Gearbox fragments

I'm part way though the process of removing my gearbox to replace what I thought was a noisy clutch release bearing. I've got the floor and seat box out and have just completed the step "drain the gearbox oil". The transfer box oil looked a bit old but fine, the gearbox oil had rather a lot of metal in it



These are the larger bits, there was also a lot of glitter and the oil had a Goldy sheen to it.

Is there anything I could know that's useful from the shape of these pieces? How difficult is a rebuild? Is a recon gearbox affordable? Is there a 5 speed option I should consider?

Someone else may know better but from memory, those bits along with the yellow glitter will be synchro related.
They aren't hard to work on exactly but i guess it depends what's damaged. You need to take it out regardless so you may as well have a look inside before you make any decision.
Not aware of anything else that would fit but you can add an overdrive

Ouch - sorry to see all that.

Right bag of bits there, can see remains of 3/4 gear detent springs, possible remains of bearing cage. The goldy sheen will have come from damaged syncro cones.
Steamwally has some good videos on the you tube of LT 76 series gearbox overhaul.

Gearbox overhaul fairly easy, don’t need many special tools apart from HD circlip pliers, likely you won’t need to touch front output housing or transfer box and just main gearbox as tottot said you got the 3/4 gear synchro spring clips , there’s 3 in total but maybe other bits in there too, that explains the poor gear changing .
When I took mine out initially I managed without a crane with help , floors out , seat box out , and wood beam across doors and straps , even managed to carry it to back of garage ( has an overdrive too) , although I would not try that now.

Made a start yesterday, managed to pull the gearbox out without disconnecting the exhaust or dropping the fuel tanks which was difficult! Had to take the rear prop off entirely, I think the plunging joint hasn't got the travel in it that it should have.






Now sat in the bed waiting on me building a workbench to dismantle it on. I ran up the engine without the gearbox attached and the bad noise is still there . Now thinking it's either clutch or starter related as a spark came out from the back end and I can't think how else a spark could be visible from behind the engine.

Could be starter dog not retracting all the way and touching ring gear, bit of broken clutch spring, look for witness mark's when you strip clutch down.

The missing bits of this spring made a fair old bang, and I'd bet sparks too.

Another thought. Did you have to disconnect an earth from the gearboxes? If you did, and it was the only proper one, then you might have seen a short?

Good start, it might be worth cleaning it up, a bit in situ , then you can start splitting into 3 big bits, makes a lot easier to manoeuvre to your new clean area bench

Keep the pics coming


These are good fir genuine parts when you get to bottom of what you need

Took the clutch off, it looks okay as far as I can see, bit gungy in the bell housing. Also the starter spring looks intact.





I managed to make a recording of the noise, this is exactly the sound I'd been hearing driving around, that seemed to be becoming more frequent (which I thought (or maybe hoped) was the clutch release bearing).

link to video recording

Result..... are you saying all issues were that broken spring as the cause ?

That's not good. On the one hand sounding like a big end but not continuous. I'd check the oil level, if it's low then I can imagine it sometimes suppressing the noise/sometimes not. Then drain it and see if there's metal. Possibly something happening under the timing cover, so is it louder front or rear?

Chonker said:

Also the starter spring looks intact.

Click to expand...

The above pic appears to show a broken bit

Maybe worth removing fan belt to eliminate water pump / alternator for that squeaky noise ., was that the noise you had concerns about

steve2286w said:

The above pic appears to show a broken bit

Maybe worth removing fan belt to eliminate water pump / alternator for that squeaky noise ., was that the noise you had concerns about

Click to expand...

Are you mixing my pic with @Chonker's?

Also, if you look at his last post there's a link to a fairly depressing video.

Yes I did , I must pay more attention , seen the vid and heard the squeaks

steve2286w said:

Yes I did , I must pay more attention , seen the vid and heard the squeaks

Click to expand...

And the knocks

Definitely has oil in it. Guess I'll be pulling the engine out after the gearbox is done

Not so much engine knocks, might have heard a rattle exhaust on chassis ?
Does it sound similar in engine bay with belt off

Don't think it's knocking, the clutch slave is loose so might be that moving about.

Made some progress this evening



I tried to get the idle shaft out to split off the transfer box but assume I need to remove the drum brake first? I'm running into lots of weirdo fastener sizes, I assume whitworth?