Shift lever fun

[filip00]

I was on my way from university today, and this 518i e34 was really annoying dragging himself in front of me, so I had overtaken him on the first spot I could. It was after a crossing, I left the stick in 1st, and when I shifted to 2nd gear, my gear lever broke ....first moment I was like - WTF? because I don't shift viciously or hard...i drive pretty gently. I pulled over and inspected it, finding out my gear lever broke just above the gear lever ball (name?)... shown here:



looking up at realoem



part number 6.....


I will go buy new one tomorrow, what bothers me is....I know putting a Z3 shift lever means getting a shortshifter....now, I had a shortshifter. Previous owner installed it, but I don't know if he used a z3 lever or not, so I'm in for some fun figuring out what lever i have.....had


peeps, just wanted to let you guys in on what fun my e34 gives me


p.s. supposedly it broke because shortshifters are exposed to more stress than normal shift levers....i don't know

[e34.535i.sport]

Hmmm... I bet that was a painto get home!

Can I ask what difference the short shifter makes? Is it noticably quicker/easier to change gear?

[yaofeng]

My bet is you have the original shifter. If it is BMW has made improvement on it and changed the design. The original has the ball cast with the shaft in one piece. If there is a casting defect the shifter will break. The new one you are going to get is a straight steel shaft with a plastic ball.





You want to also get a new socket chair.




The plastic chais sits in the metal cup.

[bubba966]

I did that once on a '93 M5. Shifting from first to second while getting on the freeway and it snapped in that same spot before it got into second. If it'd gotten into second I'd have been fine, but being stuck in neutral was no good.

Put in a UUC EVO3 short throw as it was one solid piece of steel. No breaking at that joint like the factory one. Was also a lot nicer to drive after the UUC install. Much better than a Z3 install (yes, I've compared them).

[filip00]

2 teacher man - it was a pain in the ass, but 2nd gear is long enough so it wasn't that bad...starting from second gear is okay, and 35mph is around 3300rpm so it was bearable shifting is much much better, the length of shifts is shorter and more precise, yet a little bit stiffer. i love it that way

2 yao - i would bet it wasn't the shifter as you posted, because as i had to shift it manually into a gear, i felt the stick beneath the ball was longer than on this picture here. that would explain why my shifting was much shorter.

2 bubba - i'm sorry, but also glad i'm not the only moron who broke his lever i felt totally stupid and thought what the hell is wrong, am i really shifting too hard or what