My gear shaft bush has disintegrated, so I purchased a replacement, just fitted it and have attempted to refit the shaft, but it seem really tight, is this normal?

may be the clip is a fraction to small in diameter squeezing the bush, the shaft needs to be clean of rust and debris.

It was tight before i found the clip floating on the shaft, but will give the shaft a good rub down, ooh err, and a good greasing.

It was tight before i found the clip floating on the shaft, but will give the shaft a good rub down, ooh err, and a good greasing.

Use "petroleum jelly" (vaseline), to lubricate the bush\shaft.  I have seen normal "lm" grease soften the bush.

Cheers Paul

Manx Dave had a good tip ... He fits 2 clips to this bush ..

This may sound quite shocking, but my shift rod bush parted company with itself
either side of the mounting, so I needed to think of something quite fast as I was driving
at the time and gear selection was iffy to say the least.

I had some of the thickish style cable ties handy and it made me wonder a bit...

I put one very loosely around the shift rod just behind the gear stick 'cup' and then proceeded
to fit other cable ties one by one around this loose tie, zipping them up and then pushing
the ends of each one back through the mount hole as I went, forming a radial 'array' of ties pointing
backwards towards the rear of the buggy and 'around' the shift rod 

The end result is a 'ring' of cable ties around the rod all snuggly touching each other down their sides,
once the last one went in I zipped up the first one around the shaft.

It worked so well eliminating shift rod movement sideways and was so easy to fit that I have left it as it is
with the shifting being immediately waaaaay better than it ever had been from day 1

Peter

Manx Dave had a good tip ... He fits 2 clips to this bush ..

Do I? Are you getting shifter rod bushes mixed up with clutch shaft bushes?

This may sound quite shocking, but my shift rod bush parted company with itself
either side of the mounting, so I needed to think of something quite fast as I was driving
at the time and gear selection was iffy to say the least.

I had some of the thickish style cable ties handy and it made me wonder a bit...

I put one very loosely around the shift rod just behind the gear stick 'cup' and then proceeded
to fit other cable ties one by one around this loose tie, zipping them up and then pushing
the ends of each one back through the mount hole as I went, forming a radial 'array' of ties pointing
backwards towards the rear of the buggy and 'around' the shift rod 

The end result is a 'ring' of cable ties around the rod all snuggly touching each other down their sides,
once the last one went in I zipped up the first one around the shaft.

It worked so well eliminating shift rod movement sideways and was so easy to fit that I have left it as it is
with the shifting being immediately waaaaay better than it ever had been from day 1

Peter

My favourite type of fix. Well done that man. Reminds me of when the gear shift went on my Toyota Avensis and I was left with 3rd and reverse. Limped home. The next day the  AA man fixed it with coat hanger wire as a temporary measure. Rang Toyota then and they quoted £500 to fix it. Part-exed the car at Toyota 5 years later with the coat hanger fix still in place - that'll show em! 

Manx Dave had a good tip ... He fits 2 clips to this bush ..

Do I? Are you getting shifter rod bushes mixed up with clutch shaft bushes?

Believe I am Dave 

Peter like Stella the kango had a plastic tube from a solar garden light split down the side and secured with 2 cable ties and is now about 3 years old after a quick repair to get to work in the morning, no bush to fail now.

All sorted, cheers everyone