Long Links

Not all who wander are lost
Tolkein

The rearmost section of the gear linkage was easy to remove from it's steel housing since the gearbox was dropped out of the way. I have the other section from the white Kombi and the front piece that connects to the bottom of the gear stick. I laid all of these out to see if we have enough length to make up the new linkage.

The end piece beneath the cab has a resemblance to the traditional peace pipe. I'm not planning to have a smoke though, it's getting a good clean and a blob of grease instead. It connects to the main linkage with a collet fastend with a grub screw. The main linkage is a thick-walled steel tube approximately 18mm in diameter. I have the two original pieces that I shall join together to make one long one.

Very similar photo, sorry, but at least it's all in one piece now. When it's fitted it will be out of sight so a photo will be pointless; this is hopefully the last time that we'll see it. I measured up the exact length required for the new linkage (Marigold is almost 1.5 metres longer than a standard Kombi). The two main halves of the pipe were trimmed to fit and the ends cleaned up neatly. Then they were welded together after a "slug" was rammed into the open ends to act as a backstop for the weld. It was all greased up like a cross-channel swimmer and the plastic guides were clipped into place. A bit of jiggling and fiddling and it slid into the tube perfectly!

I'll need to tidy the rusty threads on the bolt holes where the gear lever fits to the floor. Once that is done then the gear linkage should be complete and just waiting for the gearbox to be refitted.


Thanks for stopping by
CooP