and started working on my car.
I drained the gearbox oil (to replace it anyway)
After that it popped the cover of the 5th gear / reverse off to see if i could find disturbing anomalies...

What i saw is that that the cover had no damage on the inside. (phew!)
There is a hammered flat end, tapped against a recess in the shaft (as in locking it to prevent unwanted movement)
It looked to me as if the flat end is still in position where it should be...

I don't want to risk a knackered gear box, so i thought i'd better ask stupid questions here than to rely on false assumptions so:

1. Can the nut be undone when the flat end still corresponds with the recess?
2. How can i check if this nut is still in the correct position, or 'loose'?
3. If i would want to re-torque it, how do i prevent the shafts from rotating?

In the process i noticed that the adjustment of my cables was in such a way the it barely pushed the control arms on the control box far enough to enter the forward orientated gears, so i corrected this. Also i changed the oil in the gearbox and i adjusted the clutch lever correctly.

All these things did not improve my gear selection and it is still hard (more than usual force required) to engage the gears
And i want to make it to Ypres

Anyone have any wise words for me please?

[Brit-Car-Nut]

HJ: I have seen several occasions (on MGs and Triumphs) where the clutch disc had broken around the spring area and the broken sections would move outward when the engine was running (centripetal) and when the clutch was depressed, the pieces "touched" the clutch plate enough to keep driving the gearbox even with the clutch depressed so they gearbox never actually stopped spinning from the engine end. The clutch felt "normal" but due to the disc damage, the gearbox was never fully de-clutched. Obviously, verify everything else, but it does happen.

[HJ2]

Thanks John!

This would mean that i can double clutch it without this resistance! ( right?)
I will give that a go ...

[Brit-Car-Nut]

Nope.

The double clutch spins the gears a little but then disengages them again. The broken spring retainer plates never go completely back into location, so the gearbox is always engaged to the flywheel albeit very lightly.

There is no easy way to diagnose that the disc has fractured but if everything else looks to be correct, then it is a possible explanation. It is the plate section that surrounds the springs in the disc that fractures.

It is more similar to a tight or seizing pilot bushing type of symptom. The clutch feels fine, the gearbox is just not completely disconnecting from the engine.