Recently, I spent my life savings on an old gearbox from Ebay. £30.
Initially, my plan was to take the gearbox apart and recondition it before dropping it into Snowy, cos his current gearbox is a bit crunchy.
However, I don't fancy reconditioning a gearbox if I can help it (especially if it's already in decent nick), partly because I'm supposed to be renovating our house in my spare time, not messing about enjoying myself, tinkering with my beloved snail-car etc.
So, how can I tell if a gearbox is in good condition before I drop it in? Is there any way to do it visually, or will I have install it and use it before I can tell if its a dud?

waggle the input shaft if there is much play the input bearing my be shot

turn the input shaft to feel for any roughspots

take the lid off and see if the ring has been peened and look to see how deep the grooves are in the synchro rings

hold both output flanges and move them back and forth to feel if there is much backlash look for any back and forth movement of the main gear cluster

all totally irrelevant unless you got a goodun to compare it with

usually best if you know its history

Sean

dunahnirnir nirnir ni na nir na when gear box is dead an its feelin strange who you gonna call RICK PEMBRO!

Close conjunction of words "input shaft", "input bearing", "ring", "peened", "synchro rings", "output flanges", "backlash" and "main gear cluster" have just caused my brain to unwind! I'm now stuck permanently in reverse and my wife will shortly come and push me into the shed, where I'll stay until someone comes to repair me.
Strangely, it's also caused my username to change, which is no bad thing, since my posts will no longer cause confusion between me and the name of the car that I drive.

I'm interested in this info too as I'll soon be taking delivery of a 'box that's reckoned to be a 51k miler.

Apart from Sean's list of things to check, is there anything else? Any 'clues'?! Eg, with the depth of groove wear in the synchro rings, how obvious is that to spot? Does anyone have a photo to indicate what to look for?!

Thanks.

saw the title and it had me written all over it!!

im interested in this as well, also,
whats the advantage of putting in a high ratio box?
or a low one for that matter also?

one goes faster the other slower for a given rev range

Sean

higher is faster at the top end, low will get you up bigger hills but will make you slower on normal road use.

But if you want a higher top speed, then you need extra power too! You can't just add ratios or else we could all simply bolt two 'boxes together and do 130mph+...

i thought it was that, so lower is better for pulling things aroudn with, thanks