Club 80-90 Forums

just bought a great '88 syncro from plymouth. fabulous i thought but was probably very naive and stupid because i'm now freaking out about reverse gear. on the test run the both difflocks seemed fine and he assured me that they had recently been checked out and all that.As soon as i bought it and drove back to wales,reversing into my new syncro space, wheels started locking and strange noises appeared.its as if the fours wheels are in constant drive whilst in reverse....(dragging the vehicle) is this right....should reverse be as difficult as this or should it be as easy as my normal t25? i haven't slept for weeks can somebody help someone who didn't do his homework!!!!!

Dave,
Firstly, welcome to the forum, and congratulations on getting yourself a syncro.

If you put your location in your profile, people nearby may be willing to have a look at it for you.

Reverse should not be as difficult as that. What strange noises appeared? When you say dragging the vehicle do you mean one or several of the wheels were locked up?

Cheers,
Sam.

It's possible that you are either running unmatched tyres (common for the Syncro-ignorant) or that the VC which transfers power to the front wheels is too tight after years of wear (it happens). Also possible is that you have one of the lockers stuck in.

So, could be a number of things. Let's find out where you are and hopefully one of the Syncro-tech-doctors can give you a house visit, matron.

I'm in Aberdare south Wales. I could take it to my local machanic Rudi but people don't seem to like him on the forums I've been on....

Hi and welcome
Were you turning very tight when reversing? if so prob the VC tight as this is common, due to age/wear, mismatched tyres are the biggest killer, all tyres HAVE to be same make and wear, rotated regularly, for things to remain in A1 condition for the longest time.., of course, that doesnt happen when they get a few years old..

Things you can do.. drop the propshaft, jack up one side and see if you can turn the wheels if "locked" the difflock is stuck on.. there are tips on how to free these in the syncro pages/wiki... IIRC!!!

New VC is available via a couple of places in the club too.

it happens whilst reversing straight and turning!!!all tyres are the same(wear and Make). also seems to happen more after a journey when everything has warmed up a bit. i'll have a look at things over the weekend. thanks all.

If you take the propshaft off as Simon says, then you will be able to diagnose this a lot better, by ruling out the VC or ruling in the difflocks or gearbox (which can lock in 'R' or 'G' as if both fwd and rev are engaged together, this is serious box problem).

But don't panic yet, take prop off and see how you get on. Report back and see what peeps say. There's just a bit too little info above to say what this is...