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getting a gearbox reconditioned
toonyboy - December 20th, 2011 at 10:02 AM

Hello feloww aussieveedubbers,

I am located in Sydney.

I have 1968 beetele, with a 1500 swing-axle manual gearbox, it doesn't go into 4th gear, so I bought a secondhand gearbox, but it is a very rough through 2nd gear.

I wanted to know if anyone could tell me if there any places to get a gearbox re-conditioned. I have 2 gearboxes and I am sure between them I should have all the pieces for one good gearbox.

Any details on people who can help out would be great.

Cheers,

toonyboy

grumble - December 20th, 2011 at 10:09 AM

Mike at Custom bus & bug does them ans also has reco units.

68AutoBug - December 20th, 2011 at 02:51 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by toonyboy
Hello feloww aussieveedubbers,

I am located in Sydney.

I have 1968 beetele, with a 1500 swing-axle manual gearbox, it doesn't go into 4th gear, so I bought a secondhand gearbox, but it is a very rough through 2nd gear.

I wanted to know if anyone could tell me if there any places to get a gearbox re-conditioned. I have 2 gearboxes and I am sure between them I should have all the pieces for one good gearbox.

Any details on people who can help out would be great.

Cheers,

toonyboy


You could probably buy another 3 gearboxes and they could all be OK... [but seeing You are unlucky.. :lol]

the same bearings etc could be worn in all of them...
synchro rings etc..

cheers

LEE

Bizarre - December 20th, 2011 at 03:06 PM

be prepared for a half decent price

Gearboxes are expensive to rebuild
No one will rebuild a box without reconditioning the actual bits

toonyboy - December 20th, 2011 at 03:27 PM

The price I got to re-cond my gearbox is not that different from getting a a new re-cond gearbox of the shelf.

If that is going to be the case, I am half tempted to open the boxes up and have a play and come up with one gerabox out of the 2 - of course the results would not be known until I installed it in the car again - which could be a lot of work only to find out that the gearbiox I patched together doesn't work!

Just seems such a waste to chuck out 2 gearboxes and buy a third.
:fakesniff:

grumble - December 20th, 2011 at 06:36 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by toonyboy
The price I got to re-cond my gearbox is not that different from getting a a new re-cond gearbox of the shelf.

If that is going to be the case, I am half tempted to open the boxes up and have a play and come up with one gerabox out of the 2 - of course the results would not be known until I installed it in the car again - which could be a lot of work only to find out that the gearbiox I patched together doesn't work!

Just seems such a waste to chuck out 2 gearboxes and buy a third.
:fakesniff:

Just a quick bit of advice before you start inside check the manual and make sure you can access the jig to set the selectors up as these are not just an ordinary box.I have done them without the jig but it isn't worth the heartache.a box reco'd by a competent vw specialist is worth the money but if you want to try by all means good luck.

toonyboy - December 20th, 2011 at 08:46 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by grumble
Quote:
Originally posted by toonyboy
The price I got to re-cond my gearbox is not that different from getting a a new re-cond gearbox of the shelf.

If that is going to be the case, I am half tempted to open the boxes up and have a play and come up with one gerabox out of the 2 - of course the results would not be known until I installed it in the car again - which could be a lot of work only to find out that the gearbiox I patched together doesn't work!

Just seems such a waste to chuck out 2 gearboxes and buy a third.
:fakesniff:

Just a quick bit of advice before you start inside check the manual and make sure you can access the jig to set the selectors up as these are not just an ordinary box.I have done them without the jig but it isn't worth the heartache.a box reco'd by a competent vw specialist is worth the money but if you want to try by all means good luck.



I think I will get a new box, and then try to do something with these 2 boxes on the side - I am trying to get my beetle registered so I can use it as a daily drivers, and time is a ticking I need to meet my deadline (Australia day 2012)!

Anyway Nothing will happen between the end of the week and probably mid jan - since most places will be closed I imagine, so will need to act fast in the new year.

Thanks for all the advice

Uber Kafer - December 20th, 2011 at 11:28 PM

depending on your budget and what you have been quoted for overhaul of the gearbox a brand new swingaxle transaxle from CIP1 in the US might be an attractive option, about $1170 for the transaxle and $200 for shipping might get your interest.
http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C24%2D080%2D300%2D041%2D13 

brand new..... brand new..... brand new..... brand new..... :starhit:

1916baja - December 21st, 2011 at 05:36 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Uber Kafer
depending on your budget and what you have been quoted for overhaul of the gearbox a brand new swingaxle transaxle from CIP1 in the US might be an attractive option, about $1170 for the transaxle and $200 for shipping might get your interest.
http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C24%2D080%2D300%2D041%2D13 

brand new..... brand new..... brand new..... brand new..... :starhit:


plus all the import taxes due to the order being over 1000 bucks.

toonyboy - December 21st, 2011 at 09:16 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by 1916baja
Quote:
Originally posted by Uber Kafer
depending on your budget and what you have been quoted for overhaul of the gearbox a brand new swingaxle transaxle from CIP1 in the US might be an attractive option, about $1170 for the transaxle and $200 for shipping might get your interest.
http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C24%2D080%2D300%2D041%2D13 

brand new..... brand new..... brand new..... brand new..... :starhit:


plus all the import taxes due to the order being over 1000 bucks.


I think the tax is mostly the GST (on both the goods and the transport) + 5% of the customs value , so if the box plus transport is about 1400, I need to pay a further 15.5% (duty = 5% of value, then 10% of goods, trasport and duty payable), so about $(70 + 147)in taxes, so a total of 1400 +217 = 1617.

If the customs valuation is hihger than the purchase price s(ie they reckon the goods are worth say A$3000, then the duty goes up, to $150 from $70 and so on....

this is my intreptation from the customs website:

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page5549.asp 


Anyway $1700 for a brand new box is still a good deal - but will have no warranty i imagine, as opposed to a re-cond box bought through a local supplier! So the decision is not so clear cut :crazy:

Uber Kafer - December 21st, 2011 at 02:25 PM

No, speaking from experience, you will pay 10% of the combined price and shipping, but only once the cost of the item itself goes over $1000 AUD. Customs will only review the value of an item if it seems seriously under-stated on the declaration form. And cant be easily substantiated, such as a reference to the suppliers website listing etc. They are not unreasonable.

Anyway, over the years I have found gearbox rebuilds on old cars by so-called 'experts' to be a very disappointing experience. On the other hand, a new gearbox put together by machines and factory staff who have previously put together a squillion identical gearboxes seems to indicate that the probabilities of failure are well in your favour.

On that basis I am seriously considering buying one of these transaxles for our 1967 Karmann Ghia.