Hi All,
I don’t know where would be best to post this question so posted it here. I hope that is ok.
When my gearbox gets warm the gear selection gets very stiff, mostly in the side to side direction.
I want to take this cover off the side of the box and have a look what is going on. The stiffness in the side to side direction might only be in the selector system and not within the gear cluster so I can maybe do something with it.
What I don’t want to do is pull this cover off and a selection of ball bearings and springs tinkle off down inside the gearbox.
I doubt they be anything inside there thatd fall out its just a housing by the looks of where that spline goes through it will have a cog on the end and probably another cog coming off the gearbox end that turn together, probably be full of oil too. Loosen it off under a bright light then as you seperate it try get a look inside
RobnRuth:
Hi All,
I don’t know where would be best to post this question so posted it here. I hope that is ok.
When my gearbox gets warm the gear selection gets very stiff, mostly in the side to side direction.
I want to take this cover off the side of the box and have a look what is going on. The stiffness in the side to side direction might only be in the selector system and not within the gear cluster so I can maybe do something with it.
What I don’t want to do is pull this cover off and a selection of ball bearings and springs tinkle off down inside the gearbox.
Any one taken one of these to bits?
Rob
Are they even meant to be taken to bits by the operator? Surely you need to take it to an authorised repair shop. Then again, I’ve driven a lot of Ategos and stiff gearboxes are a common problem, especially when putting them in reverse (it took a really hard push with my right hand against the door), along with its lack of a positive action when changing gear. The six-speed ones are the worst (the 8-speed ones are better).
NOVE:
I’d remove the cover and shove as much grit and gravel in as possible. Atego’s are vile and should have been torched at birth.
Was going to say that they’re not my favourite trucks to drive, by a long shot, but didn’t think that was the kind of info he was looking for. It is quite amazing though, that Mercedes-Benz cannot be bothered to make a decent manual gearbox in all this time - the Atego was the first of the “new generation” small trucks, coming out several years before the DAF LF and a few years before Iveco and MAN modernised theirs. The stiffness and soft action still persists, although I guess Merc now just want us to drive automatics.
The training school im doing my class 2 with end of month they use an atego and another class 2 wagon, i did my assessment in the atego and i thought it was stiff but then thought it was me not being used to it but my shoulder did and half ache the following morning, hoping i get the other truck come training/test week
We have an atego luckily I don’t drive it because the clutch gives me cramp and If I was any weaker I’d need both hands to change gear, I think that’s just how they are. Having said that it’s been well looked after and has been a good motor.
Haven’t touched an Atego for probably 10 years now, it looks like they’ve done away with that stupid hydraulic gear linkage with the little hook inside the turret … when did they see sense?
Yippee… Its not the gearbox.
I took the gear linkage to bits today.
I disconnected the gearbox end of the linkages and attached a mole grip gear lever and clunked through all the gears no problems at all at selecting gear that way.
I then stripped down the gear linkages at the front end.
The gear linkage shaft that runs left to right at the front of the engine runs in two plain bushes.
These were well greased but slightly stiff.
I cleaned down all the bits and found the bushes are plastic bushes. My guess is these bushes expand as things get warm and tighten up on the shaft.
I got a file out and carefully opened the bushes to give a bit of clearance on the shaft and polished up the shaft with some fine emery strip. I rebuilt it with silicone grease on the plastic bushes. That slips back and forth nice and easily now.
There are some rubber bushes in the very bottom end of the gear lever. These are a bit squidgy and making the forwards backwards movement a bit stiff. I need to order those and replace them to cure that.
The gear lever now springs back to its middle position and I can choose what gears I end up in. I can also now drive it without any embarasing T junction moments
georgy:
The training school im doing my class 2 with end of month they use an atego and another class 2 wagon, i did my assessment in the atego and i thought it was stiff but then thought it was me not being used to it but my shoulder did and half ache the following morning, hoping i get the other truck come training/test week
You can ask your school not to give you that truck - after all, it’s you who’s paying. Many schools will oblige.
georgy:
The training school im doing my class 2 with end of month they use an atego and another class 2 wagon, i did my assessment in the atego and i thought it was stiff but then thought it was me not being used to it but my shoulder did and half ache the following morning, hoping i get the other truck come training/test week
You can ask your school not to give you that truck - after all, it’s you who’s paying. Many schools will oblige.
I wouldn’t want to be doing any training in a truck if it was anything like mine was before I fixed it.
After driving mine last week I hopped into my wife’s car and then was changing gear like I wanted to pull the gearlever out of the floor
georgy:
Ford Fiesta’s do this 2006 onwards, the plastic bush expands with the heat and as you found by filing the hole bigger its made it easier to use.
I was quite tempted to shove a 1 inch reamer through the bushes (the shaft is 25mm) to give it a bit of clearance. I decided I wanted it free but not rattly so just filed some out.
