Gearbox rear extension - PITA

[stuartmac]

Dear all - help please

 

My gear box leaks a bit

 

The nuts between the gear box / overdrive / extension accessible from underneath the car definitely needed tightening (easy fix!), so I guessed they all did.

 

I removed the tunnel cover, to gain access and "nip" up the rest of them, if only it was so simple.

 

I've found it just about impossible to get either a socket or a spanner on the ring of nuts that secure the rear extension to the overdrive, the casing prevents either a spanner or socket going on.

 

I've tried grinding down a spanner, and ruined a couple in the process, - it seems to me that the studs should be fitted the other way round, with the nuts to the rear of the car not the front, am I making any sense - is this a common frustration??

 

Thanks

 

Stuart

Edited July 27, 2013 by stuartmac

[AlanT]

They are a design error. This job is not much easier with the unit removed from the car.

 

The only tool I have found to do, it is an ordinary open-ended spanner and I hate these things because they slip off the nuts.

 

The only help I can give is that when I ran my unit up I used a "test-bed" so I could get it right before I fitted it in the car.

Every day or so I checked these nuts and then ran to operating temperature. About a hour in top-gear at 30 MPH equivalent.

 

After each run the sealant and gasket bedded down a bit and the nut-torque dropped back a bit. Maybe I had used a bit too much sealant. After a while the torque settled down to the desired value.

 

So adjust the nuts a litle at a time. My unit is virtually dry after 3 years.