for about a week my swing axle box has been making some nasty sounding noises.

now this box has never been perfect. i jumps out of 4th some times and makes some great whining noises. both of which i could live with.

but now in 1st and 2nd when i drive the car harder than a slow motion granny i get a scratching sort of noise. it doesnt sound good at all and u can hear it over the radio.

ive got a spare box back at dads but i have no idea what condition its in and i think its a 1200 box.

any ideas?

Nick

my kombi has a similar problem, my avdice is take it to a veedub person who can listen to it and tell you what they think but mine whines and pops out of reverse, they said its general wearing on an old box and that its slowly on its way to the grave, they put a special lube in the box that slilenced it al little, but i think i need to have the box pulled apart and the bits that are worn inside replaced. to make this the cheapest for you you can try to use parts from the other box that are in better nick to make a combo g/box that works cause getting some of those parts new i have been informed is a costly exercise. i dont know if the 2 different size boxes will be trasferable into one though.

good luck.

noisy grumblings are probably from the pinion bearing... the bearing that takes pretty much all the load the engine produces.

trouble getting second gear is usually the first thing to go, then it starts jumping out of gears, thats all normal stuff for an old gearbox. If you get off and on the throttle the gearstick will move back and forwards by itself, signs of a worn housing.

they are pretty expensive to overhaul, not quite as much as an engine. For the kombi box you will probably be looking at a bit over $1000. I've never had work to a beetle box but I assume probably slightly less for a box needing the same amount of work. The real cost will be determined by which parts you have that are serviceable and which arent. You'll need a full set of synchros, possible bearings, who knows what condition the gears are in, selector forks... The final bill isnt pretty ... but at least it will outlast your next 2 engines!

ok question 2.........is it gonna break on me? how long before it dies and i cant drive the thing? lol noises are fine i can live with noises its my gearbox braking as im driving up a hill in first in the middle of nowhere that scares me.

It all depends on what your star sign is and what planets are aligned. it may carry on a little noisy for a long time, or even eternity, it could possibly seize tomorrow. So long as it isnt getting worse, I would continue driving it for a while.

When we got our first Kombi it had a 1600 box in it and I just took off from the lights one day and BANG only first gear very noisy, and third gear. No warning.

hmmm......might have to arrange that kombi box sooner than i would have liked.

Yeah. collapsed bearing. My beetle had the same problem. When I started having trouble changing gears, and I'd lost m,ost of my hearing in one ear from the constant grinding I swapped it out with a type 3 box.
When I was swapping the shift housings two things were apparent.
1: The oil was an intriguing shiny metallic grey.
2: I could see the remnants of the collapsed bearing. It had split and dropped half its guts.

naaaah, seriously, I WOULD use it.

This is mine. I kept using it long after it got noisy.... and then for a couple of days after it started going bang bang around corners until the diff locked up... and then for another day until I put a hole in the diff and all the bits that had locked it up fell out when I stopped at a set of lights.

bummer, I hate having to push cars, and it gives the anti vw people in my life another reason to put shit on me.

what sort of box did that used to be,say 2l kombi and I will cry.

nah, you're safe, only an 1800.

I've seen a 2L kombi box do worse than that.....and it was full of Albins Gears too.......

oh....:puke


BTW, what motor did the 1800 box have in front of it?nn[ Edited on 30-7-2005 by pete wood ]

I reckon there is a fair chance it was a turbo Type 4....

the diff was only a stock 2 litre, it was just a very tired box, and I think something in the spider gear area began to seize. It kept locking and unlocking and I guess it did that until it broke right off, locking the diff. Then evetnually the locked bits just pushed out and all of a sudden there was no drive.

this next pic is another 1800, the following one is albins. But they were abused slicked, puck clutch, turbosmashed ones.

I probably shouldnt say keep driving it without hearing the noise, it could cost more money in the long run. If it was just a rumbly bearing then it should be fine for a while, if its a crunchy knarly one then it wont last.nn[ Edited on 30-7-2005 by amazer ]

Here's a nicer pic to drool over......mmmmm syncro diff lock

and locked

it still drives fine. but if i give it juice in 1st or second it makes a growling scratchy noise.. its always howled a little in 4th inve just ignored it.

well I suspect that failure is really a matter of "when" not "if"!
Thing is it can growl and fizz for years or go bang tomorrow. Who knows?!

Noisy gerboxes are a real unknmown quantity.

L8tr
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