cotter pin stuck in trans shifter

[wolfwood469]

ive looked everywhere in fourms here and other sites no help on my 1999 eclipse spyde gst. what im having a issue with is that i changed my transmission and when putting the new trans in i decovered that i was putting my shifter cables on the trans shifter. the pin that is vertical has something blocking it up and wont let me get the cotter pin in it i have tried to use a 1/16 punch no luck i tried a nail with vic-grip no luck there. then i went to a drill i tried normal oxdied bits then titanium bits then even a cobolt bit but nothing is working it is holding my drill at a angle so i went to my dremal no luck there its at a point where i cant get it out or get and farther drilling. anyone have any tips or had this happen to them need help and bad. i still have my old trans that is bad im about to cut it off of both and weld my older one on the new trans picture is not from my transmission or same type but its the same part more or less

 

[bryanwheat]

I usually drill a new hole from a different angle instead of drilling the pin out. A boot titanium bit will do it. You can also just unbolt that arm from the other trans. There is a nut under that rubber cap.

 

[97_4g63t]

Can you see the old cotter pin inside it? Have you tried going the other way? Reason I say this is a lot of people just use little flimsy aluminum cotter pins, it shouldn't be that hard to drill. Maybe you are using too big of a bit, drilling at an angle or not drilling in the right spot?

 

[wolfwood469]

I took pictures of it last night yeah I can see something is inside of it but it won't move I could be drilling at a angle but it's the best I can get with the drill or the dermal I'm using the smallest bit a 1/16 bit Im about halfway through on one side I've made the hole bigger trying to get it out but yesterday I drilled for about 30 mins. But it's not the one that unbolt it's the one that hooked on and runs down into the trans as you can see in the pics the pics are of the trans I just placed in the car as u can see I have even removed the fan to make room but that weight is in the way for that one side so I can only drill from one direction unless I make a new hole

 

[97gsxIA]

As a very last resort, you can always cut off the shifter counterweight to get the drill in the proper angle.

People with certain 6 bolt longblock swaps have to cut them off because of radiator hose clearance.

Of course, since it's not causing you issues except for being in the way of your drill, you'd want to avoid this unless you absolutely can't drill the hole/pin out.

I would just invest in some stronger bits, and keep at it from the one way though.

 

[Viper588]

i had the exact same problem and spent alot of time trying to get at it while it was still in the car, i wasnt able to drill it out because of the angle of the hole. I didnt have enough room to get the drill ro anything at the correct angle and was just making things worse. In the end i snaded the end of the cotter pin almost smooth, hammered the new bushing over it and said i would deal with it when it got warmer out. Havenet had any issue thus far. Let me know how it finally works out!

 

[91-GS]

Could try pressing the pin out. You will need a large C clamp, a block of wood, and a hardened punch of correct size. Place the clamp around the shifter part, insert block of wood between one side of the shifter and the clamp, and place the punch in the hole on the other side. Tighten the clamp and if everything goes good the punch will push out what's left of the pin and block of wood will 'catch' it. That same block will also prevent metal clamp from damaging the shifter.

Don't use a center punch since it will try mushrooming out the pin instead of pushing it out. If you can not find a small enough punch, cut off a piece of small alien wrench. They are (usually) made of hardened steel.

 

[wolfwood469]

Update on this sorry for taking so long on reply but I have the car up and running with only one new issue on down shifting but what I finally did was keep using the dermal tool and went and bought 2 more cobalt drill bits they seemed to work I set the drill at a low speed and used alot of pb blaster. But I finally got throw it is at a angle but then I took and drilled it out just a little bigger. All in all I would say use cobalt bits and a low speed and low pressure on it kinda a like how a drill press is but once I got new bits it took about 5 mins to get through it. I also tried the c clamp trick but it just didn't work.