523/543/568 shifter housing repair with part numbers

[135sohc]

The roll pins that hold the crossover and selector shaft levers will eventually get worn and cause the levers to wobble on the shafts. New pins will help to some degree but depending upon how worn everything has become from being loose and rocking around plus the oh so non precision manufacture these things have all adds up to sloppy shifting even with a properly adjusted cross over throw and new shifter cable bushings.

The accepted fix for this is to ever so slightly oversize the holes and install new fresh roll pins. 3/16" OD on the cross over lever and 1/4" OD on the selector lever. The factory sizes are metric, the standard inch sizes are just slightly larger.

Having looked at a few examples here I came across a common theme that the levers themselves were properly sized for a metric pin but the matching holes cross drilled into the respective shaft were somewhat loose and not really sized for the proper metric pin. I think that alone contributes a lot to the initial sloppy fitment that only gets worse with usage.

Part numbers from mcmaster carr:

95765a417 3/16" OD Heavy duty coiled spring pin. stainless type 420
95765a533 1/4" OD heavy duty coiled spring pin. stainless type 420
3178a462 drill bit for 1/4" initial sizing
3180a23 drill bit for 3/16" initial sizing
28435a162 3/16" spiral reamer. (usa made at that)
28435a166 1/4" spiral reamer. (also usa made)

91458a430 loctite 638 retaining compound

and I also got a bottle of tapping/cutting oil. (a few drops of clean motor oil would be adequate as well I think)

more or less drill and ream everything to resize. I added the retaining compound as an extra measure to help compensate for an overall loose fit of the lever to the respective shaft. lined up and drive the new pins into place. The result being a rock solid absolutely zero wobble/rocking motion of the lever on the shaft. The S/S pins were rated the same shear strength as the regular steel so I opted for them (less to rust again)

With the refurbished shifter housing installed and the cross over throw re-adjusted the difference from before is instantly noticed. A little slop here and little slop there really adds up and can cause problems.

[supercrackerbox]

I replaced mine with a couple left-over roll pins taken from a differential housing, if that helps anyone.

[Ondonti]

Or a piece of those Chinese screwdriver sets that come in a blue box with clear lid.

I don't exactly understand what you mean by drilling a hole and then following it with the same size reamer. I use reamers to upsize holes.

[135sohc]

Or a piece of those Chinese screwdriver sets that come in a blue box with clear lid.

I don't exactly understand what you mean by drilling a hole and then following it with the same size reamer. I use reamers to upsize holes.

3178a462 drill bit for 1/4" initial sizing
3180a23 drill bit for 3/16" initial sizing


Both bits were slightly undersized to provide the properly sized hole for final finishing with a reamer.

[supercrackerbox]

If you go through the whole process of disassembling the shifter housing (which I did so I could chuck the pieces up in my drill press), be careful not to damage that small seal around the vented post. To my knowledge it is irreplaceable. On that note, it might be a good idea to drill a small hole vertically through the vent itself to assist in gas venting, a known issue with these transmissions. It would still have the plastic cap on it to keep contaminants out.

As for the main selector shaft seal, I was able to source those from the dealer. They were actually retroceded to the old part numbers for the 465(?)/525 transmissions. The packages I got were dated 1984. I also found some on Rock Auto's website that "looked" right, but never ordered them to confirm. Unfortunately you cannot remove the main shaft without damaging that seal due to the sharp edges where the shaft is machined for the retaining clips.

[cordes]

Great info. Thanks for sharing that. I really need to do that to my Shadow trans. It should really come out this year to be freshened up. It feels sloppy as all get out and is just plain tired. Of course it does have well over 300K on it now though.

[135sohc]

If you go through the whole process of disassembling the shifter housing (which I did so I could chuck the pieces up in my drill press), be careful not to damage that small seal around the vented post. To my knowledge it is irreplaceable. On that note, it might be a good idea to drill a small hole vertically through the vent itself to assist in gas venting, a known issue with these transmissions. It would still have the plastic cap on it to keep contaminants out.

As for the main selector shaft seal, I was able to source those from the dealer. They were actually retroceded to the old part numbers for the 465(?)/525 transmissions. The packages I got were dated 1984. I also found some on Rock Auto's website that "looked" right, but never ordered them to confirm. Unfortunately you cannot remove the main shaft without damaging that seal due to the sharp edges where the shaft is machined for the retaining clips.

The crossover shaft seal is no more. I clean them up and use a socket to press them back in. If worst came to worst I think an O-ring if one existed in the approximate ID/OD/thickness of the seal it could be substituted.

The selector shaft seal is available from the aftermarket, I ordered a couple from rockauto and they are a good replacement. On my own personal stuff I have sucessfully reused that seal and not had leakage issues. But for others YMMV.