o2j manual 5sp Transmission issue

[robnitro]

Hi,
This morning noticed that in first gear the engine sounded louder than in 2nd and up, same rpm compared, louder in 1st.
Drove fine though.

This afternoon going home the idle was louder with a bit of rattle.
I tried to find the noise and I figured it might be the clutch, smf rattly sometimes and the noise went away when I pushed in the clutch.

Driving home it got louder- 1st that is, even when I pushed the clutch in and coasted.. which made me figure it's probably the transmission. It also shuddered a bit when starting off in 1st.

On a hill near home, I got stuck... 1st gear stalled the engine and I couldn't get it out of gear. Plus, pushing in the clutch didn't let the car move! I was like crap, blocking traffic, but I managed to jam it out of gear and roll back into a parking spot. I was able to start off in 2nd, but 1st is toast, it gets jammed again...

So, I assume 1st ate some teeth... despite it barely, if ever being floored in 1st due to wheelspin lol.

I've done a clutch change before with a little help to guide the trans in.
How difficult is it to rebuild the o2j?
Or is it better to just get one from car-part.com?

 

[robnitro]

Ok, so its really screwed, if I leave clutch out, and push soft onto 2nd-5th its as normal. To 1st, it actually sends big vibrations and makes noises... making me think a fork is stuck or the syncros/dogs are screwed.

So, any advice on which to get????

Got 2 local used...
-one 600 w delivery, from 2001 w 109k,
-and one about an hr and half drive, 500, from 2004 w 180k

Which one would you go for... do the newer ones have better internals?

 

[jimbote]

Ok, so its really screwed, if I leave clutch out, and push soft onto 2nd-5th its as normal. To 1st, it actually sends big vibrations and makes noises... making me think a fork is stuck or the syncros/dogs are screwed.

So, any advice on which to get????

Got 2 local used...
-one 600 w delivery, from 2001 w 109k,
-and one about an hr and half drive, 500, from 2004 w 180k

Which one would you go for... do the newer ones have better internals?

not much difference internally ... the 2004 has a tiny bit taller fifth and may have three piece syncros on some of the gears but if it was me I'd go with the 01'

 

[robnitro]

Thanks for your advice...it seems to be a wash.
Is a three piece synchro stronger/better?
...744 vs ...756, 2% so slight hehe

 

[jimbote]

this is purely anecdotal but I've seen more bad three piece syncros and their associated trashed gears ....others may have different experience...

 

[robnitro]

Ok the 2001 is in and works great, using g070.

New thing to fix... inner driver side CV boot cracked.. doh!

A big pain in the @$$ to take out and install due to the passenger output flange.
I didn't want to remove it because I didn't have a replacement bolt for it... but then its probably not a problem.

Now I know why VW went to smaller flanges in some other year TDI's. I also suppose the stock DMF was a bit smaller than the g60 SMF.

Thanks for your help!!!