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Gear stick grease


pburt

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Does anybody know if there's anything special about the grease used to lubricate the fork at the base of the gear stick?

 

I removed the gear stick from my 6-speed (1996) today and found green grease had been used. Is it a high melting point grease? Or can I slap some Castrol LM in there?

 

Peter Burt

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Thanks for that. I thought maybe it got pretty hot in there so that LM would just turn to "oil".

 

Anyway, as a supplementary question, does anyone know if the black plastic ball & socket/gimbal arrangement at the base of the lever be lubricated? On mine it appears dry but still seems to move freely and smoothly.

 

Peter Burt

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OAP,

 

Yes, when hot particularly. Just wanted to see what was going on in there in conjunction with changing the gear oil - see my subsequent post.

 

Thought I'd better ask what the form is before putting it all back together (although I suspect the new gear oil - with the right amount! - may solve all the issues).

 

The only noticeable lubrication to the base of the gear stick is the aforementioned green grease on the fork. The ball & socket doesn't look as if it has ever had any grease on it.

 

 

 

Peter Burt

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Peter,

 

I have exactly the same issue, and changed the oil yesterday. The box took 1.7 litres with the front jacked up to let me get underneath, then a fair bit (100/200ml ?) drained out when the car was returned to horizontal - I'll lubricate the ball next.

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OAP

 

This would seem to coincide with RJ post on my oil change topic - ie about 1.5 litres.

 

I've got mine on 4 axle stands and level, so it'll be interesting to see how much goes in. Looks like the betting would be 1.5l .

 

Seems to make sense that the ball & socket (anybody know what the proper technical term is?) should be lubricated but I'll think I'll wait and see what others might say. Are you familiar with the green grease? It looks like Swarfega but is definitely grease!

 

Peter Burt

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My build manual also says 2l but the owners manual says 1.9l, so who knows what is right. Still, the acid test is what goes in before it pours out of the filler, so the quoted capacities are academic I suppose!

 

What age/mileage is your car? Does the change get stiffer when everything's up to temperature or is it consistent?

 

Peter Burt

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I'm sure the build manual is wrong - it says also says 2litres for the type 9 5-speeder. Ford who, having designed the thing presumably know better quote 1.25litres.

 

BTW regarding the poor change quality I notice that the 5 speeder uses GL4 (and most especially not GL5) grade. Could it have been previously filled or topped up with GL5?

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Peter,

The car is five years old, 13500 miles. Selection is tighter when the box is hot, and I first noticed last year at Croft in 30+ temperatures. It got easier when cool, but has never returned to how it was.

Trouble is, you don't notice small changes, and I hadn't realised how mine was until I drove a new car recently.

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Colin,

 

Interesting point about the capacities. Seems they've got it wrong in the manual. I've no idea what gear oil was in there - just a creamy red stuff!

 

OAP,

 

You might want to check your clutch adjustment for the change stiffness. I improved mine considerably by adjusting it up a bit. Before I did that it was sometimes very difficult indeed to get it out of gear and into neutral, so I think that must have been down to clutch drag.

 

 

 

Peter Burt

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