Gear set query

[Concrete-crusher]

Hi as some will know , I bought a gearbox only to find it?s notchy to say the least changing gear.

My original gearbox has some corrosion on the gears , so where would I find a set of similar gears , semi close ratio ? As everything else looks good.


I see quite a few gearboxes on eBay but don?t know which types if any have the same gears inside ?

Is there a list of suitable doner boxes , or is it simply the cortina boxes and 2000e boxes that I should look at ?

Thanks Steve

[promotor]

Proper 2000e gearboxes have the correct gears, but beware people who advertise their "2000e gearbox" when in fact it's just a corsair gearbox ie with standard ratios. Just because it looks like a 2000e doesn't mean it has the ratios.

"2000e" and "Lotus" gearboxes are where you will find most luck.

Do you need all gears, or just a few?

[2cams70]

Very unlikely that a notchy gearshift is caused by corrosion on the gears unless perhaps there's a significant amount on the sliding splines of the synchroniser hubs - even then this would cause stiffness rather than notchiness. Can you show some pictures? - just remove the gearbox top cover. Far more likely to be caused by something in the selector mechanism or wrong oil. The 2000E box has one of the slickest gearshifts ever so any notchiness is most out of character.

With regards to the gears - semi-close gearsets can be found in the following Ford models:
Fort Escort Mk1 Twin Cam/Mexico/RS1600
Ford Cortina Mk2 GT/1600E
Fort Capri (Mercury in the US?) Mk1 1600GT (all gears except for input shaft which is longer in the Capri)
Ford 2000E Corsair GT? (I believe was the original source for these ratios although haven't seen one in the flesh)

[Concrete-crusher]

The existing gears all look fine at first glance , however when you look closely between the teeth you can see some blackening on some of them , it?s very slight but I?m not the expert. The synchros are ok and bearings seem ok , but it did whine in 2 nd and 3rd , 1st was quiet and so was 4th

Steve

[2cams70]

Almost certainly not caused by the gears themselves. The gears are constant mesh and therefore have no effect on the shift quality. Slight whine in the indirect gears is normal. What usually exacerbates whine is the gears not being in proper alignment due to a worn layshaft in particular. Again this won't affect the gear shift quality however. I'd check the following

1. Dragging clutch (damaged pilot bearing in crankshaft / sticking input shaft/clutch plate splines / incorrect adjustment / bent fork, etc)
2. Incorrect gearbox oil
3. Pilot bearing on mainshaft nose.
4. Has the gearlever been shortened?

You really need to remove the top cover and have a poke about whilst shifting the gears with the lever attached.

[gjz30075]

Perhaps the springs holding the detent balls on the rails are stiffer than normal. Different suppliers from rebuilds in the past?

[promotor]

The existing gears all look fine at first glance , however when you look closely between the teeth you can see some blackening on some of them , it?s very slight but I?m not the expert. The synchros are ok and bearings seem ok , but it did whine in 2 nd and 3rd , 1st was quiet and so was 4th

Steve

Blackening on the gears could be the original finish that hasn't worn off yet. It should be a regular pattern if it has been worn away. If it's corrosion it's likely to be an irregular finish.

The photos below are a new old stock set of 2000e gears that I have and they have a black finish to them.

Black finish all over mainshaft gears.

(the cluster gear looks brown as this doesn't have the same finish, and is covered in factory grease).

I would expect gear whine in 1st gear as well as 2nd/3rd if the layshaft and/or bearings are worn (but not 4th as the layshaft rollers aren't under load in 4th as the layshaft isn't taking any load in that gear) and 1st should see it even more so than 2nd/3rd would do at a set RPM for example @ 2000RPM.
Is it possible 1st gear does whine but you don't notice it due to not much time spent in 1st gear as well as not being able to escape the intake and exhaust noise at slower speeds and hence overall car noise is masking it?)

The reason I mention 1st gear in regards to bearing/shaft wear is that 1st gear is the gear that suffers the most and sees the most torque (per set RPM) due to torque multiplication (a gearbox is simply a torque multiplier to allow the revs of an engine to have an advantage over the weight of the car or the road conditions it is facing) : 1st gives the most torque multiplication, 2nd slightly less, 3rd even more so, and so on and so forth. Conversely due to the higher torque multiplication 1st cluster gear and 1st gear mainshaft gears try to separate/climb away from each other when the power goes through them, 2nd gear gearset slightly less, and 3rd gear gearset even less. This is what eventually causes bearing/shaft wear and possible whine with gears.

You can get a whine from corrosion in the teeth also, but it can also present itself as a "clacking/ticking" noise if the corrosion has high spots or large amounts of deformities in the gear teeth.

Regarding the notchy shift as mentioned in my previous PM to you (which you never responded to me so I don't know if you checked over the gear lever assembly and whether that was suspect) it could be a number of things.

There are some parts in 2000e gearboxes that can be overlooked and put in the wrong version of the gearbox (there are a few types) and this can affect the overall alignment of the gears which may give a whining noise. There is also the problem of fitting the wrong synchro rings with the wrong synchroniser units that can cause gear shift mechanism jamming/rubbing amongst other problems. It all depends on the gearboxes history and what was done if has been rebuilt. "Rebuilt" can cover a multitude of scenarios unfortunately.

[Concrete-crusher]

Thank you for the replies , it's given me lots to think about.

I took the speedo drive out today to fit an oring and learned that the oil from the tail section drains here even after the gearbox has been emptied from the bottom bung.

So too bits of info in 1 day

Thanks steve