jason110 Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 Evening all. Vehicle is a 1966 2a. Petrol engine, standard gearbox for the year. So, no synchro on first 2 forward gears I don't know much about gearboxes, so please be patient with me. Basically it sounds like a bearing is going on the reverse gear. I'm going to assume it is only related to reverse gear, since I can only hear the noise while reversing. There is no noise while using any forward gears. The noise sounds like a knackered bearing, i.e. rumbling away! Has anybody had any experience with this before? I Just want to know if I can still use the vehicle for the summer and the attend to it during the winter months. I've checked/changed the oil, there were no metal fragments. The oil was also quite clean. It's not used hard, just to potter about the county and the odd trip to the tip. I just don't want to do the work while the sun is out! Thanks all, advice is very welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexi Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 There is no noise while using any forward gears. You are lucky then. I would drive it till you have serious time for a look or until it gets more than a noise problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason110 Posted June 30, 2012 Author Share Posted June 30, 2012 Haha! He I know, I've had it 10 years and it's never thrown up any troubles. I just don't want to damage the gearbox further. I'll drive it for the moment, and see how she goes. Cheers lexi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secondjeremy Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Reverse is a pair of gears (2 back to back) which slides on its own shaft, one gear engaging with first on the mainshaft and the other with 1st on the layshaft. So if 1st is quiet (its not as quiet as 2nd as its straight - cut) then the main and layshaft bearings are OK . The mainshaft gear remains in its neutral position when reverse is engaged. The reverse gear bearing is a bronze sleeve. If this wears only the reverse gear will be affected (unless it breaks.) As an observation I'd say that reverse does tend to be quite noisy, and that the small 1st gear on the layshaft can wear severely. How concerned you should be will to some extent depend on how much you use reverse. If you only use it generally when parking on flattish ground it won't wear much. If you reverse miles - then it will. Reverse caused loads of problems with transmissions during the 70's - even S3 land Rover ones were beefed up. Some of the problem were people like Police reversing long distances down motorway hard shoulders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snagger Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 As Jeremy said, reverse gear has straight cut teeth, while the others are helical (certainly all forward gears in a SIII box are helical, though SIIs may have straight cut second gears too). That is why reverse is noisier. Suffix B and later SIII boxes were fitted with needle bearings on the reverse idler, but all earlier boxes have a bronze phosphor bush. This does wear, but so does the shaft the gear turns on. This wears a taper that can tend to throw the gear out under load, and can eventually wear through the case hardening into the mild inner steel, which tends to pick up a rough surface like cast iron. It could be the source of your noise. Like the others said, I'd just run it until something happens, keeping an eye on oil levels and changing the oil every 12,000 miles (as you're supposed to). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason110 Posted July 3, 2012 Author Share Posted July 3, 2012 thanks for the replies. it seems ok for the moment. so ill drive it for the summer, it looks like my winter project is sorted out then! jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 Mine did the same, got louder and louder. i took out the box and the reverse gear had badly chipped teeth. new gear and it was fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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