Things in gearbox oil.

[dyl33]

Hello, I changed my gearbox oil today and found these two things on the magnetic drain plug.

Does anyone know what and where these are from, and why they're in my oil?

 

Edited June 6, 2021 by dyl33

[Duncan]

They are syncroniser clips, and would more commonly be found holding your syncro hubs together.

Did you change your oil for a reason?

[dyl33]

8 minutes ago, Duncan said:

They are syncroniser clips, and would more commonly be found holding your syncro hubs together.

Did you change your oil for a reason?

Thanks duncan, Is it common for these syncroniser clips to fall out? How long do gearbox's last with them missing?

I had the gearbox rebuilt 2-3 yrs ago but it always felt a little sloppy, still works fine just a little notchy. Thought I'd change the oil...

 

 

 

[Duncan]

yeah sorry I'm no gearbox expert. I guess it needs to come apart and may as well be checked/rebuilt while out.  The clips/keys hold the synchro hub assembly together and I think there are 3 per hub so perhaps the other one is holding in there for now, I was wondering if it was crunch shifting between a particular pair of gears.

[dyl33]

Yeah no worries. I'll just have to see how it goes, the gearbox doesn't seem to be crunching at the moment. 

 

[BK]

Those particular shifting inserts are from the 1st / 2nd gear selector coupling from your main shaft assembly, and as Duncan mentioned there is 3 if them.

Only a matter of time before your box will not select 1st or 2nd properly and is totally possible to lock the selector up completely. 

Pull box and get it fixed, or you'll definitely do more serious damage to main shaft gears, synchros or coupling components.

This is absolutely not a "see how it goes" problem - you will kill your box if you don't address this now.

[dyl33]

10 hours ago, BK said:

Those particular shifting inserts are from the 1st / 2nd gear selector coupling from your main shaft assembly, and as Duncan mentioned there is 3 if them.

Only a matter of time before your box will not select 1st or 2nd properly and is totally possible to lock the selector up completely. 

Pull box and get it fixed, or you'll definitely do more serious damage to main shaft gears, synchros or coupling components.

This is absolutely not a "see how it goes" problem - you will kill your box if you don't address this now.

Thanks BK, I'll get some quotes for a rebuild vs. a new box.

[GTSBoy]

Rebuild ~half the price.

[Duncan]

well, your profile nor post says which car / box, but potentially much cheaper to pull and rebuild. some of the Rb boxes are getting very expensive these days.

Few hours labour for box in and out if you can't do it. 

depending on whether the bearings and synchros are still good to reuse it may just be a few hours to refit the keys.

[dyl33]

Sorry it's an R33 s2.5 gtst. I think a new box is around $3.7k, i payed $2.4k to rebuild/fix my gearbox last time but it still didn't feel 100%. 

I'll go and get some quotes in the coming days.

Thanks again.

[Duncan]

With respect to whoever built it last time, unless they offer to correct their error for free, I would not be going back there. They can't fall out if everything is assembled correctly.

[dyl33]

Yeah I'm a little annoyed, I knew somthing wasn't 100% right when i picked it up.

It was rebuilt by Gavin Wood Autotech on the Gold Coast, but he has since gone out of business. 

[BK]

On 07/06/2021 at 9:56 AM, dyl33 said:

Yeah I'm a little annoyed, I knew somthing wasn't 100% right when i picked it up.

It was rebuilt by Gavin Wood Autotech on the Gold Coast, but he has since gone out of business. 

Those solid inserts hold the 2 large circular springs on either side of the 1st / 2nd selector hub for the synchro baulk ring and is the same across all RB 5 speeds.

The 3rd / 4th inserts are a spring type clip and look like this when broken:

Should look like this:

Its way more common to pop the 3rd / 4th clips. The 3 ways these inserts come out on all gears is from:

1. Incorrect installation as they are pretty fragile.

2. Shifting like a Muppet, banging the gears through and forcing the shift.

3. Using a gearbox oil that is way too thick for the synchro to operate correctly like a diff oil or Shockproof. The thick viscosity actually will have a negative effect on the synchros to do their job and unnaturally load other components like shifting inserts, springs and sliding hubs.

[Duncan]

A little off track, but I understand those clips you've shown are series1-2 R33. Apparently s3 R33 had a better designed clip installed and retrofit is possible.

[BK]

On 07/06/2021 at 11:53 AM, Duncan said:

A little off track, but I understand those clips you've shown are series1-2 R33. Apparently s3 R33 had a better designed clip installed and retrofit is possible.

Yes correct, that 3rd / 4th insert is a pre 97 clip. The solid insert on 1st / 2nd never changed but your correct, the 3rd / 4th spring type insert changed on the post 97 boxes to a solid two spring type design.

To retrofit to the later clip on 3rd and 4th requires everything to do with the main shaft 3rd and 4th to be changed including main shaft 3rd / 4th gear, synchro baulk rings, sliding selector collar - everything. Even the 3rd / 4th selector fork needs to be changed as it won't locate into the old selector collar. Its about $800 - $1000 worth of just parts to convert.

All of these parts required for the conversion is also what you need to do to go to a ungraded synchro gearset like a PPG, PAR or OS giken on an old box as they are all designed around the post 97 synchro update on 3rd / 4th - a cost not usually factored in when upgrading a synchro gearset.

[AleksandarR33]

They are shift inserts for 3rd & 4th gear, from month/year 06/97 onwards.

[BK]

On 20/06/2021 at 10:28 PM, AleksandarR33 said:

They are shift inserts for 3rd & 4th gear, from month/year 06/97 onwards.

No, as mentioned in the original picture they are the 1st / 2nd gear ones.

Why do people with no idea what the hell they're talking about try and chime in on something as fact ?

It is the 1st / 2nd solid insert from the pics.

[AleksandarR33]

They are definitely for 3rd & 4th ( third and fourth gear ).

 

1st & 2nd don’t look anything like this.

 

 

[BK]

You have never built a box then have you.

I have - lots.

The solid ones are for 1st / 2nd, as they have a circular spring either side of them to provide the spring tension. The spring type looking ones are for 3rd / 4th as they are the spring.

Posts like this really shit me as it just contributes to misinformation from internet mechanics. If you don't know what you're on about - don't comment.

See below, same part for multiple Nissan boxes:

[AleksandarR33]

Wrong.. the ones you just shared are first and second gear,

the ones the topic creator shared are third and fourth gear.