MT75 Gearstick Removal
 

Hi Folks, just about ready to pull the engine and box out of my donor. It looks like everything will be a lot easier if I remove the gearstick. There seems to be a short stub that comes out of the selector pivot housing, the stick then pushes over that stub and is locked in place with a roll pin. I have removed the roll pin but can not get the gear lever seperated from the stub. Am I barking up the wrong tree? I have looked in the Haynes manual but I can't make any sense of it. Anyone got any ideas?
Thanks in advance,
Enoch.

Hi Enoch

If memory serves me right, the gearstick on the MT75 box is indeed held in place with a single roll pin.

Pound to a penny, it is just held firm by a little corrosion ;)

I seem to remember having a devil of a job getting the stick off from the 2 litre GLSI that I stripped ............Took a fair bit of bashing before it would come free.

Box and eninge out in one lump out the bottom. That's the way most of us do it in Sierraland. Stick can then stay in place.

TT

Hi Enoch

It's a lot easier to drop the whole lot in one go, then remove the entire remote selector once the gearbox is not tucked up in the transmission tunnel.

To remove the remote selector assembly:

1/ Undo the 2 bolts, one on each side of the gearbox
2/ At the rear of the gearbox prise off the spring clip which holds the selector to the gearbox
3/ Slide out the pin that holds the actuator to the gearbox shaft - it should be easy as it's likely to have been well lubricated with gearbox oil.
4/ Lift the remote assembly off the gearbox.

I can post pictures if it helps - I'm currently trying to work out the best position for the gearbox mounts so it is all to hand.

Matt

Thanks for the input folks, I don't have the facilities for lifting the whole car so that's not an option. I will soak the unit in WD40 and see if that frees it. I just wanted to confirm that it does come apart. My challenge is that I have a steeply sloping garage and I have just one shot at driving the car in to the garage, getting engine and box out and then sliding the car back down the hill so I can lock my garage up. If I mess it up Mr and Mrs Cock up will pay a rather painful visit to Enoch land:) Thanks again for the input - Matthew, I might take you up on your kind offer if I get stuck.
All the ebst,
Enoch

How are you getting the engine out???

TT

Hi Enoch

You don't need to lift the whole car any more than you can with axle stands and/or ramps to drop the engine and gearbox - once the crossmember and prop shaft is removed there is enough play to push the rear of the gearbox down and get at the parts you need to remove.

When you do come to remove the engine it's a lot easier if you cut out the front beam - that way you don't have to hoist the engine+gearbox over it.

Matt

You do have to use axle stands or something in their place in order to remove the steering and suspension. Then you can just cut out the front beams under the bonnet, drop the engine+gearbox and pull it out of the front. That's what I'm gonna do. My Sierra is stood on 4 blocks of wood:



There will be enough clearance in the transmission tunnel for the stick. It's not that long after all, definitely shorter than the gearbox's ground clearance when on stands.

What I have done so far is to cut out the two cross members that were in front of the radiator. All I figure I have to do is to lift the engine / box a few inches so it goes over the cross member that has the steering rack attached to it. I have loosened all the bolts so when the time comes it should be straightforward. The only thing stopping me is the gear lever, I have soaked it in WD and hope that will free it off. I have lifting tackle installed in the roof beams in the garage but no engine hoist, hence the need to drive it in and then push the shell back out, it will still have wheels on at this point.

Hi Enoch

I don't think you have any chance of pulling off the gear lever. It's all in one with the ball and held in with a circlip, as well as being connected at the bottom to the linkage.

What you need to do is undo the bolts shown here:



Then remove the spring clip on the linkage arrowed and push out the pin in the linkage from the side:



After you've done that you can just lift the whole assembly off the back of the gearbox (it locates on the 2 pins shown each side of the linkage in the second picture).

Matt