Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Ha ha - now that i have your attention - help me out with this decision.

I've just blown the gearbox in my HJ61, and i can't decide whether or not to fix it. It's gonna cost $4,200 for an exchange box, clutch, labour etc.

only thing putting me off is there's some rust starting to set in, some even in the chassis which is the real worry, and i'm not sure if it's worth replacing the gearbox.

motor's done a touch under 300,000km and is going strong. great economy too, so no matter what i swap too, i'm not expecting any real advantage there (unless i win lotto and fork out for a new prado-ha ha).

what would you do in my position?

thats pretty rich for a gearbox!! decent second handies are about 400-600 over hear, clutch 300-400 and labour about 700 done for less than half!

Agreed, the cost gets expensive when you start talking reconditioned gearbox. As said, you'll get it done for much less with a good second hand box. As for if its worth doing, all depends on how bad the rust is that you're talking about, how much it will cost to fix and if you can afford to replace the vehicle at the moment. If you've looked after your motor you should expect alot more trouble free kms on the 12H-T

If it were me I would find a good 2nh hand gearbox and get that fitted. A bit risky, but worth it I think.

i would love to fix it on the cheap but how do you check a 2nd hand gearbox?

i mean i could pull mine out and sell it as a 'second hand' gearbox, and until you put it in something and run it you'd never know it was busted.

so how do i go about finding a 'decent' 2nd hand box?

just rang a wreckers here - he's got one out of a petrol 60 he wants $750 for it - anyone know if they're the same box?

rowan wrote:i would love to fix it on the cheap but how do you check a 2nd hand gearbox?

so how do i go about finding a 'decent' 2nd hand box?

Maybe buy from a wrecker and ask for a written warranty?

some blokes part out their fourby's (a lot of 60's especially) whille they're still in one piece...if you can test drive one with the gearbox in, give it a few good, hard stabs in each gear...if it jumps out of gear let it go. if it holds its gears and it slots in without too much hassle you're more than likely onto a winner.
another alternative would be to look for a good 60 minus the engine (and possibly gearbox) without rust etc. they're becoming like hens teeth, but they may have less rust than yours...
something else to note, get a few quotes from some panel beaters, or even good workshops with the older schooled mechanics and you might be able to get the rust fixed in yours for not too much.
old school mechs love actually FIXING things and most of them know how to do the lot, panel beating, spraying, auto eleccy work etc...maybe not the best in the biz, but geez they're not bad.

i think there's one on e-bay at the moment minus an angine
my 2 cents anyway

to expensive to repair give me the motor

get a second hand gear box and ute chop it if the rust is bad

get a second hand gear box and ute chop it if the rust is bad

guessing its auto...rodney at wholesale transmissions bayswater will do exchange with guarantee for 2500 roughly plus haulage

It's gonna cost $4,200 for an exchange box, clutch, labour

Guessing its not.^^^^^^^^^^

When you say the gearbox is "blown" What is actually wrong with it? Before forking out your hard earned cash pull it apart and find out what is actually wrong. The H55F 5 speeds have a habit of flogging out the splines on the end of the mainshaft, where the transfer case input gear slides on. It is possible to buy aftermarket input gears that have the spacer between the gear and PTO drive as part of the gear, and splined all the way through. Pending on the damage, you MAY be able to get away with just one of these and not even have to take the box out of the car.

If its not driveable why not pull it apart and find out what is actually wrong with it? You never know, might even be a badly adjusted shifter....

If you dont want to fix it and have the time, part it out and sell it in parts, you will probably get twice the dollars doing that than selling it whole....

ok i've pretty much decided on a second hand box - i've got one out of a diesel lined up - but can anyone tell me if they are all the same?

reason i ask is that my 60 has the vacuum switch to go from 2H to 4H (transfer case). will a standard gearbox bolt straight in there, or does it have to one out of a car with the same sort of transfer case?

gearbox is the same, but transfer case gears maybe different. There are two different idler shaft sizes, (34 and 38mm I think?) you cannot interchange gears between the two. if your cruiser was a factory turbo diesel it should have the larger 38mm idler.

Have you found out what is wrong with your box?

I would also suggest a quick inspection of the new/replacement box and t/case before it goes in, might save a bit of frustration if there is something wrong with it.....

you can use the manual transfer case, but you will need the shifter.

My cruiser have the vacuum electric shift, I pissed it off and changed it to manual, less things to go wrong....

just had a chat to my mechanic - he's got a low km box from an imported halfcut lined up for me with a warranty.

all up with new clutch, rear main, machine flywheel etc it'll be $3,300.

I'm happy enough with that.

and my box - i don't really know what's wrong with it, but i don't really know enough to pull it to bits myself. it's very noisy (whines) in all gears, drops out of fifth occasionally, and every now and then when you change gears and let the clutch out it makes a very loud noise - almost as if a large chunk of metal is caught in a cog somewhere. makes the same noise sometimes when it's just idling.

pretty safe to say it's stuffed i reckon.

thanks for all your help fellas - enlightening as always.

cheers