Gearstick Centering spring?

[Johnnynz]

For quite some time now my gear stick hasn\'t been returning to center and I have been told by a number of people that that there should be a spring somewhere on the gear stick to return it to center.

I cant for the life of me see where it should go, does anyone have any insight for me? Pics of my Gear stick setup below. It does have a GFB Shortshift kit in there but the spring was gone before I fitted that.

If any one has a pic of the spring in place they can share that would be brilliant.

[Guest]

The springs underneath and goes from the box to knuckle. Only nec in P1 boxes so if yours is original it doesnt matter.

[Johnnynz]

Ah, so its missing off my spare box also. Thats a bugger.

You lost me at nec however?

[shore_boy]

I think you\'re talking about the mechanism inside the transfer case? Here\'s a pic. It\'s where the top of the shifter rod sits inside that transfer case.

[Johnnynz]

Hmm if its in the transfer case its to hard basket for me. I was told by my tuner and by Keltick theres a spring outside the box itself somewhere I must be missing.

Both had that opinion after driving it.

[Guest]

Necessary. If stock V5/6 Phase 2 box you dont need it.

[shore_boy]

After spending so much time with that part of the box i\'m pretty confident that i\'m right. When you move the stick left to right that little mechanism is what creates the resistance to let you know that you\'re drifting from the center. So given that it\'s job is to center the shifter in my mind. If you\'re talking about a back and forth movement then i\'m completely off.

The spring for that could very well be outside the box as the mechanism i\'m talking about sits at the very top right of the transfer case. So could be externally accessible?

[Johnnynz]

 evowrx said:

Necessary. If stock V5/6 Phase 2 box you dont need it.

Ah I see, so because its an older Legacy box in there is probably why I am having the issue.

The box I have waiting to go in is from a 98 GTB and looking at it there is no obvious point on the knuckle for a spring to go so thats probably a phase 2 box not needing the return spring?

FYI its a v5 with an older Legacy box, cant remember what year exactly.

[Guest]

The early boxes when pulled right self centre but are floppy when pushed left.

Sits between those 2 eyes in pics.

[Guest]

All of my boxes have had provision for it but not needed on P2.

[shore_boy]

 evowrx said:

The early boxes when pulled right self centre but are floppy when pushed left.

Sits between those 2 eyes in pics.

This is a good option to check first as my car has a spacer in there to remove that space.

[Johnnynz]

Ah cool this all gives me good ideas to check, thanks Gents.

If its not obvious and I cant sort it I might just swap to my new box and see if that fixes it.

[Guest]

No.20 Easy fix you\'ll figure it out in 2 secs when you crawl underneath. Any old spring will do just crimp it up so it doesnt fly off.

[Johnnynz]

Ah brilliant, I found that diagram on google just after starting the thread and wondered if it was in there somewhere.

Shot bro.

[Johnnynz]

A quick video here from under the car...

Looking at this is seems there is some serious shifter slop also (which I kinda new). My best bet might be new box and some new shifter bushes I reckon.

http://s5.photobucket.com/user/Karagious/media/ShifterSlop_zpsbda86577.mp4.html

[Guest]

Put a spring on quick fix Id guess. Does it only wobble left not right?

[Johnnynz]

Yup left by a long way and a little right but I would think the right hand movement is acceptable.

There doesnt seem to be any movement in part 2 on the diagram, all movement is in the bushes between part 3 and the knuckle on the box itself.

[Guest]

Gave my spare springs away or I would flick you one. Any expansion spring will work and save you doing the box before it spits a cog.

[Johnnynz]

Ok cool, I will give it a go.

I want to get one more trackday out of it if I can (Nov 23rd) and then I plan to get the new box in and put a new clutch in also and do one more day at least before doing time attack at 4NR.

[nztintin]

I had the same issue in my forester, found a spring at bunnings that fitted, its been in there for about 40000kms so far and hasnt pinged off