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Gearbox removal - tips please


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I did as Rob did, but I made them all slightly different lengths (top one longest), so I didn’t have to get them all lined up at once.

Get the top one in, then swing the box a bit to get the next and then the next.

 

Charlie.

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Make sure that the small shelf in front of the battery box is well protected and that the gearbox when tilted does not damage it. Mine is bent and cracked and spoils the engine bay. Take care. Richard & B

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5 hours ago, RogerH said:

Hi Marco,

that simplification is neat. Cheap components.

Coupled with the long pins that RobH shows should make fitting the GB a pleasure

Roger

Hi Roger,

sorry, not a pleasure but indeed much faster and better for the car and my back.

I also used 2 of Rob's pins but made them shorter, only 70 mm long.

In a first attempt I did not get this 5/16 bolts (8 mm) through the 8.5 mm drills of the gearbox flange with the gb not 100% in line (rear end touching the prop shaft tunnel)

But - for different reasons, sadly,  my gearbox is still not in the car, I report in a different thread....

Marco

Edited by Z320
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Hi Guys,

Some really creative and great ideas in your posts.

My experience of removing the gearbox, which I've done on multiple occasions over vthe past 40 years, has always been singlehandedly  primarily due to lack of available helpers at the time. I don't use a crane or similar lifting device but instead use a trolley jack under the gearbox aligned longitudinally with the axis of the car. I mention this because this method hasn't been mentioned in earlier posts. (possibly because better methods have been devised!)

In order to slide the gearbox out from the back of the engine I place  a block of wood approx 3" square by 1" thick on the head of the trolley jack for the gearbox to ride on. A bottle jack and a block of wood are used under the sump to support the rear of the engine and slightly raise it while at the same time the wieght of the gearbox is relieved by the trolley jack from underneath. The bellhousing bolts are then removed  and the gearbox rolled back on the trolley jack enabling the 'box to be disengaged from the engine. The tail of the gearbox is then slightly raised manually from inside the car using the square block of wood on the trolley jack as a pivot. The gearbox is rolled slightly anticlockwise and to the right to clear the clutch operating arm. The arm of the trolley jack is then raised a little to enable the gearbox to be rolled backwards and lifted clear onto the passenger floor.

During this operation I use a piece of carpet offcut (best grade Axminster is recommended)  to protect the edge of the gearbox tunnel and the passeneger floor.

Reinstallation  is, as they say in the manual, the reverse process.

Cheers,

JEFFR

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2 hours ago, JeffR said:

 

In order to slide the gearbox out from the back of the engine I place  a block of wood approx 3" square by 1" thick on the head of the trolley jack for the gearbox to ride on. A bottle jack and a block of wood are used under the sump to support the rear of the engine and slightly raise it while at the

Cheers,

JEFFR

Oh yes he does......

:ph34r:

 

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I have found that using the line pins (as shown in a previous post) and making sure that the gap between the bellhousing&engine plate is equal all around, is the secret to painless mating of the 2 components. Needless to say, the clutch plate much be accurately centered on the  flywheel.

My first attempt at replacing the transmission (many years ago) took several hours and much frustration.

Berry

 

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I spent 1/2 a day outside the lock up in Putney and could not get it to line up. Finally I called Enginuity who sent a recovery truck and fitted it next day. Outside a garage in a communal block is not a good place to try a gearbox refit. At least it was not raining.

You need some help from someone in your local group who is not self isolating, and has done it before.

Good luck Richard & B.

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Back in the 70's (here we go) I would change a gearbox on my '3 in an evening after work, in the road outside my house.

I would put the front up on ramps, undo everything, (supporting engine on a pile of bricks or similar) from underneath push the box backwards, & then sideways to rest on the floor. Then pull it out from the top. One evening I remember pulling the box out of my '3, & swapping it with a 4 synchro box out of the Dove I had at the time.

Couldn't do it now !!   The most recent gearbox I have had to remove & replace was a Stag one, at least that could be dropped down to remove it.

Bob.

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Those were the days Bob.

I'm a little younger than you (sorry) but I recall similar activities in the late 70's and in the 80's - lifting Escort engines out by hand with a couple of mates, lying under my Marina 1.8 with gearbox on my chest to line up and push home etc etc!

I could possibly handle locating a non overdrive TR box on my own, but not one with overdrive - probably I can only just about lift one now.

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Probably mentioned above, but just in case I missed it …..

For re-installation, select top gear so that, by gently twisting the gearbox/overdrive output shaft, the splines between clutch and gearbox input shaft can be aligned and the gearbox will slide home.

Ian Cornish

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Hi All,

I very much relate to the comments made about the difficulty of getting the input shaft of the gearbox to line up with and mate with the splines in the clutch plate, especially given the amount of push required to move the deadweight of the gearbox.

What I've found that's worked best for me on the past few occasions is first, as has already been suggested, to put the box in top gear, line up the gearbox and engine flanges so they're parallel to each other and - this is the important bit, gently nudge the gearbox into the engine by using a length of 2"x1" batten as a lever between the open end of the propshaft tunnel (suitably blanked off with a piece of wood over its end to avoid damage) and the output flange of the gearbox. A few pushes on the lever enables the splines to adjust themsleves and mate. Bingo - you're in!

Cheers,

JeffR

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi,

I've been ask to post the dimensions of my crane and show some more details,

the upper arm 1,000 mm is long enough, the column 500 mm too, the lower arm must be longer than the upper.

P1160426-b.JPG.7c5c3347189114984be93520775d7ab0.JPG

sorry, 4 photos deleted

 

I opened this construction so you can look inside.

sorry, one photo deleted 

 

With this instead a car jack it is possible to lift up and down millimemter by millimeter, weight is not the problem.

Today I realised I could have been making this very easy with the steel plate of my Churchill tool for front coil springs with one more drill 10 mm

sorry, one photo deleted

 

Because of limited memory I sadly have to delete this photos in about 1 week.

Ciao, Marco

Edited by Z320
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Hi Marko,

back in the day before i had any real tools, or common sense, other than a set of ramps I did the following outside, and on my own.

Fitted new piston rings.

New shell bearings.

Rear crankshaft oil seal all on a 64 TR4. without removing the engine. No crane lifts for the DIY back then

And to top that on the way to a job interview I blew a cylinder head gasket on a quick Mini Cooper S  on the  A708 from Moffat to Peebles in the Highlands.

I stripped the head after using the starter to move the car over a ditch to remove the exhaust. I then walked/hitched 20 miles and picked up a head set in Innerleithan and walked and Hitch hiked back. Fitted the gasket, changed the oil and filled cooling water from a nearby stream.

I had no money and quite obviously on the bleakest road around little chance to get a tow to a garage even if I could have paid for the repairs.

This was the aprenticeship we did back then, we learned by hard lessons.

I can not imagine anyone doing that these days. We mostly lift the bonnet shake our heads, check oil and screen wash and close it again and have little knowledge of what the little black boxes do under there.

Nice job by the way.

Rod

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  • 5 months later...

Excuse me for resurrecting this post, but I'm in the process of removing my box and scratching my head somewhat. Lots of great tips here, but I have a further question: how do you get enough clearance to move the box back from the engine without removing the prop shaft?

I've got everything undone, a jack under the sump and another under the gearbox, and there's about 1/2" gap between the output flange and the front of the prop. if I lift the engine/box at all, the bellhousing wont clear the bulkhead. There's zero clearance on the drivers side anyway. Also, I'm unclear why you need to remove the rear gearbox mount. Am I missing something?

Thanks, Brian

Propshaft.jpg

Bell housing.jpg

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..

Edited by Motorsport Mickey
Decided it was unkind and likely to upset.
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Personally, I'd leave the prop shaft in place- you'll need it to lever off the push the whole thing "home" when you get near the end. Wooden levers are invaluable for this along with gentle rotation of the output shaft, proviced you put it in top gear before you try to turn it to mesh the clutch plate with the G'box input shaft. Try 3"x1" (in old money) for a start. By the time you've rotated the gearbox and dropped the G'box on your jack there will be enough room to get the 'box out without removing the propshaft- always assuming you remove the gearbox rear mounting and drop that onto your garage floor. Keep it, you'll need it!

James

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