gearbox woes removal help

[tvralfagtv6]

ok driving home tonight its on song you know the feeling, something has to go wrong and it did. The gear box has supposedly been rebuilt anyway coming out of 5th it was getting sticky refusing to go into third and giving lots of baulking across the gate to the point that by the time I got within a mile of my house i only had 2nd and fourth. No worries me thinks easy fix as I take the gearstick boot off from inside the car i find that the two screws that hold the remote unit that sits on the top of the box were loose.ERRMM tighten thenm up and away we go it was only slecting 4 th and second and it seems to be jammed, has anyone else had a similar problem with the lt 77.and as there is b%^&^er all access from the car side, looks like i am going to have to remove the box.
or can I get better accees by removing the tunnel trim, haven't worked out how to do that yet.


GEARBOX REMOVAL


Now to remove the gearbox is the process?

remove exhaust ,
remove prop from diff ,
remove bell housing nuts,
remove rear gearbox carrier
slide the gearbox back and out

or is it alot more complicated any help appreciated.

[Ballistic Banana]

I am not 100% but I thought I had read somewhere that it was easier taking it out with the engine?

BB

[Rocket Pepper]

LT77 will come out with engine in situ.

[Ballistic Banana]

I stand Corrected

BB

[Johno]

Bugger of a job but do-able with engine in situ . . . Done the reverse which is to remove engine and leave box in situ, not bad at all really . .

[tvralfagtv6]

cheers guys so the bit I am worried about is that there is enough room to slide the box back to get it out. Getting a bit too old for this caper now,The crazy thing is prior to this happening the gearbox was truly peachy, like a heavy weight triumph box of old

[Barreti]

Are you able to see anything from the top or have you been underneath for a prod about?
I'm thinking it could be the nylon bush at the bottom of the gear lever - which can be replaced without removing the box.

[tvralfagtv6]

now I think it could be the same but I cant seem to remove the remote unit

[tvralfagtv6]

in short its as if the selector dog on the end of the gearstick is not located in the correct part of the gearbox selector fork, I need to get the remote unit off from inside the car but there is only what appears to be a very small circular access hole where the gearstick is.
Not sure if removing all the inner trim will give me any better wiew.

[Barreti]

I've found the thread I had when I had the bottom bush problem.
Sadly it may not be a lot of use, because tinypic has removed the pictures, but here it is anyway
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...

I can find the pictures if they would be any help, but if this is your problem you will be able to tell by taking the rubber seal off the top of the lever and peering in.

DONT UNDO THINGS AND PULL THE GEAR LEVER UP !!
There is hole in the gear lever and inside this is a spring with a ball bearing jammed on top, lifting out the gear lever will have the spring fire the bearing under the car.

[Ballistic Banana]

tvralfagtv6 said:

in short its as if the selector dog on the end of the gearstick is not located in the correct part of the gearbox selector fork, I need to get the remote unit off from inside the car but there is only what appears to be a very small circular access hole where the gearstick is.
Not sure if removing all the inner trim will give me any better wiew.

Yes you can remove the center console and then are 4 or so screws holding a FG panel down ( that has the gearstick hole in )You'll have more room to inspect then. Do you have Steve Heaths Bible as it takes you through getting the Console off?

BB

[Ballistic Banana]

best pic I have of it .



BB

[AntonyJ]

Ballistic Banana said:

tvralfagtv6 said:

in short its as if the selector dog on the end of the gearstick is not located in the correct part of the gearbox selector fork, I need to get the remote unit off from inside the car but there is only what appears to be a very small circular access hole where the gearstick is.
Not sure if removing all the inner trim will give me any better wiew.

Yes you can remove the center console and then are 4 or so screws holding a FG panel down ( that has the gearstick hole in )You'll have more room to inspect then. Do you have Steve Heaths Bible as it takes you through getting the Console off?

BB

Simon, it depends on the year of the car doesnt it?
If its an LT77 wont it be quite an early car?
My precat doesnt have the removable hatch.

[Ballistic Banana]

Yeah your right Ant, you could probably check buy lifting the gaitor out and having a feel around to see if does. Mines a late 95(reg 96) and does..also has the T5 but with earlier Diff.

BB

[HRG]

Serious, yet slightly off the wall suggestion:

Would it be less painful to cut some of the tunnel away under the console and then re-glass it a' la Reliant Robin gearbox out technique?

[tvralfagtv6]

oh BOTHER! removed the gearstick the wrong way, been under the car at 7.00 this morning , What does the spring do? however, I found a loose rear bolt that locates the horizontal rod mechanism (not gearstick), got car into third reseated bolt and now have access to all gears or so i thought,note my gearstick spring and bolt you talked of is somewhere yet to be found although moving through the gate makes all the right sounds of a gear change including reverse,it was stuck in one gear , the whole thing is so haphazzard makes me think it must be linkage. It was perfect and there was no grumbling or whines before it gently baulked its way from the land of the living. Mine is a precat so accees holes arenot there, I don't mindcutting into the tunnel but I would hate to do that only to find the box is knackered,, as bizarely moving the box across the Centre of the H got it out of gear.And yes I did Just lift the gear lever out DOH probably about the time you posted. I really do appreciate all of your help. May just have to remove the box , otherwise it will be very cheap griff for sale, annoying thing is this my third TVR over the years and the oldest and yet with all the konis tarox etc etc it is truly beautiful to drive. THe gearbox had been replaced and was peachy. A week is alomng time in Tvr ownership sometimes. Mind you my others never missed a beat.

[Barreti]

The gearlever in the photo shows the hole where the spring SHOULD be
All this does is make the lever centre naturally.
You are looking for a spring about 3 or 4 mil in diameter and about 15mm long. So nothing massive.
Now I look at my photos I see there wasn't a ball bearing on the end at all, its a small round headed bolt/screw screwed into the spring, it looks very similar to the ones holding the small springy bars on either side of the gear lever.

If you've lost that did you also take off the spring washer at the bottom of the lever/bush?

[Barreti]

tvralfagtv6 YHM cocker!

[tvralfagtv6]

Thanks just been reading your previous thread, , wish I had never heard of LT77, any way, I am at the moment , at the point where all pistonheaders end up at some stage,

DECISION TIME

do I take it to the garage in the hope that there experience might have a short cut or do I embark on a gearbox removal. project


experience shows this is always going to be a bigger job than you first expec. better get clearing the garage for the operation.

[tvralfagtv6]

Now 3 hours of effort later, and I now have the the gearbox diconnected from the engine, however it doesn't seem to drop out the back bone chassis, the bell housing being too large for the gap between the chasis rails............... Life just keeps getting better. Does it definitely come out?Its just resting on the starter motor eextrusion. Have a cup of tea dream of my v8, and think,