Just a few interesting pictures from the last couple of weeks in the workshop.  Have got the gearbox more or less back together now and have even made my own linkage for the overdrive. Here’s the weird arrangement of levers and springs for the high/low ratio and four wheel drive selectors.  Took me a while to work out how it all works!   Here’s the infamous castle nut which lots of people bang in with a cold chisel… …but I made my own “600300 tool”.  It took me about five hours to make from a chunk of 40mm steel bar.  I had to use the lathe, mill and rotary table then sort-of-hardened it with blowtorch and case hardening compound.  Well worth it for the 30 seconds of use it saw! Next job was to make my own linkage and lever for the overdrive.  The most complex bit was making a block which pivots on a steel bush, has a 12mm threaded hole for the gear stick and a slot with three 6mm threaded holes for the lever which links it to the overdrive.  Pictures follow.

Tapping the hole. I made three holes to allow me to change the angle of the lever when fitted into The Duke. Here’s the end of the actuating linkage jobbie which I heated, bashed with a hammer and drilled.  Here it is in place.  The L shaped bracket is far to flimsy but I think I might need a welder or a massive bender…  as it where… to make a more sturdy one. Here’s where the linkage links to the overdrive. The whole caboodle.