DIY: E46 M3 Manual Transmission partial reassembly questions.

[M3Tracktool]

Hello everyone! Last weekend I did a track day & ended up getting stuck in second gear in the start of my second session, long story short I had to tow my car home. I decided I am going to pull the transmission & find the issue - Fast forward Trans is removed & a day later after pulling the bell housing & tail housing off I found that part number 23317501584 had the roller tip broken off & one of the ears that support the roller completely snapped off as well. I also figured that I would mention that the gears in the transmission all look fine and in good shape. Now let's move on to my questions..

• Questions Part 1 - On the right of the tail shaft housing there is a cap that covers over 5 holes where the detent springs, balls & sleeves are located. Now don't quote me on what I am about to say here because I am not certain but I believe that the balls sit in between the pin or pins down in the holes on this location? Correct me if I am wrong please. Also how many pins are there under the balls?
• Question part 2 - Where the roller head sits internally the bore is damaged I really can't explain the damage or don't know what to call it. The question is can I just file the damage down? I am going to attach some photos below.

I am trying to get this thing back together and back on track! Help would be really appreciated thank you!

[sapote]

• Questions Part 1 - On the right of the tail shaft housing there is a cap that covers over 5 holes where the detent springs, balls & sleeves are located. Now don't quote me on what I am about to say here because I am not certain but I believe that the balls sit in between the pin or pins down in the holes on this location? Correct me if I am wrong please. Also how many pins are there under the balls?
• Question part 2 - Where the roller head sits internally the bore is damaged I really can't explain the damage or don't know what to call it. The question is can I just file the damage down? I am going to attach some photos below.

You dove in head on too fast and remove the bell HS and tail cover. Yes the broken roller pin locked up the shift shaft in 2nd.

1. The early version used the balls and the new version used sleeves, and so you only have either balls or sleeves but not both, unless someone had partially changed them. The pins and the balls are not in the same hole. I think you are talking about the inter-lock pins (going 90* with the ball/spring) that prevent two gears engaged at the same time. You should not care for these pins unless they were removed to remove the tail cover.

2. The roller pin is long enough to slide in the hole with minor damages, so just smooth out the hole with a file until the roller pin can slide freely.

[M3Tracktool]

[QUOTE=sapote;n313581]

You dove in head on too fast and remove the bell HS and tail cover. Yes the broken roller pin locked up the shift shaft in 2nd.

1. The early version used the balls and the new version used sleeves, and so you only have either balls or sleeves but not both, unless someone had partially changed them. The pins and the balls are not in the same hole. I think you are talking about the inter-lock pins (going 90* with the ball/spring) that prevent two gears engaged at the same time. You should not care for these pins unless they were removed to remove the tail cover.

2. The roller pin is long enough to slide in the hole with minor damages, so just smooth out the hole with a file until the roller pin can slide freely.

So here is what I forgot to mention on Question 1. So my buddy was playing around with the Tail housing and when I got to it I noticed the balls were missing from the detent holes .. Found the balls on the table next to two inter-lock pins I also did have a pin in the hole that I noticed before & is now not in there assuming that one of the pins came out of the hole since the pin is missing. What really confused me is I seen two of the little interlock pins and only seen one pin in the detent hole. So I take it both of these interlock pins go in there? If so where and how do they sit?

So to remove the roller pin I had to remove the tail housing because I could not pull it with a magnet at all since it was pretty much jammed so I had to shove it out from the inside of the tail shaft

[sapote]

So here is what I forgot to mention on Question 1. So my buddy was playing around with the Tail housing and when I got to it I noticed the balls were missing from the detent holes .. Found the balls on the table next to two inter-lock pins I also did have a pin in the hole that I noticed before & is now not in there assuming that one of the pins came out of the hole since the pin is missing. What really confused me is I seen two of the little interlock pins and only seen one pin in the detent hole. So I take it both of these interlock pins go in there? If so where and how do they sit?

So to remove the roller pin I had to remove the tail housing because I could not pull it with a magnet at all since it was pretty much jammed so I had to shove it out from the inside of the tail shaft

Two cooks in the kitchen?
"I seen two of the little interlock pins and only seen one pin in the detent hole. So I take it both of these interlock pins go in there? If so where and how do they sit?"
These pins are only in the horizontal hole, not the vertical holes that house the balls and springs.
The two short pins 12mmx4mm going inside shift rod R and shift rod 1st/2nd; the long 65mm pin going into the left side of the cover between the 5/6 rod and R shift rod.

About the sleeves and balls: 3 sleeves and springs are in the odd number holes for 3 shift rods detent. Two 8mm pins and two 8mm balls are inside the even number holes of the total 5 holes.

[M3Tracktool]

Two cooks in the kitchen?
"I seen two of the little interlock pins and only seen one pin in the detent hole. So I take it both of these interlock pins go in there? If so where and how do they sit?"
These pins are only in the horizontal hole, not the vertical holes that house the balls and springs.
The two short pins 12mmx4mm going inside shift rod R and shift rod 1st/2nd; the long 65mm pin going into the left side of the cover between the 5/6 rod and R shift rod.

About the sleeves and balls: 3 sleeves and springs are in the odd number holes for 3 shift rods detent. Two 8mm pins and two 8mm balls are inside the even number holes of the total 5 holes.

Perfect, so the two 8mm pins is indeed correct. so the balls sit directly on top of these 8mm pins inside the even number holes?

[sapote]

8mm ball is under the pin.

[sapote]

How does the inter-lock with pins/balls work?
Ex: When ½ rod moved to engage the gears, its diameter pushes the balls next to its shaft outward. One ball gets into the ¾ rod groove and locks the rod, the other ball gets into the R rod and pushes the 12mm pin out which pushes the 65mm pin into the 5/6 rod groove. So with ½ rod moved to engage 1^st or 2^nd, the balls and pins moved to lock up 3/4, R, and 5/6 rods.

[sapote]

This hole is for the long main shift rod to slide fore/aft, so if you smooth the bore for the rod to slide freely then no negative effect. I think you guys damaged it while trying to remove the damaged roller pin.
Make sure the roller pin also can slide freely in its hole.

[M3Tracktool]

This hole is for the long main shift rod to slide fore/aft, so if you smooth the bore for the rod to slide freely then no negative effect. I think you guys damaged it while trying to remove the damaged roller pin.
Make sure the roller pin also can slide freely in its hole.

what do you think I should use to properly smooth it? Also yes I’ll make sure it moves in & out freely as well. Not to be a pain but I really want to make sure I get this right here as well .. the holes where the 8mm ball & pin go into the pin is visible in the hole placed in horizontally & the ball sits right on top of the pin correct? After that is all set up you install the flat top sleeve into the holes where the ball & pin rest?

[M3Tracktool]

This hole is for the long main shift rod to slide fore/aft, so if you smooth the bore for the rod to slide freely then no negative effect. I think you guys damaged it while trying to remove the damaged roller pin.
Make sure the roller pin also can slide freely in its hole.

[M3Tracktool]

I’m trying to get the hang of using this forum so I apologize for the mistakes in advance. The selector fork I put my finger on seems to be broken .. I’ve been wiggling it back & forth only to notice on the opposite side of the rod it has zero play … I’m assuming it’s snapped

[sapote]

The selector fork I put my finger on seems to be broken .. I’ve been wiggling it back & forth only to notice on the opposite side of the rod it has zero play … I’m assuming it’s snapped

Big headache.
No, nothing is snapped. it's the Reverse shift rod on the rear half, and the front half is the 5/6 shift rod. Actually to shift 5/6 gears, there are 2 rods needed: the left rear side rod going forward, then via the fulcrum, the motion transfered to the front right rod to finally move the fork. Why it was designed like this? It was designed so that the fork motion is reverse direction as compared to other forks, so that the 5th gear is in front of 6th (all other gear sets have odd gear in rear of even gear), but why? Because 5th is a 1:1 gear -- directly connecting input to output shaft, so 5th cannot be placed at rear of 6th.

[M3Tracktool]

Big headache.
No, nothing is snapped. it's the Reverse shift rod on the rear half, and the front half is the 5/6 shift rod. Actually to shift 5/6 gears, there are 2 rods needed: the left rear side rod going forward, then via the fulcrum, the motion transfered to the front right rod to finally move the fork. Why it was designed like this? It was designed so that the fork motion is reverse direction as compared to other forks, so that the 5th gear is in front of 6th (all other gear sets have odd gear in rear of even gear), but why? Because 5th is a 1:1 gear -- directly connecting input to output shaft, so 5th cannot be placed at rear of 6th.

alrighty …. So everything is back in place & accordingly as well too as it should be. Still can’t get it to shift ….. why? Everything internally looks absolutely fine. Is it because the shift shaft is still locked in second?

[M3Tracktool]

Big headache.
No, nothing is snapped. it's the Reverse shift rod on the rear half, and the front half is the 5/6 shift rod. Actually to shift 5/6 gears, there are 2 rods needed: the left rear side rod going forward, then via the fulcrum, the motion transfered to the front right rod to finally move the fork. Why it was designed like this? It was designed so that the fork motion is reverse direction as compared to other forks, so that the 5th gear is in front of 6th (all other gear sets have odd gear in rear of even gear), but why? Because 5th is a 1:1 gear -- directly connecting input to output shaft, so 5th cannot be placed at rear of 6th.

everything is back in place & the trans is shifting thank you so much for your help .. you saved the day.

[03_m3]

maybe too late but this video shows some good detail of all the compression springs and detents....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iW1ECcfcm4