Brumby Gearbox Probs..

[Gazza01]

My 92 Brumby has 420000ks runs like a charm-uses no oil- But its a bit difficulty to get into 2nd and 3rd gears until it warms up then its ok. There is still plenty of meat left on the clutch but I thought it might be the throwout bearing. I guess the worst senario is the synchros. I had a mate who was an old time Gearbox Mechanic and I used to watch him to bodgie jobs on gearboxes which included getting a smooth file and filing back the synchro teeth. I have two spare brumby boxes but have no history on them . I guess I could strip them down for parts, but be a shame if there ok boxes. Any ideas out there.

[Bantum]

Hey Gazza,

You really should ask nicely one of the mods on here to put this in the right category for starters ...

I'm sure then someone on here will have an answer ...

Cheers, Bantum ...

[RSR 555]

I'd drain the gearbox oil and try some Castrol VMX80 oil in there before pulling the box to pieces. I'd also check that the clutch fork is moving enough. I've found many of the older models now having lots of play in all of the clutch components, this making the clutch fork movement less than when it was new and stops the pressure plate releasing the friction disc like it should.

[Gazza01]

Thanks I'll check this out.

[steptoe]

The fork is harder than the bearing carrier, bearing carrier gets some mighty fine divots (should be a machined flat finish on the cast iron component. About 80 bucks from Subaru may be ex Japan ? Like clutch cables, it is a service item and needs replacing at least once in a Brumbys long life .....mine lasted about 390,000 before i put a new one in, now waiting for 780,000km to get my monies worth out of the new one .

The oil RSR mentions above lists as 45 bucks four litres ? SCA . Easiset thing to try yourself.

[tambox]

When you say hard to get into gear, does that mean it grinds and you can't get the gear or is it just hard to push into the gear?
But start with the oil, see what is stuck to the drain plug, if it has shiny metal on it, something is failing, if it is super fine black filings, normal wear. It should only be a light layer.

[Gazza01]

Thanks a lot guys I'll try them all.

[tony90]

I bought a Brumby that has a very heavy clutch pedal and very hard to select gears unless you push the pedal hard to the floor.
I replaced clutch cable and found the pedal box was cracked and broken around the cable mounting point. Replaced the pedalbox and no difference.
I rerung the engine due to bad oil consumption, and assumed the clutch fork and throwout bearing had dried up grease.Regreased them and clutch was still crap.
New cable had decided to break the inner cable so I fitted another complete assembly out of an 82 (different cable to the later cars) and a some cableties to try and keep the cable straight as possible at the pedal and adjusted freeplay up as much as possible.
Gear changing is a lot better but that pressure plate has got to go.
Put up with difficult gear changes too long.
I seen a few cracked pedalboxes now, so obviously there's a problem.
Gearboxes that have had crook syncros I've driven have just crunched when going into gear (4/5 speed 1800 boxes) and/or don't go into gear (2nd and 3rd) because of badly worn selector forks unless you pull them into gear as quickly and hard as you can.

[Silverbullet]

Pedal boxes on these crack often for sure, although I've never had one of mine crack. Re-enforce by welding flat bar or small square tube inside the box around where the clutch cable attaches, tie it to the front and rear plates of the pedal box.

I had a bloody stiff clutch up until recently as well and I know how much hard gear changes suck, assumed it was the cable. When I had the gearbox swapped due to an un-related issue, the mechanics said the throwout bearing fell apart when they took it out, and the pilot bearing in the flywheel(?) was shot to pieces. With those replaced my clutch is soft and smooth, so much better. I'll put my new cable in as well and hopefully it gets even better.