Hello and gearbox replacement

[ozywoods]

Hi All
I live in Gloucestershire, or Durham during Uni term time.
I bought a Terrano a couple of months ago, its a '95 Td Lx SWB in white bought primarily for towing duties. Its my first 4x4 and have had some fun in the snow:D but have yet to have a go offroad.
The truck had a few of problems when I bought it which I'm slowly sorting. The biggest of these is a gearbox problem.
5th makes an incredibly loud whirring/grinding noise under load, so I don't use it, which is fine but a bit slow. Third is also just starting to 'go' but it fine at the moment.
I have got a replacement gearbox and transferbox from a scrapyard, so need to get around to swapping them over:thumb2. I am planning to replace the clutch at the same time.
I am putting it off at the moment as its quite a major job and, to be honest, I am a bit scared by it. (it took me a day and a half to get the replacement box out of a scrapped maverick).
I think I know how to do it but any advice would be appreciated.

[felixthelogchopper]

Well worth the tenner to sign up, mate. All the manuals and downloads will be at your fingertips then :thumb2

[zippy656]

Hi,

welcome. your best bet if you join up... there are loads of download sheet to help with the little things.

do a search for gear box loads of help on this one...

[ozywoods]

ok, have subscribed now. Thanks

[R1cho]

welcome to the club, great place with load of friendly people and advice, that £10 deffo the best £10 u can spend this year :thumb2

[lacroupade]

well you already have the upper hand having removed a gearbox yourself!

The key is finding somewhere under cover, having the right tools and having the vehicle at a decent working height....other than that, JFDI.....you are saving £300-odd labour just to swap the clutch, plus £500 or more for an exchange gearbox (less whatever you paid for the scrapper) so its well worth it.

Always plenty of guidance here when you need it.

Welcome!:thumb2

[felixthelogchopper]

Never done a swap on one of these but whenever I have done the clutch on previous cars I owned, I found making a timber cradle to put the gearbox on top of the trolley jack really helped. :thumb2

[11redrex]

Took me a whole day to change mine with all the right tools and the manual.
I took the engine out at the same time so that added a couple of hours.
Follow the instructions in the manual as closely as possibly, don't miss any steps out, and make sure you have at least two jacks and a set of axle stands.

[ozywoods]

Thanks for the welcome.
I will let you know how the gearbox swap goes when I get around to it.

[rustic]

Hi there was a member called Scotty,who posted this about the gearbox.
Not done it myself but I saved a copy in case, it might help you.
Other members say you need 2 feet clearance underneath.


Yes I could remove the box and crossmember in one. This is how i done it in case any members are looking to do this; Caution pain involved!!! I used a set of car ramps; a 5 ton bottle jack and two building blocks; small 1" socket chain puller; a 3 ft pinch bar; a socket set and spanners. I first ran the car up the ramps then jacked and blocked it up. The £50 jack I already had for the boys quads; The job was well tough, the trickest thing was the removal/fitting of the starter done with 3 3/8 socket extension bars and a flexy adapter from the front crossmember up to the starter motor under the front rollbar,removal of the steering shaft made this easier, which involves the drivers wheel off to gain access. A 14mm socket is used for the starter motor. Next for the two bellhousing bolts at the top of the gearbox 14mm same again flexy and extention bars this was done from underneath the car with the bonnet open so you can see the bolt head. I then jacked the car up and undid the torsion bar adjusters and crossmember bolts 19mm spanner/sockets ; 77mm is the adjustment length I used on the rebuild; at the front of the torsion bars there are 4 14mm and 2 not sure poss 5/8 19mm. I then lowered the car the pinchbar; 5lb hammer; knocked the crossmember and bars out. Took the prop shaft off the front: 8x 14mm nuts /bolts, on the rear shaft I just removed 4x 17mm/19mm nuts/ bolts I think. leaving shaft in but resting on ply as not to lose any oil out of the box. I disconected hose and wires to box and rest of bolts from the bellhousing; put a rope round the rear diff and used the puller and quad jack to seperate box and lower and refitted the new clutch kit. Refitting the box was pretty much the way it came out. but I used the puller on front rollbar and pinch bar to nudge it back in I done this myself and I am not a mechanic, sound advice is use plenty wd40 before removal of any nuts and bolts, and I was in a fair bit of pain for a about a week after with pulling myself out from under the car alot to get tools. not to sure what height can say the wheels were above the ramps about 8" to get box out I hope this helps someone.

[11redrex]

My back hurts just reading that . Forgot what a PITA the starter motor was to get off !

[rustic]

Never done a swap on one of these but whenever I have done the clutch on previous cars I owned, I found making a timber cradle to put the gearbox on top of the trolley jack really helped. :thumb2

I'm making a note of that tip too, what a good idea, to ensure it ligns up I guess if you put pen marks on it then it can go back when in the same place...

I guess the issue is moving it back the few inches, or somehow move the vehicle forwards, say if it was on a ramp or sleepers.

[felixthelogchopper]

I'm making a note of that tip too, what a good idea, to ensure it ligns up I guess if you put pen marks on it then it can go back when in the same place...

I guess the issue is moving it back the few inches, or somehow move the vehicle forwards, say if it was on a ramp or sleepers.

More importantly, you don't muller yourself lifting it around :thumbs

[ozywoods]

Thanks for all the advice, some good stuff there which will hopefully make it a bit easier for me. :):thumb2
I am planning on renewing the oil in the gearbox and transfer box ( I managed to lose most of the oil from the replacement transfer box when removing it anyway). Would it be better to refill them after they are in place? or is this a pig to do? Also, I guess it might be a good idea to drain the old gearbox and transfer box before removal?

Would it be a good idea to mark the torsion bar positions before removing them to aid with refitting? (as well as measuring the wishbone height difference as the manual says to do) Or does this not matter much as long as the wishbone height difference ends up the same as before?

[R1cho]

[QUOTE=ozywoods;124465]Would it be better to refill them after they are in place? or is this a pig to do? Also, I guess it might be a good idea to drain the old gearbox and transfer box before removal?/QUOTE]

I'm no expert but i'd sy yes to both or you will get in a mess and waste oil

[lacroupade]

and if you manage to get an accurate measurement at the wishbone you win a prize! LOL

[solarman216]

The biggest single thing to remember when doing a box like this is when putting the box back to the engine once you have engaged the clutch center plate is, DO NOT LET THE BOX DROP OR GO OUT OF ALIGNMENT, as if you do all your work will be waisted, (bent center plate), we have not done a box yet but done many clutches, and engine out is by far the easiest, no problem and very little risk aligning the clutch with the first motion shaft, Rick

[ozywoods]

Well it seems the gearbox swap is now on hold until I can find another replacement box....
I drained the oil from the replacement today, planning to swap them over the weekend, however as well as lot of lovely black gear oil, out came rather a lot of metal filings and a couple of small metal chunks, I then managed to fish out a 2 inch long section of a gear :eek:. needless to say, that box isn't going on!
I've phoned the scrapyard I got it from and I'll take it back, so I just need to find another one.
It's a pity as that one was a very good price (but maybe there was a reason...).

In the meantime I was wondering if I should change the oil in the current box, would/might this help at all?