Gearbox swap

[Whitestar]

Hi all, went to change my clutch last night due to wear but turns out the shaft seal was leaking. On removing the box the end cover against the mount also has a hole in it!
I do have a spare box but wondered if anyone had done a simular swap and come across any problems.
My van is a 1.6td JX with 5 speed ASS box and my spare is from a late 1.9 DG 5 speed possibly AST.
I understand the ratios will differ but will it make any real difference?

Or would it be easier to repalce the worn seal and use the end cap from the DG box?

All thoughts and comments welcome.

[CovKid]

End cover? do you mean nose end? If so, theres meant to be a small hole in it. I'd replace seal, takes a few seconds with a seal remover (about £8 from machine mart)

[Ian Hulley]

A small round breather hole or a worn through hole ?

[Aidan]

Don't try mixing the end case parts between boxes there's some important clearance shimming in there, the thickness of the thrust washer is determined by the actual depth of the case to the thrust face of the bearing and the actual height of the oil face of first gear
1.9 petrol boxes are mostly the same as TD apart from bellhousing and input shaft, knackered input oil seal usually means knackered oil thrower and input shaft due to spigot bearing failure or lack of when sticking in a 1.9 from a car
check the gearbox list http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/VehicleSpec ... fo/gbx.htm to compare your gearboxes

[Whitestar]

It would seem someone replached the clutch before I bought the bus and didnt replace the spigot bearing as it was missing. I didnt realise the end cap would differ from each other, my guys at audi confirmed they use the same part as each other but I guess different sizes of thrust washer would need to be used.

The hole is in the end cap which the rear mount bolts to, a guy at GSF said it was quite commen as it's alli against steel! The hole I would say is worn rather than a purpose hole from VW. Chances are my spare box will be worn to anyway (still in the van)

By oil thrower do you mean the little top hat with spiral channels inside? if so that looks fine, the grooves are still deep, it has any just started to slip so I think I've cought it early, in fact the clutch that came out looks brand new, I've had the van a year but I've only done around 3k in it.

[Aidan]

that's the fella, you can usually rebond it to the case with a decent 2 pack epoxy, replace the seal whilst the bellhousing is off it's much easier, they are available best quality Elring from Brickwerks
yes the corrosion is a common issue with 5 speed end case, best to clean it and paint it before fitting the mount and remove the earth strap and fit it it elsewhere - on a diesel it's best direct to the starter motor as the battery is close to and will give the best cranking speed - you can always fit an earth direct to the body work in the engine bay too - but using the gearbox as an earth is a poor do really the potential across that steel plate and alloy case with a film of salty water in between is just asking for electrolytic corrosion
the variation in shims/thrust washers allows for production tolerances in the case parts and gears and the variation of the pinion height which varies between crown and pinion sets ensuring that there is always sufficient space for oil films between rotating surfaces whilst keeping things snug enough for full engagement of the synchros
regular oil changes are recommended for longevity, 2-3 years, 20 k miles in my book.
VW originally stated no oil change required but they didn't expect the vans to do more than 100k miles/10 years, throw it away and buy a T4 - if they had said change the oil regularly I wouldn't have any work mind

[Whitestar]

Thanks for your advise, I decided to fix the original end case in the end for peace of mind. All went back together tonight and works a treat.
Lack of laptop at my brothers garage ment we had to guess the oil amount but I think it needs more after reading the wiki link.
Its still at his so no harm done, will get him to change the earth point to now

Just the sloppy gearchange to sort now! Mans work is never done.