My 1992 Nissan Terrano is finally mobile again. Taking the broken gearbox out was a simple task, accomplished in little over five hours. Five hours that is if you put all of the time I spent on it in one continuous string. In reality it took several days because the rest of the world keeps on marching on and continuing to make demands on my time with other tasks that have to be completed as well.
Putting the replacement gearbox in was an altogether much more complicated matter. First there was the problem of picking the 80 kg gearbox up off the ground and lifting it into exactly the right place underneath the car. Obviously I wasn't going to do that with just brute strength. In the end I used a small one ton chain hoist that I have. I made a frame that fitted over the hole in the car where the gear levers come through the floor to hang the hoist from. Then I hoisted the gearbox up and tried to get everything perfectly lined up so I could slide the gearbox into place. In the end that took me several days, the equivalent of maybe four hours. Amazingly it actually took me less time to put the gearbox in than it took me to get it out. Once I had it in place it took maybe another two hours to get everything connected up and bolted down.
Putting the gearbox back in did make quite a few demands on my back and it has been rather tender these last few days. Still, with an end in sight I simply pressed on and got the job done.
At last the moment of truth had arrived and I started the car. No problems there, everything worked as it should. It was time to go for a test ride but not before I had checked every bolt to make sure I had really tightened them all down properly. Success, I had. First I drove up and down the drive a few times both in two wheel drive and four wheel drive high ratio and low ratio. So far, so good. Time to go out onto the road and try it out for real!
The road test seems to be going well, no funny noises and the gearbox is working fine in two wheel drive. Time to try four wheel drive. Going up a little hill ........ when suddenly with a grinding noise I loose all drive. Turns out that when at speed the car jumps out of four wheel drive as soon as a little load comes on. Problem quickly diagnosed and so it's turn around and head back home.
At the moment the car works perfectly in two wheel drive and low ratio four wheel drive but not in high ratio. Luckily I have another transfer case (this is the bit that makes the car four wheel drive and it is bolted onto the back of the gearbox) which I know to be in perfect condition. It does mean that I'll have to spend another few days on my back under the car swapping over transfer cases. At least that isn't quite as big a job as swapping gearboxes. Given how my back feels at the moment I think I may wait until next week before I start on that though.
No comments:
Post a Comment