Tiger shift lever

Hi Dave,

Many thanks for your reply. Due to the holidays & a vacation, The problem’s not solved yet. We live in northern Illinois, so the Tiger’s off the road until the salt is off the roads this spring. My friend (who’s a British expatriate) contacted a supplier in the UK & has ordered a copy of the Sunbeam Tiger parts catalog. My friend said, “The parts catalog provides clear diagrams and drawings of every part for specific engine/chassis numbers etc. Thus it was invaluable for figuring out what parts were wrong or missing etc.” The workshop manual’s only mention of the shift lever is to remove it prior to removing the transmission – not much help! Now that my wife & I have returned from vacation, my plan is to talk to two shops in the Chicago area who have done work on my Tiger in the past, & have one of them look into the problem. The thing I do not want to do is screw up the shift linkage — if there’s a way to do that, rest assured, I’ll do it!! 🙂 However, any advice would be greatly appreciated, as this could help me and/or the shop. Thanks!

Hi Gary – Many thanks for your comment. Based on the shift pattern, with reverse being to the left & forward, when the shift lever is installed, the lockout pawl should be on the left side of the shift lever. Lifting the lockout pawl would then allow the shift lever to move left & forward into reverse. If I understand this correctly, it should be a pretty simple process. The weather’s pretty cold right now & our garage is unheated. Early next week it should warm up to around 40 degrees, so I’ll give it a try then. Thanks, & fingers crossed! I’ll let you know what happens.

Hi Kragh – Thanks for the contact. Tomorrow (Tuesday) I’m going to try installing the shifter per Gary’s advice. If that works – Great! If not, I’ll turn to your contact (Bill Healy) for any advice. I’ll let you know how things work out tomorrow. Thanks again!

Dave, Gary, Kragh,

Thanks for your responses re: my Tiger shift lever question. Yesterday, I successfully installed the new shift lever. Installing the lever with the pawl to the left will not work, as the pawl Is blocked by a casting supporting the linkage mechanism. Since it did not work with the pawl to the left, in a flash of brilliance, I did the only possible alternative & re-installed the lever with the pawl to the right. It’s VERY hard to describe, but there’s a slot in the casting supporting the right side of the linkage mechanism. Apparently the pawl interacts with that slot. In order to tilt the lever to the left, you need to left the lockout & pawl so the pawl disengages with the slot. Well, with the new lever, the pawl is much smaller than the original pawl, so you can shift into reverse without using the lockout. No problem, as the TR 6 I had years ago had no reverse lockout & never caused a problem. A photo would explain it all, but I can’t attach one (file too big?). I tested it in our long driveway & it works fine. Many, many thanks for your time & comments!! I’m keeping the original lever (without lockout) if I ever need a spare. Now, I can’t wait for the salt to be washed off the roads by the spring rains.