I was out driving my 914 the other evening and my 3-4 shift became a 3-2 shift, a.k.a. "the money shift" - but, I have a fast clutch foot and caught it before it overreved and caused any damage. It had been shifting perfectly right up to that moment, but I could no longer grab 4th or 5th. Limped it home in 3rd, and inspected the shift linkage the next day.

Turned out the problem was commonplace, the bushings in the coupler had disintegrated after 40+ years. Ordered the brass bushing set from PP and I've reviewed all the postings on how to do the install, I have a vice, so it should be straightforward.

During my inspection of the linkage, I noted that the ball joint lever on the tranny seemed to have a slight bit of play in it. From what I see, it's held to the shift lever shaft by a lock pin. Would replacing the lock pin fix this problem , or not? I'm guessing that the hole in the shaft may be have become eccentric by years of use and that replacing the pin will do little or nothing. The amount of movement is very small but present.

Worth doing, not worth doing? I had virtually no play before the bushing let go, and I expect replacing them will restore the linkage to as before.

I don't remember, do you have a side-shift or a tail-shift?

The side-shift part of the linkage that goes inside the transmission has a ball on one end and a "rake" on the other. Both are held onto the shaft with roll pins. I would not expect either to get wallowed out, even with years of use, but I've been wrong before.

Double check where the play is. If it is the whole shaft and ball moving, that is expected, and is fine if not excessive. If there really is play between the ball and the shaft (oh SHUT UP you filthy-minded people!) then you should pull the whole side-shift console off the trans and disassemble to inspect them.

--DD

Thanks, that's good advice. It's a side-shift, it was converted years ago. I'll do an evaluation after I replace the coupler bushings, if it's still got slop, I'll pull the console. The slop I noted really is coming from the ball joint lever, you can see the shift lever shaft is stationary but the lever wiggles a bit on it. Not much, but not zero, either. Probably isn't worth fixing until the next time the tranny needs to come out.

There shouldn't be any movement between the shaft and the ball. If there is, prepare for the possibility of sudden complete failure at some point. Hopefully not for a long time...

--DD

The guy at the shop I use (Jack Doverspike at Stuttgart Soutwest) has ages of experience with 914 transmissions. Next time I take it there for something I'm too lazy or incompetent to do, I'll have him look at it and see what he thinks. I agree, it shouldn't move at all, that's why I thought it might need tending to. Maybe driving out the pin and putting in a new one is all it needs.

OK, I replaced the coupler bushings with brass bushings from PP, shifting is back to the way it was before. Only slop I have is with the gear lever in either 2nd or 3rd, about 1/2" of slop right-left, none fwd-back. The shift rod bushing at the tranny seemed sloppy to me, so I'll order one of those and a new ball cup bushing. I think the firewall bushing is OK. If the slop is still there, I'll see if my transmission guy thinks a new drift pin in the ball joint lever is worth doing.