Shifter Gate Insert

[KUMARB]

I bought a plastic shifter gate insert for my 280SL from Miller's. This plastic insert guides the automatic shift lever to various gear settings. Mine had a corner broken off.

I have a hard time fitting the insert into the metal housing. Is there a trick to it, or I just have a bum aftermarket part?  MB does not sell the plastic insert by itself, it sells the insert mounted in the metal housing as one unit for several hundreds of dullards.  Any advice?

Thanks.

[KUMARB]

Just for clarification, I checked the previous Forum  postings on this subject. Someone had suggested that the plastic shift gate insert had an MB part no. A 111 260 00 28 and sold for $84.00. The price quote, which I got from my local MB dealer, for A 111 260 00 28 is $3,120.  Something is very amiss here. Perhaps, we are not tallking about the same thing.

[hkollan]

AFAIK all the plastic inserts on the market today are after market and the guide plate itself hasn't been available from MB for a while, at least not last time I checked. The 111 260 00 28 seems to be the guide plate itself and its a replacement number for the original guide plate with the number 113 260 02 28. I've replaced a few of the plastic inserts that I've gotten from various sources. And they sometimes need a little grinding/tweeking here and there to fit well. I assume you have the correct one for the pagoda, and not the later version for the guideplate with the Park position forward as found on  W111/W108s as of mid 1969. That one will obviuosly not fit.

[scoot]

Here's the problem.  People sell the wrong parts.  LOTS of people sell the wrong parts.  SLS sold me the wrong part, and they happily credited me for the shift gate insert that didn't fit (and they didn't want it back) and I sold it on eBay for $50 to a happy buyer.  Take a look at the attached photograph.  In particular, take a look at the detail area where I have said that this opening is to small, bla bla bla.  If that's your problem, don't try to fix it, get a different one.

[KUMARB]

Thanks, SCOOT, for attaching the picture.  The original plastic insert on my car looks very much like the "SLS".  The one I got from Miller's also looks identical to the original, except that it would not fit into the metal housing opening. The metal housing opening seems to be slightly smaller for the collar on plastic insert to fit in. I made the slot holes in the plastic insert a bit longer and wider by grinding but to no avail.

The original plastic insert has no part number stampings on it. However, it does show VDO markings, which means the original inserts were made by VDO, The aftermarket insert I bought has no markings at all.

[KUMARB]

I returned the plastic insert to Miller's, and ordered a new one from K&K hoping this would be different. The plastic insert from K&K turned out to be identical to the one from the Miller's, and did not fit either. However, this time,  I checked the dimensions of the plastic insert with the original insert. Though the two inserts look alike, the new insert was a millimeter or two larger in certain places. I shaved them using a Dremel grinder, and then was able to fit the plastic insert into the metal box.

Anyone, who is planning to replace the plastic shift gate guide, should be ready to do some work to make it fit. I hope it helps others.

Thanks.



 

[merrill]

I purchased the insert for my sl from Gernold at sl tech.  it was the correct unit.
Gernold made sure I received the correct one. you might want to try him.


Also, check out SLS
http://www.sls-hh-shop.de/


If you find what you need there K&K can order the part for you from SLS.

[scoot]

Also, check out SLS
http://www.sls-hh-shop.de/


If you find what you need there K&K can order the part for you from SLS.

Check my earlier post.  I ordered from SLS directly (which is easy - why go through K&K?) and they sent me one that didn't fit as shown in photo above.  SLS credited my credit card for the item and I sold the item on eBay for $50 to someone whose car it actually fit in..

[Iconic]

It seems to me that there are at least 2 "correct" shift gate inserts.
One for the early, unlighted, shift gate and one for the later lighted shift gate (all 280 SLs I believe  ).
Mine has the light. The SLS style is correct for mine ! But, I bought mine at Miller's (I am not affiliated with Miller's).
Please see the pictures. The 1st picture shows the new on the left and old on the right. See the slot in the plastic at the top. It is needed to allow for a wire retainer for the light wire. Also see the feature in the metal part where the wire fits. The second picture shows the wire location close up.
The third picture shows the new insert installed. It is not perfect because I messed with it for about 3 hours over a 5 day period and deformed it a little.
I tried hot water, boiling water, and a hair dryer. All of these failed. The boiling water distorted the plastic and I recommend you DO NOT use boiling water...
Then, I took out my dremel and undercut the boss that sticks out through the metal. That way the metal could slip under the boss and give me enough clearance to get it in. IT WAS NOT FUN...
I'm happy with the way it came out.
Advise: First see if it fits. If not, start with the dremel and you'll be done in no time.
Good Luck and I hope this is helpful.
Mark

[Cees Klumper]

I have a 280 (lighted) shift gate and got my replacement from Van Dijk in The Netherlands. It fit perfectly, no grinding required.

[egggplant]

Someone had suggested that the plastic shift gate insert had an MB part no. A 111 260 00 28 and sold for $84.00. The price quote, which I got from my local MB dealer, for A 111 260 00 28 is $3,120.  Something is very amiss here.

Yes, there is something very amiss here but not for the reasons you may think.  First of all according to my factory parts manuals, the proper number is A 113 260 00 28.  The second problem is that, as shown in the attached image, MBZ doesn't consider the insert to be a separate part so have to buy the chrome base to get the insert,  And yes, I was quoted around $3100 for the part.

Graham