[Ragnian]

I was wondering if these were standard for something other than Unimogs. Can the plastic inserts be purchased separately?

Anyone already been down this road?

As you can see from the photo mine has departed somewhere in the snow up here. That is the shifter for the crawler gears, clearly some zip ties will make an "ok" temporary fix so I am not in a rush.

 

[krietpiel]

When one of mine gave up the ghost, I contacted AV and they ordered new parts for me. However, the replacement parts were different - genuine MB parts - the plastic insert types no longer being available. Not to say you may not be able to get some NOS parts anywhere.
The new parts require some modification to the existing bits - the ball ends having to be removed and coupling nuts/bushes to be made or purchased separately.
Some more info here: SBU reverse lever linkage

 

[photobldr]

Did not see anything on Belmetric site, but McMaster-Carr has a pretty large assortment of ball ends, assemblies and rods. Might be easiest to just make what is needed.

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.

www.mcmaster.com

One possibility from that link:

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.

www.mcmaster.com

Don’t know if the ball stud is threaded, or a peened over interference fit, but one could always drill and tap for a slightly larger thread size for the ball stud.

All FWIW

Lee

 

[Ragnian]

Thanks

I did talk to Belmetric and have surfed a bit at McMaster...was hoping for the simple solution. Will reach out to MEREX and see what Neil says.

 

[TRUKTOR]

I pulled some parts out.

• The threads on the Rods are M8 -1.25
• The sockets are Right Hand and Left Hand threads on opposite ends of the rods.
• The jam nut on the Rod takes a 13mm Wrench

-The flats on the socket ends take a 12mm Wrench
-The ball is ~ 12.90mm diameter
- The ball fixture is pressed into the shift lever arm.
-The diameter of the shaft on the ball fixture is ~ 10mm .

 

[Ragnian]

Hmmmm

Well, I ordered from MEREX I will post picks of what I get. It would sure be nice if just the plastic inserts were available.

 

[TRUKTOR]

That would be too easy.

 

[wengejor]

The plastic inserts might be available from 80s diesel mercedes cars. Some research would be needed to determine which car had that size hardware.

I had a 83 300SD that needed an insert for the throttle linkage with similar ball ends like that and germanautoparts.com had inserts in stock.

 

[TRUKTOR]

I’ll be interested to see what MEREX sends to you.

One of mine shows cracks in the plastic…a prelude to failure.

One of the socket bodies is not round - it looks like a hammer blow, rather than abrasion.

One of the shafts is arrow straight, one has slight doglegs in it and a few wear marks, where it was rubbing against something.
It is straight enough.

The plastic inserts look like they overlap the metal body on both the open and closed sides. It may be that they were heated and soft when installed in the housing. This might explain why the inserts are not available by themselves.
Assuming that is true, or whether that is a provisional UNIMOG truth. They might have been available in the past, or never.

 

[wengejor]

There's some stuff on fleabay and Amazonia, but not certain about the size.

Check this out! https://a.co/d/dbEVgtE

 

[TRUKTOR]

If the female threads are M8 - 1.25, it might be worth it to buy one to compare it. However, I didn't see any specifications, on either the Ebay listings nor on Amazon. There is no mention of right and left hand threads, which are necessary for the UNIMOG linkages.
They look close, but they might not share much besides the looks.

 

[TRUKTOR]

Good work digging them up - don't get me wrong.

 

[wengejor]

Oh, I know about how unimog parts don't really match up with anything Truktor, no worries!!

 

[TRUKTOR]

I'm liking what I see on the McMaster-Carr link.

The ones with the Neoprene seals don't have a Load cap. rating, and they pivot 35°.
The ones with the Rubber seals have a rating, and pivot to 34°.

I think the thing to do would be to push out or drill out the ball stud from the factory lever arms, drill them out and weld in a regular M8-1.25 nut. Clearance is somewhat tight, so I don't think a coupling nut is a good choice. A jam nut on the threaded male stud, and you should be good. Instead of a jam nut, a thin spring type lock washer and thread locker would be less bulky. Then trim the male stud of excess length as necessary.

I think either one would work, as the rating should be sufficient for a hand operated lever, one that probably isn't used every day. The Neoprene Seal equipped pieces are plated steel, so I think they may be stronger, whether they are rated to not. The Original MB pieces look to be zinc, and they do not look to be built for high strength, so I think the McMaster-Carr ball joint linkages would be an upgrade. Price-wise, the Rubber Seal versions are about twice as much, so maybe they are the way to go, thinking you are paying more to get more ?

One consideration would be clearance - but I think the best way to pin that down is to buy a couple and fiddle around with them. They look like they would fit, but I still have to measure the threaded depth on the OEM pieces, and so on.

Maybe today I can play around with my OEM pieces and try to come up with a number for what their pivot range is.

 

[TRUKTOR]

 

[TRUKTOR]

The OEM piece is close :

Shank Thread Lg. = 20mm (McM-C = 14mm)
Shank Center Lg. = 30.3 mm (McM-C = 28.5mm)

The OEM rods have about 25mm of threads on each end for adjustment.

 

[TRUKTOR]

So, between the two rod ends, with the McMaster-Carr pieces, you'd lose less than 1/2" in adjustability. The McMaster-Carr piece will bottom out less than 1/4" sooner than the OEM piece. I think that will work fine. With the slightly shorter Shank Center measurement ( 28.5mm to 30.3mm), the McM-C end will want to extend further (screw out) than the OEM piece, so bottoming out should not be an issue.

 

[TRUKTOR]

Just messing around with the pieces, I came up with this range of motion for the MB parts. It may be off a little, but just based on the angle at which interference takes place, I think it is a reasonable guess.
It is essentially the same as the McMaster-Carr pieces.

In use, I think only a fraction of the range will be used, because the shifting action is a fairly short fore and aft throw. In any event, it appears that the McM-C pieces will cope with the alignment requirements as well as the factory pieces.
Time will tell.

 

[TRUKTOR]

More or less.

 

[TRUKTOR]

More fiddling, in order to check the previous results.

Matched a grommet to the OD of the ball.
Dummied up a ‘stem’ for the ball.
Inserted the grommet ‘Ball’ into the socket fitting, and
swung the arc.
Results about the same as the previous method.