Series 3 Gearbox oil change top cover?

Neil ... the back wheels mate .. so the prop shaft to the rear diff turns.... in neutral so you can see (hear) if there is anything catching or out of line with the rear drive

Ok , I've lifted one of the back wheels and when turned the diff makes a bit of a scraping noise but nothing like when I drive , I might try and remove propshaft tomorrow just to check , betting bolts are seized but heres hoping

Ok , I've just noticed something underneath , the red gear shift is really loose and is just clearing the prop so I'll investigate further , I assuming it's not meant to be loose , it's still attached by a bolt but it wobbles all over the place, and I mean all over the place , I'll attach a video when Ava , thanks although it doesn't seem to be catching I wondered if this gave any clues ? I'm not ignoring your suggestions but daylight hours and work are restricting me at moment , thanks

it is quite close , was changing the mud cover a few weeks back , its slack in the round hole and on mine the bottom bolt through the clevis bracket thing was well worn still need to order a new one, the nut on the shaft end could be loose, or worn ring/shaft or bottom fixing like mine, shouldnt hit prop though

Thanks for that , mine is totally different and really loose at the bottom , the same as the one on the right hand side of the diagram I

Yup that’s the same as mine too , just doesn’t show the forked Clevis thing at the bottom which on mine is very loose , at least the mud won’t jam it

Just a final question before I start investigating further , doesn't the fact that the noise is obvious in 1st , 2nd and 3rd and disappears in 4th rule out that it is something hitting the propshaft , I would love to think that it is just something hitting underneath , however due to this fact it sounds unlikely.

Any thoughts?

That does sound more like a layshaft fault, its under load in 1, 2 ,3 and not in 4th. As the gears are helical it means that under load = end thrust so load equates to axial force on the shaft bearings.

Ok , took out sump plug , a few fine bits of metal and this strange clip. Can anyone identify it please ? , I've put it back together in the second picture it's about 1.5 inch long , and the two ends are bent to a right angle

Ok , done a bit of research , appears to be a synchro clip , there's a rumour this can be replaced without removing the gearbox , does anyone have any knowledge of this ?

That’s a 3rd and 4th gear synchromesh clip there’s 3 of them , some say you can replace from the top cover

RTC 1956 if gone can crunch a bit from 4th to 3rd

https://www.stumpie.com/tech/gearbox/

Have a look here might be worth a try before taking box out

Would that have created the noise ? Doesn't sound likely but I'm assuming if it got caught somewhere then it could of ?

Weirdly I've never had trouble changing gears

I can’t recall specific noises on mine when a spring was missing just the crunch if changing too quick,
Is gearbox removal and strip down an option for you, if the other two are still in place I guess it could go for. Along time as normal

I'm thinking of refilling oil to be honest and initially seeing if the noise has gone , if it has , I might be able to cope for a while , there was very little oil in gearbox so a full box might help also , I'll give it a go and see , thanks

What was the level in transfer box like , in mine the oil moves between gearbox’s and overdrive with the main box having least

My syncro springs flaied like that but I didn't realise, grears got crunchy but it was overloading the gear teeth, a couple came off and went into the first motion mesh. Had to be recovered 110 miles and then had to replace 3/4 syncho plus 3rd plus the first motion gears that got mangled. I would strongly suggest fixing the springs!