I'd be very surprised if this sort of thing were confined to Renault.Look. The way I see it you have three options.
You can load it with brass/bronze, whatever the material is.
You can have those stupid things made out of a more serious material.
You can have an entire fork made up that does not need those stupid things.
I am sure the first option is not a big deal, but you need to find someone who can do it without compromising the material. Brass/bronze have quirks about heat. That things is probably cast, which means double trouble.
Option 2. Not sure where you'd find someone who can make those out of some serious plastic, if we were closer, I could make them very easily right now.
Option 3. This is what I would do if it were my car and I cared about it. That fork is not that big a deal to machine, it's just going to be a bit wasteful of material because you have to start with a rather large blank and take out a lot of material. To do it for somebody else, they would have to be my mother and even then I would bitch about it. A lot. Maybe you can find a place closer to home, friendly to odd jobs? I see a lot of ads on gumtree for lathe/mill/mechanical work by people who probably are in dire need of a job.
Renault is just taking the piss. This is a classic example of planned obsolescence by designed failure point like Apple and the rest of them. It is clear they don't want these cars on the road forever. I mean, yeah, sure, if you pay us to take the 'box apart for some other job, we'll throw in a couple of plastic bits worth two bob, but to go though the entire nightmare to just replace these things is beyond taking the piss, actually. It makes you want to throw away the whole bloody car and never buy a Renault again.
Agree re the probable point of the plastic.Hmm
If it was mine I might silver solder it, as all you need is a good 'blob' around the end and file it to size for clearance in the groove. Silver solder wets brass easily.
But here is another easy idea, cast a 'blob' of quality epoxy filled with graphite powder. That is used for rubbing wear parts. Both commonly available at marine or industrial suppliers. Then just hand finish as before.
Possibly the plastic reduces the rattle of the selector in the groove under some adverse conditions. Or reduces metal wear particles in the oil when people leave their hand on the gear lever.
Jaahn
Thanks for the Loctite product name!Yeah, I'm sure others are doing it too but this is beyond ridiculous. I mean what? throw away an entire car because of a 2 dollar part placed strategically so it will cost beyond reason to replace? Or hopefully take the box out if nobody catches on? Maybe I'm getting old, but all the stuff around us seems to have failure/obsolescence designed in. Uncle Tony (Uncle Tony's Garage, see Utube) speculates prices for old skool cars will go up because they are repairable hence solid assets.
Back to our fork, I don't think you need to pin the caps if you made them out of Vesconite. Loctite 480 Black Max is strong enough to bond metals I put in my lathe and machine them. As long as you keep heat down they will not come apart and I am talking heat you would never see in a gearbox.