buying a reco gearbox/transfer

[Wambat]

hey guys, where in Melbourne can i buy a reconditioned h55f gearbox?? i only know of one wrecker that i can get an inspected (changed bearings and seals) one from for 1500. other than that i dont know many places.

my gearbox in my 75 decided to start making some very funky noises( i knew it was coming) so i need to get me a replacement, i was going to get a second hand one, and reco that, but i would rather put a recoed one in, and if i get to keep mine(ie not having to exchange mine) i will re build that as a spare.

so any one able to point me to a wrecker or 4wd workshop that could have one sitting around?

Al

[hulsty]

Most reco places ask for a core exchange or extra $$$ if you dont have a core. I just bought a second hand gearbox and had it reco'ed to put in.

[Wambat]

i have my gearbox to get recoed or to exchange if i have to, i would rather keep it and then pull it apart and reco it myself at a later date when i have the time as i want to learn for future reference. it decided that saturday night was its last night.

but i dont know any places to go to get it done, except one place mentioned to me in bayswater, 360 Gearboxes & Diffs, and the place i had it done at last time, northern differentials.

the fella there was very good, but as things are tight i have to save up the cash required before i can get it done, so i need to know what money i am aiming for, (i would go off my last fourbys reco of 2500)

i can do it myself if i need to to save cash, but at this point i would rather get some one who has done hundreds to do it so that there is less chance of something being done wrong.

also i have never had to think about a clutch, so i dont know what to look for in one?? what does heavy duty mean specifically?

if i ever decided to put something else in front of my gearbox (ls1, 6.5 chev) would i have to think about a different clutch for them or get something else in the box upgraded, i would say that i wouldnt have to do anything different for the 12ht.

thanks guys

alistair

[Wambat]

quote 1 for 1895 without transfer case and 2995 with transfer case, on change over, no clutch,

quote 2 for 4200, for the whole shebang, transfer gearbox and clutch.

quote 3 for 2700 for all work to gearbox and transfer no clutch
for 3500 for clutch aswell

as i was thinking back to the last time i did one, it was pretty much the same price, ( 5 gs, for diff, transfer, gearbox, and clutch)


so depressed, its nearly worth selling the car now lol......

[hulsty]

If you want I can contact they guy that did mine and see if he is interested in doing another. I didn't pay as much as those quotes. Alot of it though is dependant on whats stuffed once the box is pulled down, so its hard quote before its apart. For example I bought mine as a good condition second hand box, once apart it still needed a rear main shaft repair and a replacement of the 5th gear locking assembly plus all the bearings and seals for the gearbox and transfer.


I bought a heavy duty 4 Terrain clutch kit from Repco, $350.

[Struth]

quote 3 for 2700 for all work to gearbox and transfer no clutch
for 3500 for clutch aswell

..

$800 to change the clutch sounds very steep to me, especially given that they will be dis assembling it to remove the gear box any way.

Cheers

[bakerboy]

i had to get a new g/box for the paj bout 6 months ago, looked in the quokka (think along the lines of auto trader) picked up a g/box and t/case for $350, spent the evenings with a mate replacing bearings etc ended up costing $550 for the lot, maybe a way to go? that way you can still drive with the dodgy box and when it goes you have a good one ready to go, and you could offer the gox to the service places for a small fee to gain some coin back?

[bru21]

don't buy a reco box - for a good one they are $2700 exchange. I paid $3100 new from toyota. If you haggle you will get it.

All a reco box is new bearings / seals etc - the kit is only $275 odd. The gears are still worn and still noisy

Ballarat toyota does this price

cheers bru

[Wambat]

quote 3 for 2700 for all work to gearbox and transfer no clutch
for 3500 for clutch aswell

..

$800 to change the clutch sounds very steep to me, especially given that they will be dis assembling it to remove the gear box any way.

Cheers

thats the cost of the clutch and the cost of dropping the box out and putting it back in, their first figure was if i took them the box.


bru 21 - they also change syncros and anything else you have buggered, and from what i know if it is spitting it out of gear the syncros are smashed up

and toyota wouldn't have a new h55f would they i would assume all toyotas stock would be current and the old new stuff would have been sold to after market places??


basically with the position im in at the moment, this is going to be a no go, its going to end with me selling the car, as i just get held back every time. i know it can happen again when i go to buy a fourby in the future, or any car really, but the smarter thing for my possition at the moment is to spend that money on a car and then save for the house that me and my partner are planing on buying and then buy another one in the future. (if i had not of written my commodore off the morning i got the fourby registered, this wouldnt be a problem, i could store it and pull it apart over time, but at the moment the missues is walking to the train station through footscray so that i can use her car to get to work.

al

[Struth]

quote 3 for 2700 for all work to gearbox and transfer no clutch
for 3500 for clutch aswell

..

$800 to change the clutch sounds very steep to me, especially given that they will be dis assembling it to remove the gear box any way.

Cheers

thats the cost of the clutch and the cost of dropping the box out and putting it back in, their first figure was if i took them the box.


al

fair enough.

Cheers

[hulsty]

Why not just get a good second handie then that will keep you going for a year or so? You have a 2H right? Which is the same as a 2F/3F box. They are relatively common to get and ok priced. My last one was 200 complete with transfer. It wasnt great but good enough to use for awhile.

[SCANAS]

Hi Wambat,

You can still get heaps of stuff from toyota for the 60/75 i worked for a toyota dealer from 2002-2005 and in that time they had new 3B, 2H and 1H motors in stock front and rear tailshafts, etc etc. I bought a new genuine starter for my 42 I had at the time for $600. I got some new wheels studs and horn paddles and stuff recently for my 60. There is a very high chance they have a new gearbox in aus. Some dealers buy heaps of stuff and advertise it on e-bay and the like for the old girls.

[bru21]

I bought a new h55 last year in a brown cardboard toyota box.

[MART]

What is wrong with it and where is the noise , it not the shaft between the gearbox and transfer stripped is it , Cheers Paul.




Try these guys for spares.


http://www.donkyatt.com.au/sp/pricebook.php

[Wambat]

the noise is it spitting it out with a loud bang in first, and then in first when accelerating it makes a very loud pinging noise in second it is a little quiter, and 3rd and fourth its a vibration,

i want to get a second hand box, but i am majorly worried about it going again if i do so. in all fairness i might just do that.

like i dont know where you guys find deals like 200 bucks for a gearbox and transfer, best i could find was 500 for gearbox(not even sure if transfer was in that) if i could find a gearbox for 200 bucks, it would be done and dusted, that would be what im doing....

i am just thinking now, is it possible that the noise i described could possibly be the diff?? (although it was still spitting me out of first, and it had never done that before, and it did it twice, first time was right before the first noise.

i might, just to see, pull the oils from both( its not going any where) and look for chunks, i have a spare rear diff, which might need a rebuild on its own, and get a second hand gearbox, and see where that gets me.

as the alternative at the moment, is to buy a mates car( i know this fella very well, he has owned the car since he was 18, he has never done anything stupid in it and has just bought a new car) and then i can keep the cruiser, but sell the motor, and the tray, as i wanted to sell those parts any way, and pull it of the road until i can do the things i want to do to it,

but either the 2nd hand gearbox or the vn would be the way to go. i could nearly do both, except i can only aford the one rego and insurance at the moment,

i am so very confused and muddled at what i should or can do,

[Wambat]

ok so getting a second hand gearbox, hopefully picking it up tomorrow,

am going to re bearing it, and re seal it, ad extended breathers to it, and put in a new clutch and rear main seal while i am at it.

is there any thing else i should be thinking about??

i am going to obviously look at everything to determine what needs replacing, like syncros and the like, what do i look for as i have looked for wear on gears before, but those gears were bigger than my car, and some of the others i have done it was easy, massive scores or shiny patterns that were deep and off centre, if it was shiny but not indented its not worn.

i am going to also buy a workshop manual for the gearbox(can any one point me in the direction or is repco/auto barn good enough??)


also i was thinking, i know that the seal between the gearbox and transfer case is a common problem, and once it goes they share oil, the transfer over fills, and if your not on to it the gearbox is under filled, (which i suspect might be the catalyst to my dramas) i know you can get those tubes that allows the oil to go back to the gearbox, but could you theoretically just leave that seal out and fill the gearbox to the right level and run the transfer over full??? or would that be a no no??? as without checking my oil every other week, i wont know when that seal decides to go??

[MART]

Check the coupling between transfer and gearbox , there is a upgraded part to stop this stripping , Cheers Paul.

[RUFF]

also i was thinking, i know that the seal between the gearbox and transfer case is a common problem, and once it goes they share oil, the transfer over fills, and if your not on to it the gearbox is under filled, (which i suspect might be the catalyst to my dramas) i know you can get those tubes that allows the oil to go back to the gearbox, but could you theoretically just leave that seal out and fill the gearbox to the right level and run the transfer over full??? or would that be a no no??? as without checking my oil every other week, i wont know when that seal decides to go??

I allways thought they overfill the gearbox and drain the transfer. If not then the bypass hose really doesnt work as the transfer case oil wont run up the hose to re-fill the gearbox. Im sure the filler on the Tcase is lower than the filler on the gearbox.

[hulsty]

Mine pumped from the transfer to the gearbox. Check the main shaft for wear, I had to fit an extended gear as the spline was starting to show signs of wear. Also had fitted late H55F 5th gear assembly, earlier boxes had issues with 5th gear popping out.

[Wambat]

rightio thanks for the tips guys, got the box today, they are a heavy bit o kit..... had that hose fitted to it from filler to filler, i suppose getting under it once a fortnight to check levels is probably the best thing to do.


what do you guys suggest to get the grime off of it?? i dont have an industrial washing machine to chuck it in, or a diesel bath, so karcher??? and a few tins of degreaser???


any one know how much room there is between where the breather sits and the floor?? as i am going to take the breathers out and fit a hose connection and raise it too. but what to know if i should come out with a right angle barb as close as i can

[hj 45]

Degreaser, wire brush or wire wheel? I have to do the same thing for the 5 speed and transfer I just got. Speaking of which, what is the best 'years' of the split transfer case to use? The reason I ask is the split case that I have has a broken front casing where the 4wd indicator switch is, ergo, the transfer is rooted. So I'll need another one.

[hulsty]

Best transfer cases would be a late 60 series or a late H55F 70 series one as they would incorporate any running changes ie 38mm idler. If you get a late auto transmission transfer case it should also have better low range gearing than the manual cases. Though I think 1HZ H55F boxes have the better low range too.

[Wambat]

if its only a small crack i am sure you can repair it.

i just went into terrain tamer, i didnt realise they were only a 5 min drive from where i live. around 400 ish for the gearbox kit (bearings seals and gaskets) and under 400 for the transfer,

[Wambat]

today i actually got around to draining oils, and decided to do it from the rear diff back, lucky i did decide to do it that way,

when i dumped the oil, there was the normal metal dust that is created from operation on the drain plug, but it wasnt the normal amount, there was alot of it, and some of it was pressed together really hard, so i took the tail shaft off, engaged 4wd and took it for a drive, there were no clunks no bangs and no vibrations, i stoped and took of a little harder than i normaly would, which is when it was clunking and banging before i took it off the road, and nothing it just drove off, with some wheel spin.

so now i am in the process of taking the axels out, so i can pop out the diff center and see whats what, i have a spare at home, so now its time for a lokka, and i can still repair my gearbox( i need to any way i have bearing noises) but its not as much a rush

[hj 45]

It cost me $650 for the gearbox and transfer rebuild kits, both contain Koyo bearings, which are supposed to be fairly decent, plus $110 for a good front half of the transfer housing to replace my broken one. Just have to print out the FSM and I'm set.