Re: Lurch now has a replacement gearbox / Diff fitted
Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2017 7:51 am
It gets better... Alf took the engine out, gearbox out and took it to pieces, again, to see if was something that he had done wrong in the gearbox.He didn't find anything untoward so good news. Put it back together again and back under Lurch. The only other thing that could cause the problems we had was the clutch. When he took it apart, there was a lot of "Crud" round the outside edge which could have been preventing the clutch plate from moving properly.
When we first took the engine out, we noticed that the spring that returns the clutch release bearing was broken. This was replaced, but we didn't go any further than that. Alf found little bits of metal in the crud he removed, which presumably was the remains of the broken spring. Anyway, he put the engine back in and adjusted things back up again all during the week by himself. I was fully expecting to go back up to his place and help pull it all apart again, instead I went back up there and helped do some final adjustments and then drove Lurch home again!
Drive home was pretty uneventful as far as Lurch actually driving. No more bearing whine, just straight cut gear whine! Biggest scare was when Lurch lost all electrical power going up a hill on the A20 (triple lane carriageway) out of London! Luckily I was able to cross the one nearside lane and get on to the hard shoulder before Lurch ground to a halt!
No lights on the dash! Er???? Is that smoke I see coming up past the windscreen? Quick, turn the Battery cutoff switch and look for the source! Ah! some melting plastic covering the wires coming to the Ammeter. Quick check following the wires back to the engine compartment revealed the cause. Where we have had the bodywork up and down we had cut the cable ties holding the wire up out of the way and without the cable ties it was able to dangle down and touch the heat exchanger. Short road trips obviously did not get the heat exchanger hot enough to melt the plastic covering the wires, but seventy odd mile was! Cut the offending wires out and reconnect the wiring as it was originally in engine compartment, all the while with cars / lorries zooming past was interesting to say the least!
That done, check I have no other blown fuses and then check I have ignition.... Great, all working again. Start Lurch as if nothing had happened and spend a while waiting for a suitable gap to get Lurch going as fast as possible up hill to be able to join the traffic.
An uneventful rest of the trip home.
Now all I have to do is some final "tinkering". Like redo the wiring for the Ammeter, adjust the brakes, adjust the clutch as they all are a little bit out now that things have settled into place.
Next outing a Trials this weekend at Aldermaston. Will be only doing the easy bit and not trying any of the harder bits until I have a few more miles on the new bearings in the gearbox.
Oh, and Alf also sorted out the other diff that had seized! So now I have a "good" spare 4 speed + Krawler gearbox and diff if needed.
Need to make up a trophy for Alf!
John
When we first took the engine out, we noticed that the spring that returns the clutch release bearing was broken. This was replaced, but we didn't go any further than that. Alf found little bits of metal in the crud he removed, which presumably was the remains of the broken spring. Anyway, he put the engine back in and adjusted things back up again all during the week by himself. I was fully expecting to go back up to his place and help pull it all apart again, instead I went back up there and helped do some final adjustments and then drove Lurch home again!
Drive home was pretty uneventful as far as Lurch actually driving. No more bearing whine, just straight cut gear whine! Biggest scare was when Lurch lost all electrical power going up a hill on the A20 (triple lane carriageway) out of London! Luckily I was able to cross the one nearside lane and get on to the hard shoulder before Lurch ground to a halt!
No lights on the dash! Er???? Is that smoke I see coming up past the windscreen? Quick, turn the Battery cutoff switch and look for the source! Ah! some melting plastic covering the wires coming to the Ammeter. Quick check following the wires back to the engine compartment revealed the cause. Where we have had the bodywork up and down we had cut the cable ties holding the wire up out of the way and without the cable ties it was able to dangle down and touch the heat exchanger. Short road trips obviously did not get the heat exchanger hot enough to melt the plastic covering the wires, but seventy odd mile was! Cut the offending wires out and reconnect the wiring as it was originally in engine compartment, all the while with cars / lorries zooming past was interesting to say the least!
That done, check I have no other blown fuses and then check I have ignition.... Great, all working again. Start Lurch as if nothing had happened and spend a while waiting for a suitable gap to get Lurch going as fast as possible up hill to be able to join the traffic.
An uneventful rest of the trip home.
Now all I have to do is some final "tinkering". Like redo the wiring for the Ammeter, adjust the brakes, adjust the clutch as they all are a little bit out now that things have settled into place.
Next outing a Trials this weekend at Aldermaston. Will be only doing the easy bit and not trying any of the harder bits until I have a few more miles on the new bearings in the gearbox.
Oh, and Alf also sorted out the other diff that had seized! So now I have a "good" spare 4 speed + Krawler gearbox and diff if needed.
Need to make up a trophy for Alf!
John