demuire Posted May 30, 2004 Report Share Posted May 30, 2004 Okay. People keep telling me they can swap gearboxes in like... an hour. Or less. Or thereabouts. I've done this 3 times now in the past 2 months, the best I've done is about 4.5 hours. Today has been particularly shit. I've been at it non stop for the past 5 hours. The box isn't even in the car yet. Plus this time the box was actually ready to bolt back in where's the last 3 I've actually had to swap bellhousing etc. I've spent the past hour alone trying to bolt the box to the engine, and then in my frustration and ranting I managed to tip the jack over and drop the box on top of me, that hurt. I give up for tonight... Am I missing something HUGE here? It should be simple, take off bolts, take box out, take new box, put on bolts, finish. Is there a trick to aligning the box to the engine so that it slides in? Every single time I've swapped boxes apart from the top two bolts on the bellhousing (that I can't reach) this has taken the longest. The quickest I've been able to line up the box and the engine has been a good half hour. What am I doing wrong? This box had better be alright, and it had better not break. I REALLY hate changing gearboxes, it has to be by far the hardest thing in the entire car to replace... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escorpse Posted May 30, 2004 Report Share Posted May 30, 2004 another thing that can help is to losen your crossmember bolts, this in turns lowers the engine down which makes it easier to slide the box on. another thing to is u got to make sure that the box is going on the same angle the engine is at. it should slide straight on with no probs if this is so (maybe witha little bit of wiggling). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demuire Posted May 30, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2004 Grimwolge: I'm not even doing the clutch, just the gearbox! So a clutch aligning tool isn't really going to help... Escorpse: As in engine crossmember bolts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcD Posted May 30, 2004 Report Share Posted May 30, 2004 can't offer that much advice. Changed the box in my wagon several times and each time took about as long as your transplant did. I guess being strong enough i was able to simply hold the box up with my arms and twist and push the box onto the engine. Then once I got it fitted in, bolt on the rear crossmember, slide out from under the car, grab a beer and a rest for about 30mins (thats where most of the time went). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demuire Posted May 30, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2004 Hmm, I guess not being strong enough to even lift one end of the box up (I have to use 2 jacks) doesn't help :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felix Posted May 31, 2004 Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 get someone else to help lift the box from under other side of the car. makes it a hell of a lot easier than trying to balance it on a jack, or resting it on your chest. i hope it is a known good box you are putting in this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demuire Posted May 31, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 Hmm, okay need to find another friend who's willing to get dirty today... I might lower the car a little (it's up really high on the jackstands at the moment) so that I don't need to use blocks on the jack to get it up high enough... Tipping the jack over last night that wasn't fun at all... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Jamie Posted May 31, 2004 Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 i wouldn't recommend undoing the engine crossmember bolts, they're tensioned to the castor rod plates and suck to get back in, you might end up making alot more work for yourself, and need another wheel alignment i think your problem is input shaft alignment. you're either not getting the angle of the box right as you slide it on and the input shaft is hitting the spigot bearing, or the input spline teeth are clashing, just rotate the spline a little and try again i personally find it easier to put the back of the gearbox on the gearbox crossmember, just past the mount, jack up the front of the gearbox, then get under it, sliding the box forward with my arms, and kicking the gearbox mount up onto the crossmember to tell the truth, i find it even easier to just take the whole engine out when i have to do anything to a gearbox or clutch. it's actually more of a hassle getting the bonnet on and off and getting the radiator mounted, than manouvering the engine and box assy in and out of the car (don't forget to block off the end of the gearbox, 2 litres of oil covers a surprisingly large space when it's 1mm thick on your garage floor, trust me) this may or may not be an option for you. this is also dealing with little light K motor stuff, i can lift a gearbox over my head easily, and there's relatively plenty of room, and no hydro clutch or high pressure fuel lines. T50s are heavy and awkward to work with, especially when you have so little leverage underneath a car "yes haikal, the navigator ALWAYS helps change the gearbox, i'll show you where it is in the cams manual, um, a bit later" :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demuire Posted May 31, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 Yes I have thought about ripping the whole engine out again but in my case that would require me taking the bonnet, grille, bumper, radiator, front stone guard, front splitter and oil cooler out, not to mention having to drain the engine of water and oil and I've got not only high pressure fuel lines (with pressurised fuel) but also about a billion wires to deal with... Plus I don't have my engine hoist anymore (someone's borrowed it) And yes I know how far gearbox oil goes, I have had it all up my driveway for the past few weeks (making for some interesting driving up the driveway) and I now also have it all through the garage when I dropped the gearbox on me yesterday and smashed the plastic container I had holding all my gearbox oil, which is why I also had gearbox oil all over me too. Not happy Jan. Do you mean that you bolt up the gearbox crossmember to the car first and then lift the rear of the gearbox up onto the crossmember? And then lift the front of the gearbox up and slide it forward? Interesting... Except I don't think my geabox would be quite at the right angle then as the engine is already leaning over backwards (resting on my clutch master cylinder reservoir, hmm, maybe that's why it's oval and not round...) I'll give it a go again this afternoon. My attempts to leave work early have not worked, guess I'll just have to work past midnight again tonight. Rear brakes still do bugger all. I couldn't even lock up the rear wheels on the skidpan. Now, THAT's sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew Posted May 31, 2004 Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 goodluck with the gear box like most of the fellas have said it will be alignment. i have never had that much trouble doing it. and if you ever do need a clutch alignment tool, just cut a input shaft of one of the f@$ked boxes :) maybe the brake drums do need machining. or yet more adjustment?!? :) it has to be something simple Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumblezzz Posted May 31, 2004 Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 When I did the clutch in the sprinter i put some rope around the back of the box and passed it up through the shifter hole and had my sister of all people lift the rear while i was lifting the front up under the car. This allows a bit of movement as well when trying to get the right angle to slot it in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demuire Posted May 31, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 Well, I think I've done it, I've set a new record. 10 hours in total to replace the f**king gearbox. I've now got all 5 gears (yay), but I've also got about 1 litre of gearbox oil on my garage floor, this one - like all the others - is leaking like a sieve. In fact, it's leaking the worst of the lot :) Maybe I'll just leave my shifter boot off so that I can top up the gearbox oil everytime I take it down the road... And there I was, I thought we found the solution to the leaks, oh well, guess not :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irokin Posted May 31, 2004 Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 "rear seal? what do we need that for" *throws over shoulder* "weight reduction" *nod* :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demuire Posted May 31, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 No, it leaks all the gearbox oil out from the bottom, sort of where the bellhousing meets the box. Even with big thick gasket paper and a shiteload of blue goo it still leaks anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demuire Posted May 31, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 Grimwolge: Yes, all TA22 T50 hybrids. I only know of one other person running this combo, and both of his have leaked too. It seems that although lots of people say that it bolts on and that all T50 boxes are interchangeable, this doesn't seem to be the case :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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