A gear lever structure.

摘要

A gear lever structure for manual shift gears has a gear rod 1 which carries part way along its length a plastics ball 4 mounted in a housing 7 to provide a universal ball joint for pivotal displacement of the gear rod. The ball 4 consists of two identical moulded bearing members 14 and 14A which are assembled on the rod 1 to present a part spherical bearing surface 5. The bearing members 14 and 14A engage with each other by co-operating plugs and sockets and each bearing member independently engages with the rod 1 by snap engaging clips. The ball 4 is restrained from rotating axially on the rod 4 by co-operating flats and recesses which engage between the bearing members and the rod and this engagement also restrains the ball 4 from displacement axially relative to the rod 1. The bearing members may be bonded together and/or retained on the rod 1 by their seating in the housing 7.