Hey everyone,

This weekend I rallied the troops, and we attempted the installation of the gearbox into my Series 2a. Again, this is my first attempt at anything like this and your advice so far has been invaluable.

The bad news part 1, the clutch - On depressing the clutch, the gearbox still receives power from the engine. I can select the first gear with some very minor gear crunching, and power is transferred through the transfer box as expected but continues to do so regardless of the position of the clutch. I believe part of my problem is the size of the clutch plate I was supplied/purchased. I received a 9.5" clutch and on comparison I noted it was slightly bigger than the original... but haste and ignorance urged me to push on. I now note that the non-diaphragm version of the gearbox requires a 9" clutch plate. I'm kicking myself for making this error.

The bad news part 2, four-wheel drive - I don't seem to be able to get the box out of four-wheel drive. When I was dry testing, it seemed to work OK, but now that it's back in the Landy, it does not appear to pop out of four-wheel drive. I can select high and low ratio no problem, and I'm pretty sure the 4wd pin is dropping back into the rod hole... but it appears to remain in 4wd. I am wondering if this is because the gearbox is constantly under load because of the clutch problem. I'll test again with the engine not running when I'm back at the shop...

What do you think about problems 1 and 2? Any advice or consolation is very welcome.

Can’t help I am afraid but at least you are having a go, I have a noisy release bearing that I am told is box out and I have been putting it off and just listening to the clicking sound, hope you get it all sorted.
Regards
Chris

You are correct in thinking the load needs to off the transmission for the four wheel drive dog to release. This sort of happens automatically as you drive as front wheels tend to cover greater distance when turning.

TLDR - All fixed, and all due to my stupidity. I have a healthy working gearbox.

Thanks for your replies. I purchased the correct clutch plate, detached the bell housing and slid the box backwards far enough to install the new plate. Clutch problem fixed - surprising what happens when you installed the correct parts.

Next problem was the four-wheel drive, and the low/high range selector as well. I noticed that the low/high selector was sitting way far forward when it was supposedly in high range. The detent pin was not engaging correctly so I removed the inspection cover and the detent sprint bolt. It all looked fine, other than the selector rod was not shifting far enough forward to engage the detent because the gear lever was hitting the body work under the dash.

Some head scratching, and I spotted an alternative way (the correct way) to mount the low/high range gear lever to the underside of the gearbox (doh). Remounting this changed the geometry of the gear lever movement and hey presto - a working low/high range. This also solved the four-wheel drive problem.

So, in summary - I have a nice buttery gearbox that shifts beautifully. I've lightly tested the low/high range and it seems good. I'm yet to test four-wheel drive.

Thanks again! I'm off to the compliance people today to see if I can get this registration.

Well done.

Great news well done that man