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There's a bit of slack while shifting between some of the gears

while sometimes I miss being able to shift into a gear all together,
feeling like it's locked out or I'm jamming it against the gate instead of sliding it into gear,
particularly with 3rd and Reverse

Our L series has the same problem sometimes, going into 2nd or reverse it just hits something solid and won't go in. Just have to go into neutral wriggle it around a bit and try again, a bit annoying when you want to downshift for a corner

You might need a new set of bushes for the gear selector. Also the subaru gearboxes have some generic quirks about them:

1) when cold it is very difficult to shift into 2nd, don't know why. Tricks to help - first is rev hard and skip straight to third, or double the clutch between 1st and 2nd with an engine rev in there too. The last trick is to let your subi warm up before you drive

2) make sure you're gear shifting action is inline with what the gearbox needs, you could be changing the forward motion to a forward motion with a bit of side movement too, this won't help the selector fork in the gates that help to select gears and only one at a time.

3) Reverse is a straight cut gear without a syncro, three tricks, 1st one is to select 1st gear then reverse, another is to release the clutch momentarily then gently select reverse - you might get a little crunch or a big one if you're not careful, and the last is to select reverse while the subi is still rolling ever so slightly.

Cheers

Bennie

The easiset trick of any L Series manual gearbox to fix the crunch into 2nd for first time each day is while warming your beast to operating temperature (yeah, right!)stationary in the shed, carport, driveway or outside the girlfriends house is with foot on clutch, select first, then straight into 2nd, once or twice, then try drivin' off starting in first - loses that savage almost not a crunch effect.

Next up is Bennies suggestion, try FROG, think his signature contains a few contact details and remedies

this thread has all the info you need

showthread.php?t=20253

Thanks to Gannon and Frog

TOONGA

Scream the box out of it in 1st then hit 3rd..............Problem solvered

Thanks everyone.

My problem with 3rd is getting into it from 2nd.
It was the cause of at least one of my bogs at Preston Beach.
Once in a while it will take 3-10 seconds to find 3rd
and by that time I've slowed down enough I want 2nd again.

d_generate wrote:Scream the box out of it in 1st then hit 3rd..............Problem solvered

What about downshifting for a corner? scream the box out of it from 3rd into 1st?

Kidding, kidding

2nd Hand Yank wrote:There's a bit of slack while shifting between some of the gears

while sometimes I miss being able to shift into a gear all together,
feeling like it's locked out or I'm jamming it against the gate instead of sliding it into gear,
particularly with 3rd and Reverse

sounds very much like the synchro problem in my old liberty

you know if its sloppy bushes- its a different unwelcome feeling, it feels like your shifters wrist is broken is the best description I can come up with


note

there is also a thread kicking around on here that I can never find about fixing up the selector rod to lever linkage which can also proove to be a problem
there was a drill, bolt and nut involved

Here we go Andy
Brumby 4sp shifter linkage tightening, from USMB


It also shows how to mod the linkage to make it a shorter throw

niiice Gannon thats why I can never find it on here
note someone somewhere?? said that the nut should be fitted on the bottom so if it falls off the bolt stays put and you can still shift.

Ah here's a question I had when I did the shifter bushings on my wagon; to cut that slot in the tube where the roll pin usually goes, how are you supposed to get that part out of the car to cut it? sliding it back just hits the bracket where the gator sits. Does that bracket come out?

cropped this too much I'll have a look in the morning

Silverbullet wrote:Ah here's a question I had when I did the shifter bushings on my wagon; to cut that slot in the tube where the roll pin usually goes, how are you supposed to get that part out of the car to cut it? sliding it back just hits the bracket where the gator sits. Does that bracket come out?

You need to remove the whole arm piece that connects to the gearbox selector shaft to get that slot cut. Works a treat! Just don't put a long bolt in there otherwise it won't work...

As for having the bolt upside down, you'll know about it loosening off as your shifter will become VERY sloppy, plus if you notice in that image that Gannon dug up, the nut is a nylon locking nut, it shouldn't drop out unless it's stuffed before you put it on.

Cheers

Bennie

I see. Well I'll have to do that next time I do the bushings/tighten it up. Last time I went to change the bushings I found that the stick was only sloppy because a mechanic (subaru dealership no less) did the nut and bolt conversion back in the early 90's, dad took it to them to fix the sloppyness. They hadn't put a nylock nut on and it was just the nut and bolt that was loose, the bushings were near new!
The bolt was too long as well, and putting it with the nut facing down was impossible since the whole shaft rotates and the longer bolt hit the gearbox casing if you went for 1st/2nd.

Silverbullet wrote:The bolt was too long as well, and putting it with the nut facing down was impossible since the whole shaft rotates and the longer bolt hit the gearbox casing if you went for 1st/2nd.

Yeah that's the problem with a bolt that's too long. I think I had to cut the one I installed shorter as well.

The other fix for the 4 speed selector sloppiness is to drop a 5 speed in there

Cheers

Bennie