Urethane shift coupler

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Urethane shift coupler

Postby GregR » 14 Sat Jun, 2014 10:45 am

So my nephew and his wife are in town visiting from Florida (he's a mechanic for Tesla) Let's take the buggy out for a spin.

The buggy was shifting funny in Marble Falls but seemed like an adjustment issue.
We got about a block from the house and all I had was 3rd gear... and occasionally reverse.
Got home and tried a shifter adjustment... no luck.
Finally after about 15 minutes I decided to look under the buggy and saw red crumbles from the polyurethane shift
coupler. It just ain't gonna find any gears without the coupler. As Richard would say, Dang!
So check anything on your buggy thats urethane, they don't hold up forever.
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Re: Urethane shift coupler

Postby Ken » 15 Sun Jun, 2014 11:27 am

Good advice for sure.
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Re: Urethane shift coupler

Postby staggerwing » 19 Thu Jun, 2014 7:38 am

Dangit!
Yep, I'm hearing bad stuff about it too. Had one on the steering and it was about to be "toast". We got lucky.
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Re: Urethane shift coupler

Postby testers » 11 Sun Jan, 2015 10:31 am

I had same exact problem, I ended up finding an old school metal one from a local bug shop, said he hasnt sold one in 20 years :shock: works well so far!
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Re: Urethane shift coupler

Postby johber41 » 11 Sun Jan, 2015 12:19 pm

I had some luck creating a steering coupler from a heavy leather weight training belt and you can create a reliable shifting coupler from a piece of 3/4 inch plumbing, (5/8 ID)....that size pipe was the perfect fit for my 61 shifting rod anyway... I read about several problem incidents with the red rubber couplers in the historical stuff on this site....
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Re: Urethane shift coupler

Postby Ken » 28 Wed Jan, 2015 9:04 am

At the Round Up Billy and Bryan stole my buggy and only brought it back because Bryan could feel the urethane coupler was about to disintegrate. I guess I just hadn't noticed it because it degrades over time and I just didn't feel the change in the shifting. Wrapped in real well with duct tape and made it through the weekend ok.

My point is, let Billy and Bryan steal your stuff and you're sure to get it back broken.

My other point... if your coupler is more than 4-5 years old or you don't know its age, order a new one today and replace it before buggy season takes off.
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Re: Urethane shift coupler

Postby johber41 » 28 Wed Jan, 2015 4:09 pm

Great advice for a preemptive strike for sure....Thanks Ken
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