Crunching going into 5th.. What needs replacing?

[carefull]

I bought a Caterham the other week and the owner told me the sierra type 9 gearbox was shot as it was crunching in some gears and not going in very well at stand still. During the drive home which was 100 miles got to the point where the clutch was doing nothing and it crunched gears all the way home but mainly in 5th as I managed to get the revs right on the other changes. Now I find out the clutch arm was bent and the total cause of the problem. But guess what... now 5th crunches after the 100 miles of abuse. As the purchase of the car and the repairs has hammered my bank balance I would like to fix the box rather than replace it. So surly its only one or two parts in the box that’s shot but which ones is it likely to be??

Jason

Edited by carefull on Monday 23 July 21:36

[Snake the Sniper]

It depends quite what's broken. It may be the synchro hubs are shot, in which case you need to tear the box apart, and pull the gear(s) of their shafts. It's doable as long as you can get hold of the rebuild manual (which is one of the few things I don't have). Whilst you're in there, you may also wish to change a few other parts, which can be expensive, but not overly so. If the box is standard, I'd suggest buying a new used one for now, as they are normally about £50, which will be less than the rebuild stuff will cost you. That way you have the car to play with, and a box to rebuild when the weathers crappy.

[tribbles]

Hehe not many of us about tonight

Synchro mesh broken?

[OJ]

Chances are that while the clutch arm was bent the clutch wasn't disengaging properly, causing the gears to crunch. Now its fixed, its likely that the synchros have been knackered by the excess load put on them. The synchro's in the type 9 aren't fantastically strong, but the T9 also don't cost a fortune to be rebuilt. If you have the knowledge to get the gearbox out of the car, it'll probably only cost you a couple of hundred quid to have the box rebuilt, otherwise add a couple of hours labour onto it