[TR] TR4 Gearbox

[Randall]

---- john-marie at sbcglobal.net wrote: 
> Can't find any springs or balls, but there is a
> cylindrical hole in the top cover with a sleeve that appears to be sheared off
> even with a recess in the top cover where the reverse plunger is shown.  

A photo would be really helpful.  

But that sounds like a later cover (from TR6 perhaps), where the screwed plugs over the detent balls & springs were replaced by plain plugs, kind of like very small "freeze" plugs.  There is a description and some (not very good) photos at
http://goo.gl/H9VTsN

I used a different method to remove them, though.  I found a tap that would just bite into the recess of the plug (sorry, don't recall the size offhand) and turned it in by one turn or so.  Then I dropped a socket and nut over the tap, and turned the nut down the tap to pull the plug up into the socket.  That left the plugs in re-usable condition (since they don't appear to be available new).  However, I went ahead and did as Nelson shows (in the article above), tapped the holes to take the proper screwed plugs.

As a side note, while you have the cover apart, the shift shaft seals sold by the usual suspects do not fit the top cover very well.  The recess is deeper than the seal is thick, which leaves room for oil to drip out.  Some have written about making washers to fill the gap, but I found that McMaster-Carr sells "PTFE O-ring backup rings" that do the job.  Sorry, I don't recall the size again, but it should be easy enough to measure and pick the right rings from their web page
http://www.mcmaster.com/#o-rings/=quslc8

Randall