Where to start ? : Faulty gear box and repair

Harry Bloomfield said:
They used to be, but the modern manuals tend not to cover much, because cars have become so very much more complex. Don't expect a modern Haynes manual to even cover gearbox removal, never mind how to strip and repair the box. The manufacturer's workshop manual is needed for that depth of explanation.
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So much so that Haynes manuals are no longer being printed for modern cars. I've got a pile of them covering just about every car I've owned & sadly will probably never own again.
They diversified into other interesting (for some such as myself) subjects like the Routemaster bus & Tiger 131.
 
There is SO much involved with even getting a gearbox out of a car - even before you open the gearbox itself on the bench.............if you have never worked on a car, this is absolutely NOT the place to start to learn.

A very long, involved and difficult job, especially without a proper vehicle lift, transmission jacks etc. There are so many peripherals such as exhaust, wheel hubs and drive shafts to remove, and some of those will be seized or rusted, so bolts might shear or round off etc, and will need torque wrenches to rebuild .........really, don't go there.

Honestly, DO NOT even start this project. Without any experience, or knowledge, it will not be successful and you will end up with a car on the driveway for ages. Even if you decide halfway to put it all back together to sell it, I doubt that will be successful either. To do a job like this, you need years of experience behind you.

I taught myself from around 10 years of age, starting with fixing my pushbike and then taking lawnmowers apart to see how they worked. That gave me a grounding in nuts and bolts - literally - and I built on my knowledge from there. I have removed and replaced clutches and gearboxes and rebuilt engines, but even with all my experience, I would not attempt anything like this unless I had a garage and a proper vehicle lift. Trying to do this outside, or even inside on a garage floor - lying under a car on axle stands or wooden blocks and with no experience, it's honestly not sensibly achievable.

Instead, make a cup of tea and watch someone else: Have a look online for 'South Main Auto Repair LLC'. Eric Obrochta is a guy with an auto repair business in the USA. He makes really superb videos, and is very good at explaining his thought processes and demonstrating his skills and years and years of experience. Click on 'Videos' and choose a gearbox removal video to see what is involved and what tools are required even for a very experienced professional. He tackles everything from simple brake pad replacement to complex computer and wiring issues.
Eric has recently had dental treatment, so in his most recent videos, he is having difficulty speaking (!), but chose a video from last year or before and enjoy !

PS, at the end when Eric says "If I can do it, you can do it", he doesn't really mean that, he is just being polite.
 
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Not sure I can agree with the above, I've spent 20 years working on motors and have fitted and removed I don't know how many engines and gearboxes, nearly all of them have been done on a driveway, it's only recently I've got a double garage.

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That's my x5 that I took the v8 out of as you can see it was all done on the drive.

If your willing to have a go then do so, the willingness to do mechanical tasks in this country is dying rapidly, just go into it accepting that you may not be able to complete it and scrapping it may be the outcome if so.

Taking it apart can be done but is more complex, sourcing a working replacement gearbox is probably easier.
 
thomp1983 said:
Not sure I can agree with the above, I've spent 20 years working on motors and have fitted and removed I don't know how many engines and gearboxes,
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Exactly! That is called experience and no doubt you have built up a decent toolkit and developed techniques along the way. Removing and repairing a gearbox is jumping in the deep in, when you haven't yet learned to swim.
 
First ever job I did on a car was valve stem seals on a nova at 17 as I couldn't afford anyone to fix it, so yes it's possible to start at the deep end but as I said you just need to be comfortable going into the job that the end result may be a total loss.

There's way more info available now on YouTube and forums to give you an idea of what the job entails, only the op can decide if they feel capable of giving it a go.
 
I did my first job on an E93A in 1956, thrust washer had broken behind second gear and the gear had slid down the shaft and jammed it in reverse. I was on a steep learning curve had only been driving about 6 months. Cars were a lot easier to work on in those days being RWD but the Ford didn't help by having the prop shaft in a torque tube, so you had to take the axle out. Couldn't afford to pay to have it repaired so had to do it myself.

I still repair my own cars but it takes me about 10 times as long.

Peter
 
thomp1983 said:
There's way more info available now on YouTube and forums to give you an idea of what the job entails, only the op can decide if they feel capable of giving it a go.
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Whilst true, but at the same time - cars have become much more complex, more difficult to work on due to compact designs, needing much more specialised tools, and knowledge.
 
feynman said:
I have removed and replaced clutches and gearboxes and rebuilt engines, but even with all my experience, I would not attempt anything like this unless I had a garage and a proper vehicle lift. Trying to do this outside, or even inside on a garage floor - lying under a car on axle stands or wooden blocks and with no experience, it's honestly not sensibly achievable.
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Take my hat off to this bloke. He runs a mobile clutch replacement service. Turns up at your home/work place, jacks the vehicle up and sits it on axle stands. Then get under and changes the clutch - much of it while lying on his back. Not sure I would like to be lying under a Transit van supported on axle stands grappling with a heavy gearbox, but he's a real pro and makes it look easy. Very quick too. Rather him than me.


 
I did a clutch on an Avenger once using axle stands. Cup final day so told the kids to run round and let me know 10 minutes before kick off. Had the box back in and held on with one bolt before kick off, finished it off, delivered and back home by 6.30 pm.
 
Old Salt said:
I did a clutch on an Avenger once using axle stands. Cup final day so told the kids to run round and let me know 10 minutes before kick off. Had the box back in and held on with one bolt before kick off, finished it off, delivered and back home by 6.30 pm.
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RWD, so much more straight-forward.. On axle stands, you could drop the box and support it on your chest.
 
Mk2 Cavaliers were a piece of pîss - didn’t even have to take the ‘box out. Removed lower bellhousing pan, removed gearbox rear cover, removed circlip and splined bolt from first motion shaft, screwed a slide hammer in and pulled the shaft back. Enough to just remove clutch cover bolts and drop the clutch out of the bell housing. Refit was a reversal of the above.
 
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freddiemercurystwin said:
Are you insane? You're saying somone who knows nothing about cars should, as a first job ever on a car, fix the gear box?
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Depends on the context. If the OP was an ex-engineer for the concord engines, with some guidance, he could do it even if he knows nothing about it. The main problem I see would be the access. I read while laying down, you can't do very much. I had trouble holding up a large breaker bar while laying down. Short of being a beef cake, this will be a problem for most home mechanics.
 
Old Salt said:
I did a clutch on an Avenger once using axle stands. Cup final day so told the kids to run round and let me know 10 minutes before kick off. Had the box back in and held on with one bolt before kick off, finished it off, delivered and back home by 6.30 pm.
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I did a clutch on a CF van in a guy’s driveway in the 70’s. I didn’t have a jack or stands but I seem to remember he had two ramps. He was a friend of the family who had been an electronics engineer during the war but he was teaching maths in civvy life. I remember him telling me that he had used maths to design his driveway so that it was possible to drive the van up to the house.
 
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