Gear Selector Cables - That Ball Joint!
 

I have been trying to remove a set of cables complete with the gear lever and it's box. Apart from the frustration of having to lower all of the exhaust system to then be able to slide the heat shield rearwards, how on earth does one separate the cable from that ball joint? The various tools I have tried leave many marks on the socket and don't give much scope for recovering parts.

I use trim removal tools, pops the gear cables off a treat.

I'm not quite sure what you are planning to do Fred, however when I did this job, I used an old pushbike cone spanner to release the ball joints at the gearbox end, unclipped the outer ferrule clips and slid out the cables, then undid the four torx bolts securing the gearchange assembly to the floor.

You then remove the gearknob, and the gaiter trim panel, which allows you to release the four white tangs securing the assembly to the floor pan.

The whole caboose can now be removed from underneath the car.

Hope this helps

Brian :D

Thank you chaps, I have got to the stage of everything now disconnected, except the one remaining ball joint on the box. This is on a V6 2 litre, with nothing else removed from the car, therefore, it's pretty tight down there.

Well I finally managed to get those ball joints apart, and now I have got everything back together, but where am I? well I cannot now manage to get the ball joints together. I know that if I had the engine and gearbox out of the car I could do it, but as I haven't and the area down there is crazily tight, I cannot get anything to force the parts together. I gave up, and came home.

Try a bit of grease on the metal balls, and the cable ends should then just push on without too much trouble. Make sure the outer cable ends are seated properly in the support brackets on the gearbox - I clean these up and put a bit of grease on the brackets to help the outer cables slip into place.
Pete

Thanks Pete, as I was having so much trouble I got on with everything else and the only thing is to get the sockets to fit onto the ball itself. I had greased all and will have another go, probably tomorrow. The area is so tight it's difficult to get any tools in there to help.

Thanks.

Have you removed the battery box?

No, as that has always proved impossible in four cars I've tried it on, due to knackered torx bolts. It certainly would create more room, lots more room.

I removed the battery box years ago as I felt there was too much plastic under the bonnet . I use it as a storage box for spare parts :}