Looking for a little help

I was taking a little cruise tonight - all going well - when I shifted into 4th and all of a sudden I heard and felt a vibration or a rumble sound - I down shifted into 3rd and it seemed to go away.
Oil pressure looked good, engine temp good and all seems OK in the first 3 gears - of course I'm thinking the gearbox, but am I missing anything else? Everything had been running great for 1 1/2 years - so I guess I am due. Hoping it is something simple and will put it up on jacks this weekend and see if I feel or see anything amiss.
Let me know if any of you guys/gals think of anything else I can check. This did come like all of a sudden w/ no warning - so seems a little strange for a gearbox.
Thanks in advance,
Dale

Dale.....Is this a repeatable condition? If it only occurs in 4th, it would point toward a damaged gear or synchro/hub....If it is horrendously bad, you should find steel or brass particles/shavings in the gear oil.....Quickest check is to drain some oil and filter it through some cloth...(Tee shirt)....

I hope it's something minor.....Good Luck...

At least if it is a transaxle problem a replacement is ridiculously cheap and it could be an chance to get a freeway flyer.

Good luck
Dave

ps: Dale, what do you have? you haven't filled out your profile on make, model, engine etc.

Leon,
Thanks for the help - I will give that a shot over the weekend and see If I see anything in the oil. It seemed to be getting worse ( in 4th gear as I got closer to home, but was still pulling ), but went away when I down shifted. I'm hoping for the best.

Dave,
I never filled out the form when I got my Speedster this Spring.
I have a older CMC widebody that I am restoring now and will hit hard over the Fall and Winter. My current ride and the subject of this thread is my MG TD VW based car ( Same underneath ). I have been meeting the Speedster guys the last couple of years in Carlisle and they have been kind enough to let me tag along. If my gearbox is trashed then I think I might steal the tran from the speedster ( hope it is OK ) for the time being and send off the broken unit as trade for a rebuilt Freeway Flyer to be installed in the Speedie when I get it done. Hope that explains. I do like having a ride while I am working on a current project. The weather is starting to get real nice now and I hate loosing this time of the year.

Anybody have any other possible things for me to look at as well?

Thanks,
Dale

So lets see some "before" photos --- so we can appreciate the final product at Carlisle 09!

Dale,

I build and re-build VW tranny's - started when I started racing them years ago. It is hard to figure issues out over the phone and inter-net, but it could possibly be that the syncro-hub on fourth gear has become loose. This is fixed by welding third and fourth syncro-hubs to the gears (both have removable ones) - instead of the press fit normally from the factory.

When you work on your car - jack it up and place on jack stands - run tranny through gears - listen for noises in each gear, if it only happens in fourth - you've narrowed it down. If it is a bearing (mainshaft or pinion) it should make noises in all gears. If only in fourth gear -you more than likely have a syncro-hub issue.

Questions - 1)Is your tranny a swing axle (early) or an IRS (late) style? 2)What size engine are you running?

Regards,
John D Brown
Dunbar, WV
my1badvw@msn.com

John,
Thanks for the help
The noise only happens in fourth - either on jacks or on the road.
After a number of calls it seems everyone said my gearbox was shot,
so through the kindness of Mickey I was able to pickup a used one from him for the replacement. It is all cleaned up and ready to go in, but need some time to do it - hopefully in the next couple of days. I have a dual port 1641 w/ IRS. It seems Mickeys doner is a little older then the one I had in the car, so I think I will need a different pressure plate as mine had the tube in the middle and I think I will need to change to the P/P w/ the ring in the middle to match up to the new one.
I was going to post tonight anyway wondering if anyone had a link to a site that lists the year of the gearboxes based on their SN?
It would help to know the year of the gearboxes I have.
There seems to be nobody on the east coast that fixes these for a low rate - so most just replace.
Thanks,
Dale

Dale,

The year will help in some cases, but you have the early style tranny case - newer ones have the tube in middle of throw-out bearing (it uses different clips). So you will probably have to match up a pressure plate to fit the earlier style case. There is three types of cases early 6 volt (2 side covers) early 12 volt (2 side covers) and the later style 12 volt (single side cover). There are three different ring and pinions from factory that you will run across 4:37 (8:35) 4:12 (8:33) & 3:88 (8:31) --- (number of teeth on pinion {8} and ring gear). Easy way to tell is once lube is removed from tranny - take a dab of paint and mark the ring gear tooth - through the drain hole and turn axle and count teeth (refer to above numbers). It all depends on what you want to do with your car, but most are looking for highway speeds with low RPM's or what is referred to as a free-way flyer with a 3:88 R&P. I work on tranny's - street,off road, or race - I am on the East Coast(West Virginia)& reasonable & I have references.

Thanks again John - great info
Please email me your phone number if you don't mind - I would like to discuss more if possible. dlschu42 at comcast.com
Dale

Could you be lugging down the motor by shifting to 4th too early or something changed in your motor (timing/fuel) and it's not able to maintain the same power. It's prob. the trans but just exploring options. Shift into third and search for a steep grade-same problem?
Good luck.

Dale,

Tried sending you an E-mail, but it will not go through delivery status failed - not sure why. Try my E-mail and I'll reply back - my1badvw@msn.com.

John

Bruce,
Not a power problem - lots of noise ( vibration, grinding etc. ) only in fourth. When I downshift to the other gears all goes away.
This is true on the road as well as on jackstands.

John,
I will email you.

Dale

Dale....It sounds like you have it nailed down to a problem with the fourth gear, or it's synscro, or hub.....Looks like it's time to pull the tranny....Good luck.