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MG TD TF 1500 - Gear Selector Rattle

Gentlemen (and I hope Lady),

No one has taken greater advantage of your collective knowledge of the MG TD than I. From tire sizes, air pressure, oil leaks and odometer resets to toneau fastenings you have responded in a wonderful and remarkable manner. Therefore I feel it appropriate to now give you the ultimate challenge.

How does one stop the TD gear shift lever from rattling?

With warm regards and great confidence,

Dick Thomas
TD13583
Dick Thomas

Put your knee against it.
G.E. Love

Dick,
There is a spring at the lower end of the shifter that is conviniently called an "Anti Rattle" spring... # 33 in the Moss parts list.. sometines this spring breaks and can't do it's job.......

SPW
Steve Wincze

The most common cause for rattle is wear in the remote control casting at the shaft bushes. These wear oval and need to be machined oversize,then insert oilite bushes.


John
John Scragg

To totally stop- turn it off! Just kidding. John Twist rebushed my remote control shaft, all anti-rattle springs/dampers and things are new/repaired and in place. Check all of those as in above posts, and the brass damper/spring under the top hex plug. Rebushing mine did reduce the rattle a lot, but it is still there. Also retarding the ignition timing reduces it, but performance suffers. With the added-on appearing damper on top, likely the designers realized there was some sort of harmonic vibration issue. Same with the "added on" dampers- early 90's Camrys with rubber mounted weights under the steering column surrond and 280Z's with a stack of steel plates welded to the front diff support, etc. George
George Butz

Dick,
When I first took delivery of my TF, it had a gearshift rattle. I knew that the engine had been completely rebuilt, but that the transmission was not touched. At the time I checked the transmission fluid level, and found it was way down. I not only drained out the old fluid but refilled with RedLine MT90 and the rattle totally disappeared. I'm not suggesting that fluid change corrected the problem (it certainly improved the shifting) but rather that in my case the low fluid level had a lot to do with the rattle's creation.
Gene
Gene Burgess

One thing you can do to help reduce the rattle a bit is to get a rubber boot from a TD master cylinder. It is a perfect fit and will stretch over the spring cup and can then be secured with a tie wrap. Helps control lever shake a bit and keeps the lever pivot and spring area nice and clean. Looks nice too! Not a substitute for a properly installed anti rattle spring however.

Frank
51 TD
Frank

Hi Dick,

The topic you have raised has come up several times and I seem to remember,along with others, during 2006 or 2007 responding to the question.
I fit a Nitrile ring to the hemi spherical ball of the Gear Lever.You need a lathe to cut a groove into the 'ball'.Of course,you also really need to procure a new operating shaft,insert bushes to the Remote Housing,check the spring/plunger action on the top of the Remote Control Housing etc.Quite often it pays to check the fit of the bottom ball of the Gear Lever where it fits onto the operating shaft extension piece.The ball of the Gear Lever can be built up with weld and turned down to effect a snug fit.In this area,there should also be a small ball/spring which can help with anti rattle.

Timing of the Motor(too far advanced) can also apparently give rise to Gear Stick chatter.

The measurements of the positioning,size,etc of the Nitrile ring application is somewhere in the 2006-2007 Archives but I could'nt find it !?
Cheers
Rob.Grantham
TF3719("Aramis"),TF9177("Athos").

Rob Grantham

I also recommend looking at your timing. If my TD moves off timing just a little, the shifter rattles up a storm.
Bruce-C

Various theories are advanced why the lever rattles. It is due to the wear in the aluminium casing. Fitting rings to the ball joint may help but the REAL answer is to either fit new bushes in the aluminuium where the gear rod fits and ensuring that the rod is true and does not have wear (machine it down a few thou) or replace the damper and fit another one. Examination will show that the rod is not supported evenly and an extra damper does the job. A job that can be done at home with a drill, a few taps and access to a lathe for a few dollars.
Bob Marshall

I seem to remember on our first acquired TF having the operating shaft replaced and bushes installed plus use of an additional damper etc..Although this marginally improved the noise situation the final answer was to fit a Nitrile ring-end of problem.The real wear also occurs between the steel hemispherical 'ball' of the Gear Lever and where it fits into the aluminium Remote Control Housing.Fact is you need to attend to all the possible,applicable areas to totally eliminate the chatter.

Cheers
Rob.Grantham
TF3719("Aramis"),TF9177("Athos").
Rob.Grantham

There have heated discussions in the past about gear lever rattle, and my position has always been that it indicates an erroneously set ignition advance. I have built a system which allows me to advance the spark from the dashboard and I can make the gear selector rattle at will.
Denis L Baggi

Hi:
I remember reading in the archives that one chap made a gasket out of inner-tube rubber and fitted it on top of the transmission and under the remote gear change. He said that it helped immensely. I was going to try it with my TF but I just gave it a tune-up and drove it lots and the rattle went away.
Godspeed in Safety Fast
Jc
John Crawley

This thread was discussed between 29/04/2008 and 08/05/2008

MG TD TF 1500 index

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