I have a question on an earlier post/picture. In Ian's post of 3-17 he wrote of the original problem with the guide bushing going bad, and causing sloppy shifting. I have thought this over for some time as I am designing a rod shifter myself, and have followed your progress though the postings. However, here is my thought. The proplem with the original bushing was never really talked about as to why it failed. It took me back to my 9th grade geometry classes. Glad I paid atention then.
You show the original rod as aiming off to the side and going through two different bushings after the failed bushing. I think therein lies your problem with that bushing. Don't get me wrong for the improvements have been simply great and will help out the other CAV owners, and other ZF guys with their shifters. Whay is wrong to me is that you have the rod going off at an angle and held firmly in its position by the three bushings. When you shift forward or backward there is a torque on those bushings. The rod wants to go in the same direction, but it is not allowed to because it is aimed off in another direction, putting a thrust onto the bushing. With the new and improved version, which has the rod held in front and behind the shift lever, this seems to be even more pronounced than with the old shifter. It is sort of like a parrallellogram in a way. the piece connecting the two parrallel rods wants to move in the same direction but can't because it is held in place. If it is allowed to move forward and back in its own direction, it will cause a bind further down the line. Has that piece been changed? If not , it seems to be the next area of failure. I don't know if I am making this clear or not. If not I will draw it out and post the drawing. This is a real problem for us all since we only have about 15 degrees to play with on the universals. Maybe a few more pics are needed to see how the rods are aligned, and my not needing to be concerned. Just a thought.
Bill