Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Gday all i just blew my gearbox in my F78. Any one know where i can find one? How hard they are to put in, how much to put in etc etc etc? Any help or info would be great. cheers

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... %3AIT&rd=1

There was this one on ebay, no bids I dont think its that hard to swap one over but youd want to have sumone who knows what they are doing with you.

The gearbox and transfer are VERY HEAVY! Don't try and pull them out on your own. Ive taken mine out twice before. Some people remove the transfer case section first to split up the weight issue. I prefer to take the whole lot out as one.
Jack up the vehicle resonably high and remove the drive shafts.
The gear lever has a circlip holding it in. Remove the rubber boot assembly then you can get at the circlip. The gearlever should come straight out then. The High-Low stick I usually take out by removing the four bolts around the entry pivot support thing'y holding it to the top of the transfer case. It's a b-i-t-c-h of a thing to get at, but its got a rubber gasket under it, so I guess this is intended to be removed this way.

The hard bit is lowering it to the ground once unbolted from the engine. I usually put a block of wood between the back of the head and the firewall to stop the engine falling too far backwards once the gearbox is unbolted.
Once the bellhousing/engine bolts are removed and other cables/hoses etc, I used a trolly jack under the gearbox support member to hold it in place while removing the support member bolts to the chassis. Then once undone you should be able to slide the gearbox/member backwards from the engine on the jack. Then I let the jack down.
If you jack one side of the vehicle higher again, you should be able to drag the whole lot out.... Beer o'clock well and truly by this stage!!

Getting it back in is a reverse of all this. If you replace the clutch, getting the gearbox spline to line up again can be a pain. I turned up a bit of wood on the lathe to help with this bit.
Alternatively if you have the gearbox apart, take the input shaft out and just use it to help line up the clutch plate with the centre bearing.

It's been a while since I had mine out so I may have missed a few steps.
Hope this is of some help (sorry bout the length.... war and peace style)

Cheers.

What do you mean by 'blew-up'... What happened and what are the symptoms?

You may be better off to have it rebuilt. I always think a second hand one could do the same becuase they all have relatively the same kms on them.

That 500 job seemed ok on eBay.. i thought about buying it for a spare... couldnt be stuffed driving to Shitney tho

Tabrocky, thanks mate for the reply. Very helpful. What happened to yours? Did you just put in an exchange or get it rebuilt?

hot4ok, gday

It was leaking oil from what i thought was the rear main, beacuse it was really black like engine oil. But it must have been coming from the gearbox and drained it all.

I was driving it on the freeway and all the sudden it satrted making a slight grinding noise, it got louder, but not really that loud, then it just went. I was in 5th and it was like it was in neutral. I tried 4th and it worked so i limped it home in 4th. All other gears including reverse dont work, you put in gear and it goes nowhere, just makes a slighty grinding.

It had a gearbox rebuild about 70,000kms ago so it must have a weak box.

greyzook wrote: It had a gearbox rebuild about 70,000kms ago so it must have a weak box.

I don't think the quality of the box may be all that there is to blame... it had NO OIL IN IT!... lol Gears don't like no oil

My input shaft is leaking at the moment supposedly.... i better check mine too

Have you got any details about the previous rebuild? Mite help you out

yeah no oil never helps. What i was saying is that after a rebuild 70k kms ago it still shouldnt leak oil.

i would check yours though. Aparently the gearboxes are a weak point of the car. Ill keep you informend as to how much and how easy it is.

Hey greyzook, I rebuilt mine myself.
It didn't really have that much wrong with it when I pulled it out. The clutch presure plate shat itself so while I had the gearbox out to do that, it seemed like a good idea given the km's on the vehicle. Preventative maintenance.
It did have a whine noise in top gear and unfortunatley still does all be it slightly quieter, but it cant be too major cos its done another 100,000kms since then.

No oil definatley wont be good for it. Did it loose all of the oil or just some? If you lost it all, i'm supprised you made it home. Gearboxes tend to seize with no oil.

It's a common problem to blow 5th gear. Hilux's do it quite often as well. 4th gear is usually the one gear most people end up with when it happens. Black oil doesn't sound good... If it didn't let go with an all-mighty bang then thats probably/maybe a good sign.

I would tend to agree with HotFourOk on the rebuilt box cenario. I'm a pore student so I couldn't afford to get somone else to rebuild mine. A mate of mine has a rocky ute and he had done his before so he gave me a few pointers and a very handy exploded view of the insides of the box.
The rocky is my first and only car so far, so I had never taken a gerabox out of a car before. I replaced all seals, bearings (bar one that I couldn't get off) and most of the syncro rings. Had to pull it out again three months after that cos I didn't do up one of the shaft nuts tight enough... My tip, don't be a tight arse and make sure you buy the right socket for those buggers...

Tools that I found handy were trolly jack, set of bearing pullers, a press, long table to spread all the bits out on, parts washer, assorted blocks of wood and a hammer...
I took a photo when I did it. All up using all Daihatsu original parts (Not the cheapest way I now know) including clutch, pressure plate and all gearbox parts it cost a bit over $1100. Expensive I know, but if you went down the bearing shop and bought all the bearings and seals this price would drop considerably.

If you have gears with missing teeth and your prepared to look at it yourself, I'd go and find a second hand box to steal the bits you need from, otherwise if you can't be arsed, just go and get yours replaced, particularly if it has been run with no oil.

Again, sorry for the length but I hope its clear.

Cheers.

Isn't 5th gear is known to have issues due to it being an 'add-on' gear?.. As the boxes started out as 4 speeds, and they added one to make it a 5sp box?

That one on eBay would have been perfect for you... they are very rare to come across.. and 500 bux was an ok price.. I'll keep an eye out

But yeh, in 70k kms it shouldn't develop an oil leak to that extent

Well what do ya know...

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/97-Rocky-4X4-Gea ... dZViewItem

Starting at $250 or $300 Buy It Now Too bad its in the other end of the country

Had a look at that one HotFourOk on ebay.
Intresting thing is that it doesnt show the vacuum 4wd engagment piston arrangment on the transfer case. This means it doesnt use push button 4wd engagment... Can't be a 97' model then.
I reckon its one of the old types that have 4wd on the stick... like in my vehicle (F75).

5th gear is sort of an add on I spose you could say. They put a bit more thought into it than just bolting it on... not much thou'.
Problem is, particullarly with the turbo diesels, that they are so gutsy that towing up-hill in 5th is quite achievable and feels fine from the drivers seat... but if the gearbox could talk....

Gday gents

Tabrocky thanks again for an incitful post. Its good to have a little knowledge on these things. So you think its not an f78 gearbox?? Are you 100% sure? Its a good price if it is.

Hot4ok, thanks for the find. It looks like i may have too go the 500 dollar one if the 300 dollar one is from an f75. I appreciate the help mate. cheers.

It's definatley not an F78 gearbox... Unless the F78 was ever produced without push-button 4wd engagment... and im pretty sure it wasn't. The only thing it can be from is an F75 or possibly an F77 ute, as they used manual engament with the stick as well.

I'd be a bit wary of the $300 jobie with that noise anyway.

The other $500 one looks like the one you want. Notice the steel vacuum line going up to the bell housing from the transfer case. This is the vaccum line for the 4wd engagment solenoid... which isn't on the other one.

Either way, be careful buying on-line... It can end up hurting if ur not carefull.

Another option is to pick-up a copy of one of those 4wd trader magazines. Often 4wd wreckers advertise in there for engines and gearboxes, some at not to bad prices as well.

Cheers.

Thanks tabrocky, i was almost going to buy that one because of the price. But your right if you look at the 2 they differ. Big thanks, looks like the 500 dollar one or the rebuild option. Ill keep you guys posted. Cheers

Umm is it just me... or was the $500 box sold a while ago

HotFourOk wrote:Umm is it just me... or was the $500 box sold a while ago

I'm sure when i posted it, it had ended with no bids .. can they buy it now after the auction is finished.. unless i was blind