Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi there,

I had a reconditioned gearbox put in my Morris in 2005, so am really worried that it has started to by rather noisy and whiny in 3rd gear and a few days ago started jumping out of gear in 2nd and 3rd.

The local garage says I need a new gearbox

How can I have killed a gearbox in this short period of time????

And do you reckon there is no other way of "fixing" this? A new gearbox won't be cheap.....

thanks guys, any thoughts would be highly appreciated!

Oh dear - is there any oil in it????? You also have to wonder exactly what was done to 'recondition' that gearbox? They should be good for 50/100 thousand miles!! How many miles has the car done since it was fitted? But yes - jumping out of gear is pretty much terminal, if that was all I would think there is a chance of a 'selector/remote control' problem - but you say it is also noisy - although perhaps a new set of bearings will fix the basic problem - it's likely the 'jumping out' will have damaged dog teeth and syncro rings...... Perhaps just look for a second hand gearbox - always plenty on ebay. Is it a smooth case (948) or ribbed case (1098) gearbox? The ribbed case is a better box - and I would upgrade to that if you have a smooth case at the moment.

Hi,
thanks so much for getting back to me. Good to hear a second opinion, was hoping against hope, there was an easy cure....
Yeah, I did check the oil, was hoping it could be as simple as that, but it's all fine.

About a couple of years ago the clutch needed to be re-adjusted, I had asked the mechanic I was using then, if there was something wrong with it, had this crunching noise whenever I put it into first gear, but he said, no, no, it's an old car.... Hm, I should have gone to a different garage, then, half a year later the same thing happened, unfortunately I was on my way from Wales to near London and all of a sudden, all changing gears was a right crunching disaster, and yes, I should not have carried on driving but phoned the breakdown people.....
Back home the clutch was re-adjusted and all was fine, but now I'm wondering if bits and pieces got damaged and this might be the reason for the early death of the gearbox, have only myself to blame here, I guess.

1st gear (and reverse) are always likely to crunch from rest if you don't stop the gear train whirling by pulling it in to 2nd gear for a moment - they don't have any syncromesh, and they are straight cut gears which you are moving directly in to mesh. Any debris will usually fall to the bottom of the box (a magnetic sump plug is a good idea) - so it's unlikely anything will have been picked up and run round the gears, or in to the bearings.

Ok, thanks for the info, wow wish I had all your knowledge! Or even a little bit, all I know is gathered from few books.
Funny thing was when I had the crunching sound into first it went smoothest when I could change into first while the car was still moving, not fast, but sort of rolling.

Will be checking out gearboxes today. Have a longer drive planned in 2 weeks so need better have it by then. Have to hold the gear stick in place in 2nd and 3rd at the moment.

Any tips on how to treat your gearbox properly?

Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge, I really really appreciate it.

John Evans in Hayling Island is your man for recon gearboxes- He does the boxes for some of the main suppliers. A very nice person to deal with.
Tel (02392-465256)
Regards
Declan

As bmc says the easy way would be a second hand known good box,if you don't want the car off the road for a long time,if you buy a reconn they will want your old box for reconning as well,and there are recons and there are recons , boxes are always coming up on E BAY ,but ask on here there are many owners who have loads of spares.Trouble is many so called reconners only replace the bits that are worn ,and obviously,the unchanged bits continue to wear out.Not many change the whole of the box innards,and if they did the cost would be very high. GOOD LUCK.

Holding in gear wears the h3ll out of the selector forks......desperate 'get you home' measure only. Have we determined if it is a 948 (smooth) or a 1098 (ribbed) gearbox? If you get a 'known good' secondhand box then you can inspect and recondition the box that comes out at leisure.
This one is for a 1098 - you could take a chance on it! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Morris-Minor- ... 1c3e546542

Jumping out of gear could be due to weak spring detents which can be fixed. The noise is more of a problem. Might be worth draining the oil and running it through a filter to see what junk comes out of it. Sounds like the box will need to come out for some attention though.

Always use second before going to 1st or reverse.

At least the one on Ebay is honest enough to say "condition unknown"."Was working fine when it was removed"is a get out.Unless you buy from a known honest seller or can test the box before its removed don't buy second hand.I speak from personal costly experience.

At £20 or so - it's worth a gamble... The 'recon' ones seem to start at £365 - and up!! Strangely - smooth case boxes seem to be MORE expensive....presumably due to difficulty (= expense) getting hold of spare parts.

That ebay box looks more like a Midget box to me. Wrong clutch fork for a Minor, Bolt wrere the slave cylinder fits and a reverse light switch fitted. Looks quite original though.

Buy cheap, buy twice as the saying goes.

I will second that the gearbox in the link above being a 1275cc Midget gearbox.
Well worth a punt as the 1275cc Midget/Sprite box is quite desirable with its closer ratios.
You can soon change the clutch release arm to the minor one.
If you do go for it try and make sure that the gear lever comes with it as it is a shorter lever (Pt No: 22G328) and the later one (Pt No:22G1397) has the anti-vibration mounting both giving a nice crisp feel to the gear change.

That's scuppered the chances of getting it for £20

Just wanted to thank you all for your help!!! I really really appreciate your having taken time to answer my question.

I do apologize for not getting back sooner, I had trouble with my password (forgetting passwords constantly) and then till not being able to log in and then I'm a terrible scatterbrain and just forget everything.


Update, I went for a new gearbox in the end and from a gearbox point of view things are fine again.

I will be sure to post more in future,as I'm determined to learn more about my car and I would just love to be able to do more myself, eg maintenance. So, expect lots of newbie to maintaining a Moggy questions.