skurbina said:
Hi All,
5th gear fork gave going 90mph on highways..wont engage 5gear.. also 2nd gear synchro seems as if its soon on its way out..
I need some recommendations or suggestions on wat to do.
Cant afford new transmission at the moment.
1. Buy 2nd Hand Transmission?
2. Replace Transmission parts?
I would prefer to replace parts myself but i dont know where to get the parts i need..
Can som1 point me in the direction where i can buy/get/find 5gear fork and 2nd gear synchronizer set?
thanks for ur time and replies..
__. As Hevster says, the external transmission adjustment on these cars is pretty important. So that's your first place to start and it's simple and easy to do.
__. However, let's assume that it's not adjustment. The 5th gear of these transmissions is basically an "add-on" -- the transmission was first designed as a 4-speed and the 5th gear parts were added on the outside of the main transmission. Because of this, those parts (basically the gears, shifter and synchro cluster, and the extended ends of the two shafts) are sitting in a "blister" cover on the end of the transmission. So, it's easy to pull that cover off (it's right behind the left front wheel, just behind the plastic splash-shield after you take the wheel off) and get to the 5th gear parts.
__. Those parts are expensive (DAMHIK), but they can be replaced and then the external shifter adjustment done. However, it's possible that other damage has been done -- in my case, it was that the rear shaft was so badly damaged that a new gear wouldn't fit onto it. At that point, you're looking at much more than a repair in that "outside" 5th gear housing. The transmission halves have to be split apart; once you do this, you will need a basic "rebuild kit" (gaskets, bearings, "normal wear" items) and those are expensive. Also, the transmission requires special tools to split the cases and accurately realign them and put them back together, so that and the labor involved is expensive. Then, you've got the cost of replacing the broken parts (in addition to the cost of the basic rebuild parts and the labor of rebuilding it). All this adds up to the fact that these transmissions are expensive to rebuild (or at least that was what I found when I researched it recently).
__. If you can repair your transmission by only replacing parts in that 5th gear area, it's practical. There are two gears; the front gear sits as a part of the shifter and synchro cluster on the front shaft and the rear gear sits on the rear shaft. The shifter and synchro cluster (which act as a hub for the front gear) are held in place by three pivoting tabs and a large circlip which is about the diameter of a soft drink can. On my car, the circlip had either come loose or fractured (it was impossible to tell if it broke then came loose or came loose and then broke) and this allowed the front gear to "wallow" around out of it's usual location. Once it did that, the gear teeth were out of proper engagement and the teeth began to mis-match and break on both gears. It also hammered the rear gear as it sits on the rear shaft and the splines on the rear shaft were so damaged that a new gear could not be fitted to the rear shaft; there was so much play because of the damaged splines that the new gear was free to move around too much. Also, on my transmission, the broken gear teeth and other broken bits of metal were all through the transmission in the transmission oil and a bit piece of broken tooth had gotten jammed between the shifter cluster and the end cover and fractured the cover.
__. (Assuming that just an adjustment won't fix it -- and if it went bang driving down the highway, my guess is that it's more than that) I'm hoping that you can fix your transmission just in that 5th gear area. But just the parts are expensive -- I think that the gears were aboust $300 US and the cluster/shifter was about $400. Add to that gaskets etc. and you're looking at a minimum of about $800 in parts alone. If your 2nd gear is indeed damaged, or either of the shafts are damaged, you're talking about a lot more money than just a 5th gear repair -- that's a "split the cases" rebuild. In my situation, it was about the same cost to buy a new transmission (factory new) as to buy a rebuilt transmission/exchange for my broken one or rebuilding my broken transmission. Sorry, that is just the way it is.
__. Good luck.