Most people spend their bank holidays doing nice things. I usually spend mine in the workshop. Today, however, has been both interesting and frustrating in the same amounts.
I have two gearboxes, one from a 67 Sceptre - the old nice shape, not the Hunter type, and a donated commer box (thanks reg). Thinking about it, I could have just put the Sceptre box straight onto the commer with the overdrive, but forgetting I don't have the hunter type box with longer primary shaft, I set about dismantling the two boxes today.
First was the sceptre box. It went quite well, apart from one of the detent ball bearings flying off into the workshop somewhere. All in all, apart from the dirt, the box seems pretty straight. The nut on the mainshaft wasn't very tight, but that apart, it seems in good nick. Also had a date of March 67 on the side, which is pretty much the same time JOG was made. I got everything out of the box apart from the reverse shaft, and retrieved all the needle bearing from the layshaft and primary shaft - even though I could only find 22 of the primary shaft ones, and there seemed to be more than the prescribed 27 for the layshaft. I also managed to temporarily lose the woodruff key for what I asume is overdrive oil pump drive. Eventually found it on the floor.
Here are the bits all laid out.
Ideally, I want to get the reverse shaft out as well, but don't have the little bit of metal to wedge in the shaft to tap it out - anyone else got any tips for this. If I can manage this, I am going to blast the casing, as it's the one I am going to use.
Now to the commer box. I wanted to take this apart to see if there are any differences between the gears of the two boxes. Panky said that he had a different first gear on his OD gearbox, but I think that might be due to the box being from an arrows car, rather than pre arrows?
First problem was I couldn't remove the speedo drive - and no sign of any circlips. Ended up cutting it off, as the mainshaft is toast anyway.
Remains of speedo drive
Then I hit the problem of being unable to loosen the mainshaft nut. It's absolutely solid. I have a very large adjustable spanner, and even jumping up and down on that didn't shift it - mind you it didn't have a locktab either - so maybe it's been well lock-tighted in? So, that's as far as I got. I also couldn't remove two of the studs that hold the rear cover on - so I think it's going to be a problem box.
One other thing, I noticed that one of the selector forks was very different between the two boxes - the one for 3/4th gear. On the commer box it was much longer and beefier - the sceptre one being like the one in the WSM. Was this a later ammendment?
3/4 selector forks comparison
So, any ideas on removing the reverse shaft, and how to get this nut off the second box?
Andy
I have two gearboxes, one from a 67 Sceptre - the old nice shape, not the Hunter type, and a donated commer box (thanks reg). Thinking about it, I could have just put the Sceptre box straight onto the commer with the overdrive, but forgetting I don't have the hunter type box with longer primary shaft, I set about dismantling the two boxes today.
First was the sceptre box. It went quite well, apart from one of the detent ball bearings flying off into the workshop somewhere. All in all, apart from the dirt, the box seems pretty straight. The nut on the mainshaft wasn't very tight, but that apart, it seems in good nick. Also had a date of March 67 on the side, which is pretty much the same time JOG was made. I got everything out of the box apart from the reverse shaft, and retrieved all the needle bearing from the layshaft and primary shaft - even though I could only find 22 of the primary shaft ones, and there seemed to be more than the prescribed 27 for the layshaft. I also managed to temporarily lose the woodruff key for what I asume is overdrive oil pump drive. Eventually found it on the floor.
Here are the bits all laid out.
Ideally, I want to get the reverse shaft out as well, but don't have the little bit of metal to wedge in the shaft to tap it out - anyone else got any tips for this. If I can manage this, I am going to blast the casing, as it's the one I am going to use.
Now to the commer box. I wanted to take this apart to see if there are any differences between the gears of the two boxes. Panky said that he had a different first gear on his OD gearbox, but I think that might be due to the box being from an arrows car, rather than pre arrows?
First problem was I couldn't remove the speedo drive - and no sign of any circlips. Ended up cutting it off, as the mainshaft is toast anyway.
Remains of speedo drive
Then I hit the problem of being unable to loosen the mainshaft nut. It's absolutely solid. I have a very large adjustable spanner, and even jumping up and down on that didn't shift it - mind you it didn't have a locktab either - so maybe it's been well lock-tighted in? So, that's as far as I got. I also couldn't remove two of the studs that hold the rear cover on - so I think it's going to be a problem box.
One other thing, I noticed that one of the selector forks was very different between the two boxes - the one for 3/4th gear. On the commer box it was much longer and beefier - the sceptre one being like the one in the WSM. Was this a later ammendment?
3/4 selector forks comparison
So, any ideas on removing the reverse shaft, and how to get this nut off the second box?
Andy
