series gearbox overhaul ---there may be trouble ahead

but whilst theres daylight and spanners.............

anyway......

i was after a recon gearbox, but i was a bit uneasy spending 300
pounds on a box which i have no idea as to how "reconditioned" it
actualy is.

then i thought of getting one second hand, but then again how long
will it last, and how worn will it be, as most box`s ive done oil
changes on, the oil comes out resembling copper hammerite, and strange
things usualy come from the drain hole.

so,,, to be sure of what im getting, i thought the only way is to
build one myself, ive got one in bits and one together, the one thats
together has the 1st and second syncro busted and 1 tooth missing from
somewhere.

how difficult will it be for me to strip the box down and renew worn
bits and renew all the bearings, and as a ball park figure how
expensive is doing this, i thought if i spent 150 pounds to get a good
box then ive saved on a recon.

another problem is, ive no idea how gears should look so how do i know
if their worn, i take it no gear in the series box has pointed
ends(top of the tooth goes to a point) i take it this is excessive
wear and has to be renewed.

should i renew anything else as a matter of course, and are there any
pitfalls i should look out for.

thanks in advance

andy

I spent about ZAR3500 on redoing my Santana box in SerIII R6. That is
probably not far shy of your UKP300. This only involved new bearing and
seals as the Sanata Gears are well neigh indestructable. It is quite a
fiddly business and you will need a good workshop mannual, certainly better
than a Haynes. You will also need to be familiar with terms like end float
and such, as well as having the tools to measure same.

Otherwise not too difficult.

REgards
Stephen

>
>i was after a recon gearbox, but i was a bit uneasy spending 300
>
>so,,, to be sure of what im getting, i thought the only way is to
>build one myself, ive got one in bits and one together, the one thats
>together has the 1st and second syncro busted and 1 tooth missing from
>somewhere.
>
>how difficult will it be for me to strip the box down and renew worn
>bits and renew all the bearings, and as a ball park figure how
>expensive is doing this, i thought if i spent 150 pounds to get a good
>box then ive saved on a recon.
>
>another problem is, ive no idea how gears should look so how do i know
>if their worn, i take it no gear in the series box has pointed
>ends(top of the tooth goes to a point) i take it this is excessive
>wear and has to be renewed.
>
>should i renew anything else as a matter of course, and are there any
>pitfalls i should look out for.
>

If your renewing the 1st/2nd cluster, you might as well renew the
3rd/4th cluster at the same time. Ideally you should be changing the
bearings in it at the same time. It's quite a complex job to do an
overhaul of a gearbox, and may well require the use of a press to get
bearings in/out, which is not something you will be able to do at
home, or at least without difficulty. You will also need to set the
endfloats etc on the box, which will require shims etc, buying all the
available sizes of which will rack the cost up - a gearbox
reconditioner will have all the sizes to hand off the shelf, you'll
have to buy em.

There are very few jobs I can't do on a Landrover, jobs requiring
heavy machinery, like reboring, but even I havn't attempted to do a
main gearbox before, it seems easier and a lot quicker to buy a recon
from a reputable company.

Alex

On Mon, 27 Sep 2004 18:01:06 GMT, Alex <[email protected]>
wrote:

>>
>>i was after a recon gearbox, but i was a bit uneasy spending 300
>>
>>so,,, to be sure of what im getting, i thought the only way is to
>>build one myself, ive got one in bits and one together, the one thats
>>together has the 1st and second syncro busted and 1 tooth missing from
>>somewhere.
>>
>>how difficult will it be for me to strip the box down and renew worn
>>bits and renew all the bearings, and as a ball park figure how
>>expensive is doing this, i thought if i spent 150 pounds to get a good
>>box then ive saved on a recon.
>>
>>another problem is, ive no idea how gears should look so how do i know
>>if their worn, i take it no gear in the series box has pointed
>>ends(top of the tooth goes to a point) i take it this is excessive
>>wear and has to be renewed.
>>
>>should i renew anything else as a matter of course, and are there any
>>pitfalls i should look out for.
>>
>
>If your renewing the 1st/2nd cluster, you might as well renew the
>3rd/4th cluster at the same time. Ideally you should be changing the
>bearings in it at the same time. It's quite a complex job to do an
>overhaul of a gearbox, and may well require the use of a press to get
>bearings in/out, which is not something you will be able to do at
>home, or at least without difficulty. You will also need to set the
>endfloats etc on the box, which will require shims etc, buying all the
>available sizes of which will rack the cost up - a gearbox
>reconditioner will have all the sizes to hand off the shelf, you'll
>have to buy em.
>
>There are very few jobs I can't do on a Landrover, jobs requiring
>heavy machinery, like reboring, but even I havn't attempted to do a
>main gearbox before, it seems easier and a lot quicker to buy a recon
>from a reputable company.
>
>Alex


so whos reputable,?

does anyone know what paddocks recon box`s are like.?

and will recon box`s have new bearings installed?

thanks for replies

andy

"Andy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

>
> so whos reputable,?
>
> does anyone know what paddocks recon box`s are like.?
>
> and will recon box`s have new bearings installed?
>
> thanks for replies
>
> andy

I would recommend Mastora (Tel: 01665 606745) www.mastora.com Got mine from
them no problems and no leaks after a year. I think they are the people who
are supplying recon boxes for the series 3 owners club.

Regards

Liam

www.sumpoil.freeserve.co.uk

Andy wrote:

>so whos reputable,?
>
>does anyone know what paddocks recon box`s are like.?
>
>and will recon box`s have new bearings installed?
>
>thanks for replies
>
>andy
>
>
I have no idea if Cambs Transmissions (*) still advertise in the small
ads of LRO but . . . . . they 'overhauled' the main and transfer
gearboxes in my 83 RRC when it started jumping out of reverse in low
ratio. They also supplied a heavy duty clutch. Sounded like a good
deal for around £600. Result: Transfer box OK as far I could tell but
the main box had been assembled without the detent balls and springs on
the selector mechanism so that it would come out of gear as I moved from
drive to overrun. I say without as I never found the springs and balls
despite draining the oil and a great deal of probing with a magnet.
When I rang them up they denied omitting them from the rebuild - how
could I prove otherwise? I say that the Transfer box was OK, well it
was certainly never short of clean oil as I had to top it up every five
hundred miles owing to the oil being pumped from transfer box into main
box. Oh and about a year after I got it back the clutch pinion pushed
through the clutch operating arm. That cost £400 to fix including a
genuine HD clutch to replace the Renault one that had been fitted
because 'it's a Peugeot engine and the Rover clutch won't fit''
B*******s as the original RR flywheel had been fitted to the Peugeot
engine. Other than that it was money well spent.

Warwick 4x4 (I think it was them anyway) fitted an overdrive unit and
new gearbox to a friend 110 station wagon (is that the thing with 16
seats) that vibrated like a very vibrating thing and leaked oil like a
sieve. Took ages and a lot of money to resolve. He reckoned he would
have been better off having his box overhauled (and the OD fitted)

* I think that was their name

Richard