Berling van gear linkage

[dave28]

HI all just hoping someone can help just on the way home from work tonight and the gearstick went all loose and floppy i stopped and had a look under the bonnet and everything was still connected so i then looked under the van and saw a thickish rod hanging down with what looked like half a washer attached to the end of it has this snapped or is it meant to look like this also would this be much of a job to replace
many thanks dave

[CitroJim]

Hi Dave, that' one of your selector rods fallen off. Not uncommon. The reasons can be twofold. One end of each rod has a ballcup mounted in a rubber surround and this rubber can perish and break leaving the cup attached to the ball but allowing the rod to fall off. The other problem is simply wear in the ballcup which makes the rod fall off..

If the latter a temporary fix can be effected by popping the rod back onto the ball and then putting a cable tie around it to hold it snug.

Replacement is the best option and they're not expensive from a Citroen dealer...

[Gibbo2286]

[CitroJim]

Good stuff Gibbo Three pictures really are worth I don't know how many words....

[dave28]

Hi thanks for the quick reply the rod that is hanging down is number 1 in the picture

[CitroJim]

Which end Dave? gear lever or subframe end?

I've known the bolt that holds item 5 to the subframe to work loose and cause the end of item 1 to fall out. Item 5 has a rubber ball on the end of it that engages in the tube on the end of item 1...

[dave28]

Its the gear lever end but it just looks like half of a washer that is left on the rod it looks like picture 2 but where the bolt goes through the hole at the end of the rod there is now only half a hole there if you can understand what i mean

[CitroJim]

Sounds like it's suffered metal fatigue and cracked in half Dave...

It's an odd failure, going on that end... You'll need to get right under and have a good look. I guess the exhaust will be restricting access a bit...

[dave28]

yes i will have a good look in the morning i just hope that the end is not made of cast at least if its steele i will have a chance of getting something welded on it

[CitroJim]

As far as I know, it's just welded steel Dave so a weld repair should be possible...

[dave28]

Many thanks for all your help jim i will let you no how i get on also just one more thing what is the best way to remove the selector rods from the other end so that i can remove the main rod to get welded

[CitroJim]

Pop off the two linkages attached to the balls on Item 1 Dave and Item 1 will slide off the rubber ball on the end of Item 5. Be careful popping the linkage balljoints apart (Items 3) and separate them at the thin (non rubber) ends. Best way to pop them off is to rotate them right to one side and then flick them off using a suitable spanner under the ballcup housing. Don't lever on the linkage rod itself or it will bend. There's a special forked tool for the job that slips under the ballcup but a suitably sized spanner will do. Sometimes, when you rotate them right over they'll pop off under finger pressure.

That's a bit hard to describe but I hope you get the idea...

[dave28]

Chears jim great help many thanks

[dave28]

or even cheers lol

[Northern_Mike]

Pop off the two linkages attached to the balls on Item 1 Dave and Item 1 will slide off the rubber ball on the end of Item 5. Be careful popping the linkage balljoints apart (Items 3) and separate them at the thin (non rubber) ends. Best way to pop them off is to rotate them right to one side and then flick them off using a suitable spanner under the ballcup housing. Don't lever on the linkage rod itself or it will bend. There's a special forked tool for the job that slips under the ballcup but a suitably sized spanner will do. Sometimes, when you rotate them right over they'll pop off under finger pressure.

That's a bit hard to describe but I hope you get the idea...

Does replacing the bits make it a floppy one less floppy? Or do "they all do that sir"? I can't remember what the linkage was like on my 98 model 1.9D new, it's so long ago..