You know how some things just sort of…disappear? Like their existence is a tenuous thing, based on the flimsiest of handshake agreements with reality, and managed by a forgetful custodian. Common things in this category are Tupperware lids, socks, 10mm sockets, that sort of thing. Today I learned that this category also seems to include some important parts of my shift linkage?
I had just started driving my Citroën 2CV, backed it out of the driveway, drove it around the corner, when all of a sudden the gearshift went all floppy in my hand. Luckily, I was in neutral when it happened, and so wasn’t stuck in any gear, because I could feel exactly what happened. This wasn’t some gearshift erectile issue; this was a broken linkage.
I’ve encountered broken shift linkages before, maybe most memorably when I fixed a broken linkage in my old Yugo with two hose clamps and a rock:
On the way home from the zoo, the Yugo decided that trouble-free operation felt too weird so the shift linkage vanished. I bodged up a fix with 2 hose clamps and a rock and we made it home. pic.twitter.com/25PWyfq4fn
— Jason Torchinsky (@JasonTorchinsky) November 27, 2021
…but in that case, at least it happened because a part broke, and didn’t just, you know, disappear.
I realize I’m saying a part disappeared, so I should probably back that up with some evidence. First, let me show you where the shift linkage is in a 2CV, because it’s a little odd. When you shift a 2CV, you use this funny little bent handle on the dashboard that is essentially like shifting with your arm stuck through the dashboard:
So, there’s a stick sprouting out of the transmission like you’d expect, it’s just that the stick is actually in the engine compartment and you’re in the body of the car. So to shift, you move the actual gearstick with a little other gearstick, and they’re connected by a simple linkage made of a twisted bit of flat metal stock and some bushings and cotter pins. You can see the shift linkage here:
Hold on, let me zoom in a bit. Computer! Enlarge and enhance section 4,3! Execute!
See that? That’s what my shift linkage looked like when it was working fine and I wasn’t thinking about it. Here’s a video showing what a perfect one should look like:
Okay, that seems close enough to what I had? Maybe minus that top washer? Anyway, let’s look at what I saw when the shifter got all floppy:
Actually, this is actually a little better than what I saw, as when I saw it the parts weren’t even in contact with one another; I set it up like this so I could at least shift it enough to get it off the road. But as you can see, the whole bushing/pin thing on the dash shift handle end is just…gone.
Where the hell did it go? It was just there! It had been trouble-free as long as I’ve had this car, and now it just decided call in non-existent? It left the chat? Why? and how?
I looked all over the car for the pieces but found nothing. Well, that’s not entirely true; I did find a cotter pin that I think was from this, which I used instead of the bent nail I had been readying for the job.
Using some crap I had laying on my workbench (specifically that little rubber boot thing that I’m not sure where origin of but I think maybe was an electrical plug insulator thing that, up until this point, I’ve mostly been chewing on) and the found cotter pin, I was able to very quickly create this ersatz version of the shift linkage.
I tried it out, rowed through all the gears, including reverse, and it works just fine. I don’t even feel any difference at all, if I’m honest. This is one of the things I really love about the 2CV – sure, stuff can break sometimes, but it’s all so crude, clever, and simple that you can almost always just see what went wrong, comprehend it, and fix it with whatever you happen to have handy.
How many other cars have shift linkages you can fix without having to lay down under the car, too? I’m sure there’s some, but this is the first one I’ve owned that’s like this!
Seriously, though, where the hell did that little part go? Did it just fly off? How? Kleptomaniacal gnomes? Smurfs? What the hell happened?
On my old farm tractor, the pin fell out that connects the shift handle to the top of the transmission and the shifter just spun around and around. A screw and nut hold it together now. It’s nice when you can fix something by walking to your shop.
Looks a whole lot like sway bar end-link bushings to me. Maybe you can tighten up the shift feel with a set of polyurethane bushings like this:
https://images.carid.com/energy-suspension/suspension-systems/bushings/5-8105r.jpg
A Poly bushing being used on a 2CV makes me at least smile
Given they are best known as a ‘performance upgrade’ for a car with ‘sporting potential’
Eastern European cars rock is factory part- Lada toolkit is rock and vodka, if rock does not fix, drink vodka, repeat as necessary
Do they sell those at Rock Auto?
The R4 has / had a similar gear shift, with the complication that it had to move right over the motor to get to the gear box, which was in front of the motor.
Cue, extra relay link needed.
Clutch cable too, and I narrowly escaped fiery death from a burning clutch cable.
The cable was covered in flammable plastic protection, and at some point some of the little clips holding it in place ran away.
Which meant every time the clutch was used the cable flexed — against the battery terminals.
Guess the rest — the friction rubbed off the plastic, metal cable inside cover started shorting against the battery, and plastic caught fire.
First indication was a grainy feel to the clutch, second stinking burning plastic smoke pouring from under the bonnet.
Pulled over opened it and saw flames — all ready to spread to oily bits and fuel lines…
Reminds me why the question ‘what happens if/when this fails is so important for engineering or in making anything really.
I remember a vw I owned had a oil cooler that looked kind of like an enlarged Klondike bar in that it was square(ish) as all the corners were rounded, that the metal cased oil filter would screw in to…
So there were two rubber seals. One on top of the oil cooler (that I didn’t know was there) and one on the bottom, that of course was replaced every time a new oil filter was installed (every 5-7k miles).
Of course with age and 10s of thousands of heat and cool cycles the top seal began to fail and leak oil.
The oil from the top seal of the oil cooler failing would then drip down on some other part, I think it was a hard plastic egr hose, which caused that to fail. I replaced that plastic egr hose at least 2 times before realizing it was failing bc of the oil leak from the Top of the silly oil cooler!!!
Also when that top oil cooler seal fails completely, ALL of the cars oil will dump out within 30 seconds. Something I discovered on another VW with this same design. Fortunately when it happened it was on startup and I was backing the car out of a parking spot and therefore I was able to catch it right away and turn the car off bf destroying the engine.
Yip, at one point Audis, especially A3s, were notorious for that. And the company got a bad reputation, in France at least, because it refused to accept any fault, arguing that engines seized because drivers did not stop immediately after the red oil light lit up.
Not only old cars, some were six months old.
Eventually they lost in court in a vice caché (hidden fault) case and ended paying out big bucks.
“Eventually they lost in court in a vice caché (hidden fault) case and ended paying out big bucks.”
Good! Thats the only way companies that have “bottom line is the only line that matters” might learn.
I had 3 successive vws over 22 years which finally lead me to Toyotas as daily drivers. I got tired of the vws which always seemed like they needed something fixed…
I got one of the first New MINIs imported into the US in 2002, and as I remember it an early recall was for some part of the shift linkage that was intended to be held together with some soft of friction and magnet, the idea (as was explained to me) was that if it was going to fail, it was a controlled failure rather than shredding everything. The parts could apparently decouple more easily than intended, and the temporary fix that was applied until the replacement parts arrived from overseas was 2 zip ties on both sides to hold everything together.
Never look down upon zip tie engineering. Who among us has not been saved by the humble zip tie? And who can honestly say there is not at least one residing on their car somewhere? Even Mars rovers use them.
Considering it took 4 tries to get an intact windshield shipped over I was happy with the zip ties tbh
Zip ties have held my track bike plastics together at 150+ at Daytona. All hail the zip tie.
This is exactly the correct use case for a 3d printer. Tpu and an hour and you have an exact repeatable replacement.
Of course, recycling a rubber boot you found works too
My guess is the rubber disintegrated.
Does Kong make chew toys for hamsters? If so maybe try one of those.
they make Kitty Kongs that are about the right size!
Well hot damn!
OK Jason, you know what you need to do.
So does the 2CV not have a hood prop? Was everyone who owned one supposed to bring a rake with them at all times in case they had to keep the hood open?
they did have one! Mine has also left the chat, perhaps years ago.
Yeah the factory hood prop is hilariously solid for how lightweight the hood is.
That’s what the grandfather clock is for.
Or you can go with the Supernatural method and prop it open with a sawed-off shotgun.
We had already had the cotter pin installation discussion on Discord.
https://discord.com/channels/1111431722442170408/1117519769936077003/1407165454937624636
Conveniently the roof rolls back so you can carry that rake with you all time in preparation for you next breakdown. Those French engineers thought of everything.
When I had my Spitfire, the shifter was held in place and functional by a bunch of cheap plastic and flimsy springs. In the three years I owned the car I had to replace it twice. The main spring is held in place by dome-shaped piece of plastic with a hole in the center. It didn’t take long for the spring to eat through the plastic and eject itself to freedom. I found a metal version of that spring retainer on some obscure site for Spitfire parts (no, not SpitBits even though I loved them).
It was a questionable fix since I imagine the grease I put on the new metal piece would wear away and it would do it’s own destructive things but someone bought it before I could find out.
Already looking forward to your article titled ‘Hey! I’m driving a ship of Theseus’. It’ll take a few years for sufficient non-automotive components to assume the 2CVs identity.
Phase 1: Collect shift linkage bushings
Phase 2: ?
Phase 3: Profit!
Useless trivia – the Renault 4 and the very first Renault 5 models (and probably everything Renault of that era with a similar powertraing) had the same type if shifter + linkage.
The top and bottom washers are pretty key here. There should actually be a good bit of force on the cotter pin from compressing the bushing a bit between the two washers. I expect that over time, with renewed use after a decade, the cotter pin may have broken the old rubber bushing in half. The pieces of the bushing are now scattered about Chapel Hill, and then at some point the added force of a shift popped the cotter pin.
But… Yeah. Odd. In any case, imo get bottom and top washers for that ersatz bushing. I still have my worn old one if you want it. I replaced my linkage because I wanted the shifter tight like racecar.
Or ofc, Kenji sells new ones like the one I got for ten bucks. But I do know this is Jason, and his 2CV is still using a broom handle as a hood prop and bungee cords for the front and rear bonnet/boot lids. So a new bushing might ruin the authenticity.
And, install the right-sized new cotter pin in right position!
If you think this is the first 2CV part to be scattered around Chapel Hill, you’ve never been to Chapel Hill. I’m hoping the Trabant 601 that I know lives there comes out to next month’s Autopian meetup.
I’m guessing you’re joking with me, since I’m an owner of another 2CV in Chapel Hill who has contributed at least one carburetor jet to the Chapel Hill landscape, but the other 2CV owners in town are not quite Jason’s system of redoing cars :-). My mentor is a tad more fastidious with his Chapel Hill / Carrboro Citroens.
The Trabant I haven’t seen around much recently.
When I said “If you think…” I was referring to the universal you, rather than you specifically.
Fair enough. The car-spotting in Chapel Hill has a few high points. Also, being a university town, the number of people who see my 2CV and, instead of asking what it is, tell me about the ones they owned or their parents owned when they were growing up. That’s the most fun part of having the car.
If you had a shock absorber bushing lying around, that would work! I yearn for the days you could just piece a car together. Gone forever…
Next time, just turn it into a motorcycle.
Checking out the tread (and the age-crack-separation) on those tires, what’s the selection for 2CVs?
Anything unique and interesting for tire selections?
I know I’d read a whole article about tires (I think we all did, already, about a certain BMW i3 already)
That’s an older pic; I got a whole new set of Michelin Xs! https://www.theautopian.com/my-citroen-2cv-has-new-tires-to-be-track-ready-and-those-tires-are-a-big-deal-historically/
How did I miss this? Brilliant!
Gloryhole shifter went floppy when the rubber came off!?!
No way!
That mechanism…I never knew Rube Goldberg worked for Citroën.
It’s actually pretty simple once you realize the reason it meets on a double upward bend like that is so that the gear pattern isn’t reversed (with 1-2 on the right and 3-4 on the left) when it reaches the driver’s seat.
These kinds of fixes seem similar to the stories my mom tells me all the time about fixing her beetle on the side of the road when the gas cable snapped and she used a rock on the throttle lever just to continue driving lol
I just went through a similar situation with my garage door opener. The bolts that hold the piece from the door to the piece that connects to the shuttle on the opener track just up and left the chat, leaving me to open the garage door manually, like a peasant. At least until I spent the $3.00 or so to buy new bolts and install them.
The rubber bushing on the other part of the shifter is pretty broken as well, you should order a whole rebuil
Mice! That’s always my first thought when something like this happens to my 53 year old car that I’m getting ready to put back on the road. It should be drivable to an old folks old car show in a nearby state…