Diesel Gearbox Protection

[Aidan]

Ok, Dina - aka SyncroServices, has managed to get a price from the manufacturer of the gearbox protection they sell and group buy price would be €138 plus shipping figure another 5 euros/set; manufacturing/delivery time 4 weeks, that's bulk delivered to me for onward 80-90 express distribution at event etc..

[jed the spread]

Oooops......

If I am going to keep driving my Westy the way I am I best have one if there is an order being made. Just spotted this under the van I assume the gearbox shouldnt be sitting on the cross bar Thank god the bar is where it is, you can see where it took the whack when we were in Wales.







I just looked back through the video from that weekend and I think the bend happened at 7.56,

http://campervanculture.com/2011/03/syncro-wales-4x/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

what do you lot think

jed

[Aidan]

I emailed Dina this morning and said you were a bunch of parsimonious so and so's - though to be fair she said the price wasn't great but that was the best their supplier was offering and cost of materials has gone up etc....

so if someone over here wants to make some........

I see a lot of diesel gearboxes with wear marks from the damage that Jed has done, the gearbox will rub against the bash plate and give some noise and funny vibes too, case is quite thick but don't leave it too long before relieving it

[toomanytoys]

Usual apathy......

138euro sounds sensible enough and cheap insurance considering a fubarred box when you clunk a rock...

I was so paranoid I made mine after 2nd offroad event.. its taken a right bashing, but then I dont worry so much about what I am drivng over now either.. ..

[HarryMann]

Any pics of this extra protection?

[silverbullet]

I made one for the DG and welded it on. I only had 5mm plate so it ended up a bit beefy!
600mm long, 300 tapering to 180 with a 25-30mm gap each end (not as asymmetrical as I thought and ended up with slightly tapering gaps, but the ground won't care) with the ski-jump bend centered at 100mm from the narrow end. 6 x 45mm holes in two rows for drainage/ventilation. Based on my experience with this I could do diesel ones at a competetive price?
One fresh Aidan Talbot rebuild now well protected:

[John Potter]

I'll have one if there is an order going in, thanks .

[spannermonkey]

Please put me down for one if the order goes in.

Cheers,

Steph

[syncroandy]

Nice, but please promise you'll get all that rust cleaned up and painted !

PS. 3mm would do it ?

PPS. and get some boots on that shift rod.

[axeman]

Nice, but please promise you'll get all that rust cleaned up and painted !

PS. 3mm would do it ?

mine is only 3mm thick and i have no complaints at all.

neil

[HarryMann]

PPS. and get some boots on that shift rod.

Well, even better, start with some grease

Anything 3mm up will spread the load of a big bash nicely I'd think.

[Aidan]

note Ian's is very early van which didn't have booted rear shift rod bush or any protection on the shift rods like the late ones, surface rust, and that's an old picture I think you'll find

[silverbullet]

Unfortunately that's a recent picture
It does need painting but that was the initial fitting. The plate is an overkill but 5mm is what we had in the corner of the workshop The coolant pipe protector needs replacing too, the cable ties are 'cos the pipe clamp screw sheared off...
I have some boots for the shift rod but the cup has been secured with 2 self-tapping screws, so I left it alone for now.
It all looks far worse in the picture than in real life, but all the damp air through/after the winter (it's been stood since Surrey Lanes as I was worried about the 'box) and residual salt on everything (despite a thorough high pressure hosing down) have made everything underbody turn a shade of Dale Winton orange
Add a lot of winter road miles for most of it's life in the Midlands and that explains all the heavy scaly rust...
Work in progress, looks like a dry weekend too

[jed the spread]

Bashtastic, http://campervanculture.com/2011/03/str ... cro-westy/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

jed

[PC52]

Beautiful as it is, all this shiny protection.
Have you considered how much heat your trapping in?
How are you going to shed the stones and gravel easily? (jed's vid, evidence of debris collection)

Now, there was a particular van that went to Syncro 25 with wads of protection on and then the owner had loads of spanner moments due to the heat and it had only been on the road getting there.

The fins on the boxes are needed for cooling, simples.
So what you gonna do when you trap it in nice shiny metal? - Cook it, just like a clay baked hedgehog.

You need Air flow
I quite like this one,



Apart from the fact it's not for the faint hearted, it allows air cooling, debris out and protects the necessities.