fourtrack g'box question

[Mudplugga]

My trialler uses a very old Daihatsu gearbox, it's possibly late 70's or early 80's and I think it's out of a UK spec diesel F50 or something like that.

Anyway, it's got the long gearstick coming directly out of the selectors.
My road motor is a F78 Independant that has a short stick with some kind of remote to move it back closer to the transfer stick. But without tearing it to bits I can't see exactly what's on top of the g'box.

Does the remote unit from the later g'boxes fit directly onto the old g'boxes?

Or should I just get a complete gearbox and fit the lot?
I don't really want to do that because it's a lot of hassle and the old box is unbreakable.

Thanks
Dave

[Hatsu]

Assuming that they're both 4 speeders or both 5 speeders, then yes, they're the same box with a slightly different shifter setup and easy to swap over. Unfortunately for you the box will have to come out to fit it though.

[Mudplugga]

Hatsu
thanks, the donor box is out of the vehicle but at my mates and I haven't seen it yet, and my trialer is a buggy affair with easy access.
I just needed to know if it was worth the effort.

Dave

[Hatsu]

The other thing, although probably not such an issue if it's going into a trialer, is that the output for the speedo is going to have a different ratio as they had different diffs.
Gonzo from Rijkevorsel has it all worked out on his page at http://www.gonzo4x4.be/the%20Taft/gears.htm
When I swapped my F50 box for a rocky box, it roughly it worked out to read about 40kmh when I was really traveling 60kmh and about 70kmh when I was going about 100kmh, although it wouldnt be much to swap the speedo outputs over.

[Mudplugga]

Speedo ?????

We rarely get out of 2nd gear in low box, and it's strictly off road competitions that it's designed for.

But I'm impressed with these early boxes. This one outlasted the original vehicle body, then it had a LandRover Series 1 body put on it in the early 80's. The diesel engine gave up and someone fitted a 2litre Celica engine to it and it eventually became a trialer with my mate who had NO mechanical sympathy at all, if it became a choice of breaking something or losing a point then he broke it!
Foolishly I bought it off him and ran it until the engine blew, I learned to drive like he did Then I fitted a Subaru Brat engine to the box, and in it's latest incarnation drives Range Rover axles.
The abuse this g'box has had is unbelievable, but it works perfectly and has never gone wrong. Famous last words ? I hope not.

Dave

[Hatsu]

Impressive rig you've got there!
The weak point in these boxes, and all the wreckers will tell you this, is the transfer case. My original one on my 50 was all good, then one day a little bit of noise, then the next day, bearings were coming out the back of it!
I few people I've spoken to since reccomend nulon or some such other teflon based gear additive - time will tell if this works or not though!

[Mudplugga]

When I got the old trialer first, about 10 years ago, I drained the sludge outta the box and put EP 90 in, it's still in there !

I hope to have the rig going in the next few weeks, I'll post some action shots with luck.

Dave