CSR gear lever query

[Yorkshire NE AR]

Having been inspired by John Vine's excellent article in Lowflying, I thought that I'd take a look at my CSR200's quickshift lever. I've had the occasional issue over the years with replacement of the saddle at the base of the lever and that's been done again recently. However, there's still excessive lateral "waggle" in the lever. Say about 1cm lateral movement when siting in 1st gear for example. Having removed the lever it's apparent that this slack is in the spherical bearing part of the quickshift. I've a new quickshift on order and I'm hoping that this will sort the issue. Has anyone any experience of removing the short angled top extension piece to the lever, which I'm assuming is peculiar to the CSR (swoopy dash?)? I'm presuming (hoping) that it's a screw-on attachment and a wrestle with vice and molegrips will be the order of the day. Any extra information would be most welcome.

With thanks, Roger 

[p.mole1]

It is just a screw on extension, it probably has been loctited on, normally if it really tight try a bit of heat on it.

The extension is peculiar to CSR

[Yorkshire NE AR]

Many thanks for the prompt reply, put my mind at rest.

[Shortshift]

I failed to separate mine using conventional techniques, Roger, and ultimately it got seriously damaged (err, destroyed!) in the process.  So be careful and also be aware that CC does not have any in stock (and has no plans to source any more) and that they are like hens teeth to find second hand.

James

[7 wonders of the world]

If the bearing is worn just replace the bearing at a fraction of the price - pretty stock item, or are you saying the housing is worn...?

If the play is due to a worn saddle then consider replacing with the sintered brass version much much better, slip it over lightly greased and gently nip the lower tabs a little.

https://www.burtonpower.com/hd-brass-saddle-gearlever-to-selector-shaft-type-9-e-gbt9539.html

[Rogercsr7]

Have been running with the sintered brass saddle for some years. Had a look for just the bearing ( Caterham and Redline) but couldn't find it. Any help with locating one would be gratefully received.

What was your rescue strategy for the knackered lever James?

[Shortshift]

I think I put a wanted ad on here and on the Facebook groups - and Hanns Per Kober came to my rescue with a spare. 

I recall then taking it to a local engineering shop to get the crank angle changed a bit as it had a tendency to foul on the swoopy-dash bendy tube positioned immediately in front of the gear lever.  The fettling was beyond what I could do in the garage - it turned out that the answer was a big vice, much heat and a very sizeable hammer!

James

[John Vine]

Thanks for your kind words, Roger!

Have you seen this thread? It mentions several possible sources for the spherical bearing.  You could also approach Quaife themselves to see whether they could supply one.

JV

[7 wonders of the world]

Taken from the thread JV linked to:

Yep, just shows what a great resource this is.  I wasn't sure whether the stiffness in my gearlever was gong to be all down to the spherical bearing, so I ordered the entire lever from CC.  But as noted - the bearing was the sole culprit.  Should probably have gone to Road and Race straightaway.

Anyway - for info, the gearlever spherical plain bearing is sized as follows:

Bore = 14mm
External Dia = 34mm
Bearing Width = 13.5mm
Spherical Ball Width = 19mm

This appears to be an exact match for these part numbers:

MAC 14  (Rose)
GLXSW14 (Fluro)
COM-M14T (Aurora)
PB14 (IKO Pilloball)

These bearings do vary on whether the bushing material is (eg) copper or PTFE, so worth checking. Think the originals are PTFE lined.

There are some of the (high quality) Rose bearings up on ebay at the moment here for £30 and can probably be found cheaper elsewhere.  I've bought one as a spare - I'll update this post if it fits.  Finally - as always when fitting a non-OEM part, there's a chance it won't fit, so make sure you can return.

 

[Rogercsr7]

Thanks again for all your information. From my brief investigation of the shift I believe I'm correct in saying that the bearing cannot be removed with the CSR shift extension still attached. So new bearing or new shift, unless I can get the extension off I'm paddle less!! Think I'll investigate getting an extension made, I wonder if Quaife made those?

[Shortshift]

Just remembered it was the lever itself, and not the extension, that needed the heat-and-bend treatment.

In case you need to get one made (and yours gets so mangled you can't easily measure it) here's an image of an unmolested extension piece together with some notes giving the key dimensions.

James

[Rogercsr7]

Thanks James

[vertew]

That linked thread includes some of my experiences from when I was trying to fix the gear change in my CSR back in 2015.  The gear change was pretty stiff and nasty, all down to the 'ball socket' seizing up.  I bought a replacement six speed gear lever assy, which came with the standard straight shaft extension.  As mentioned in the linked thread (comment #9) - it's fairly easy to replicate the slight joggle bend in the CSR shaft with a vice, blowtorch and molegrips ...

In fact my problem would have been fixed by just replacing the ball socket .. and I bought one of the high quality ball socket parts listed above, which also fitted / worked fine.

tks, Andrew.

[7 wonders of the world]

the extension piece just screws onto the gearlever, may have high strength loctite so it may require a waft of heat to to permit removal.

 

[Shortshift]

"...a waft of heat..."

Ahhhh.  If only!!

James

[7 wonders of the world]

If its screwed on they can only have used a loctite retainer on it....

Or is it a task for stillsons... 

[Rogercsr7]

I'm starting to be reduced to hysterical laughter! I really hope that James's tale frightens the little blighter into early submission. I've a large stillsons ready, think I shall rest it next to the gear lever to intimidate it. Shan't sort lever and/or bearing until next week. Will report back.

Thanks again, Roger

[Rogercsr7]

I thought that I'd give an update of my CSR gear-lever saga. I had a new quickshift on order when I posted so this focused my attention on removing the CSR's extension to screw on to the new lever. A pair of molegrips with the lever in the vice is all it took, to my relief. Pleased to report that the new lever has resolved the sloppy lateral play. The only change I had to make was altering the bearing to the upper position in the housing as this seems to be the norm in the CSR (mine at least).

As it seemed that it was the original lever's bearing that was at fault, I thought I'd replace that with one listed on 7 wonder's of the world's list. The Rose bearing listed fits a treat. I also investigated getting a 2nd extension made (to complete a spare lever), but this was uneconomic. My extension was replaced using bearing retainer (Wurth) which, I'm assured, will release its 'vice-like' grip at 150C if removal is required.

Thanks again.

[John Vine]

Good news, Roger.  Thanks for the update.

JV