Is it worth it...?

[Wilberforce]

Wotcher folks, time for a bit of a straw poll....

As most of ye know, I've had to pop a new gearbox on the Bus recently, and the practical upshot of this (and the acquisition of Lara the SWB) is that I have two duff 2.8 gearboxen sat around my place.
One (from the BBB) has a cracked rear casting and probable output shaft damage, to judge from the noise, but the internals and even the 4wd transfer internals were as good as ever. The other (which was Lara's original before that got swapped too) was a possible input shaft problem to judge from the history of posts regarding it.

What I'm wondering is... is it worth the effort to take the relevant part of casting & the output shaft off Lara's old box, and put it onto the one from the Bus, so's we have one good spare 2.8 box from the two?? Or not worth the expense / hassle / risk??
Your thoughts please,
Jim.

[Paul A]

I'd be tempted to have a go.
Got nothing to lose really, at the moment you have 2 boxes that are no good... why not rebuild into 1 good 'un.
Just take your time over it and do a real good job.

[RatCav]

Has to be worth a shot if you ask me. As said nothing to lose. If you do you can replace tired/worn seals and get lots of photos for other peeps to see what goes on so they can do it themselves.

[MG Autos (Mark)]

Have a go Jim, if it doesn't work out you can still weigh them both in at your local scrappy and get a couple of quid back.

Don't think you've really got anything to loose by giving it a go mate

[snapper]

Agree with the above post's, if you have the time and space then I would give it a go, not forgetting to record everything of course.

[jontera]

short answer..YES.
if it all goes wrong, what have you got to lose?..but you'll gained a lot of knowledge about the internals of a fronty gearbox..photo's of both will help...but all a gearbox really is, is a bunch of cogs and selector forks with a whole hog of bearings chucked in..simple things once you've got your head around what each bit does in relation to the other bits and shafts..

to often are gearboxes binned due to something as simple as an input shaft bearing, that could only cost £50 inc oil etc to fix..

[Drift]

I am going to have a good route around my old transfer box when I change the gearbox to see if I can get a new bearing for the output shaft, then someone will get a good box either very cheap or for nothingness

[Wilberforce]

[Hound Dog]

[ghosthunter]

I'd go for it. Even if you balls it up you've not lost anything and gained experience at the same time, which is always good.
You'll get to understand how it all works in detail and you'll have no trouble in reality if you have some mechanical knowledge. Thats how I learned, I did it myself, learnt on american V8's in my late teens/early 20's, and I'll tackle any job on my vehicle. I'm not even fazed by auto boxes,i've done several torqueflite auto rebuilds with total sucess.
Go for it.......you wont regret it. And when its finished you can say...I did that.... and thats one good feeling!
Cheers
Neil

[yaki]

Give it a go, but if you are going to the trouble of stripping it get the bearings changed while its apart. Should be quite cheap if you get the numbers off the old ones and buy them from a bearing supplier rather than VX

[Mr Mud]

And at the end of the day Jim you'll have a good box because you did it yourself, so if you've got the time just tinker away with it and good luck and let us know how you got on.

[Drift]

[Wilberforce]