Be afriad, be very afraid, some VW T3 gearbox destruction is the title of this post for a very good reason. As this is one of the worst gearboxes Ive seenin a while I thought I would share it with you. Also the cause of its destruction is a slight mystery and not what you would think at first. The following gearbox is a VW T3 Syncro gearbox that was mated to a Subaru and was rebulit 7 years ago.
Cause of failure
From what I can see there is nothing in the rebuild that was the cause of this gearbox failure. Upon first impressions one would assume that the box was result of a severe bump start. However it could be due to a number of other factors, a fitting error ? A propshaft failure resulting in a cracked nose cone? A bearing failure due to lack of oil ? Or a combination of all the above causes its very difficult to say. Needless to say this box has suffered a lot of damage and from my priliminary investigations the pinion shaft is a write off. Anyhow heres the pics. but I shall update you with more images of destruction and also of redemption I hope. Whether it becomes a donor or a rebuild all usuable parts will be salvaged
Note wear and damage to the mounting arms on the reduction gear housing. These should be slots not holes
What they should look like
Note fracture on nose cone posibbly from propshaft failure ?This would have allowed water ingress and also oil to leak out
A good nose cone for comparison
signs of water ingress (rust) on bearing in nose cone
Sealing surface ok apart from very slight scoring. Seal was working ok on output flange to prop
The Real Destruction
What the contents should look like
What they look like. A huge amount of damage here, no traces of any bearings and a lot of debris
The remains of a R/G gear Synchroniser
What it should look like, a new one for comparison
Mainshaft Bearing failure note the missing balls
G gear in reduction gear housing. Note damage to case at the top
To be continued .........
Part two now availble here https://vantopia.ie/be-afraid-be-very-afraid-some-vw-t3-gearbox-destruction-part-2/
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