Attention: TDR Forum Junkies While overfilling the Getrag in my still new-to-me W250 per common wisdom (thanks to all of those who have gone before me!), I popped out the snap ring in the shift tower and pulled the shifter. I have worked on a few similar trannies before, and remembered to keep my hand over the snapring to prevent it from going into orbit... . but man, was I stymied by my efforts to reinstall that thing! 
As a collector of tools, I have about five pairs of snap ring plyers, but none cooperated with this, not even the snazzy Craftsman screwdriver-handled twist-lock set that have worked so well on other trannies. The trick is to keep the shifter-spring compressed (quite a load!) with one hand while fishing the snap ring in place with the other... this is tough!
A few other folks have mentioned having problems with it:
https://www.turbodieselregister.com...p?s=&threadid=56150&highlight=shift+snap+ring
https://www.turbodieselregister.com...p?s=&threadid=46760&highlight=shift+snap+ring
... so I decided to post what worked for me. I had my wife climb up in the cab, and after i manhandled the shifter into the tower and pushed it down hard to compress the spring (rocking it a bit to allow the top-socket to settle down past the snap ring groove on the inside of the tower), I had her push down hard on the end of the shifter knob. This effectively levers and locks the shift-ball assembly against the pivot pins, and allowed me to relax my death-grip on the base of the shifter, actually pull my hands back, then drop the snap ring into the tower and slot it home with both hands.
You'll need a helper to pull this off, but it only takes a minute... . that is after you waste the first hour trying to do it by yourself.
And FWIW, don't even bother trying to attach the shifter mechanism when the handle extension is separated from the dogleg-and-ball assembly, unless you have the hand-strength of David Banner when he's feeling green. Oo.
Randii
As a collector of tools, I have about five pairs of snap ring plyers, but none cooperated with this, not even the snazzy Craftsman screwdriver-handled twist-lock set that have worked so well on other trannies. The trick is to keep the shifter-spring compressed (quite a load!) with one hand while fishing the snap ring in place with the other... this is tough!A few other folks have mentioned having problems with it:
https://www.turbodieselregister.com...p?s=&threadid=56150&highlight=shift+snap+ring
https://www.turbodieselregister.com...p?s=&threadid=46760&highlight=shift+snap+ring
... so I decided to post what worked for me. I had my wife climb up in the cab, and after i manhandled the shifter into the tower and pushed it down hard to compress the spring (rocking it a bit to allow the top-socket to settle down past the snap ring groove on the inside of the tower), I had her push down hard on the end of the shifter knob. This effectively levers and locks the shift-ball assembly against the pivot pins, and allowed me to relax my death-grip on the base of the shifter, actually pull my hands back, then drop the snap ring into the tower and slot it home with both hands.
You'll need a helper to pull this off, but it only takes a minute... . that is after you waste the first hour trying to do it by yourself.
And FWIW, don't even bother trying to attach the shifter mechanism when the handle extension is separated from the dogleg-and-ball assembly, unless you have the hand-strength of David Banner when he's feeling green. Oo.
Randii
