Wow, my tranny rebuild has come off to a hellish start.

There's no way in hell I've been able to just tilt & ease out the
mainshaft and I'm done. Nope, things got in the way. No clearance.

So, with that in mind, how do you get the 1st gear off the mainshaft? It
slides a bit as it should, but it stops when you get to the mainshaft
part where splines start up again. Yet, the diameter of the splines
seems to be similar to what it's riding on right now.

Ugh, this is hell.

And I can't remove things the other way due to the chuck key thing that
drives the overdrive cam.

"S1500" <s1500 (AT) comcast (DOT) net.nospam> wrote

usually you free the layshaft first

S1500 wrote:

As Mr Cheerful said, you need to drop the laygear first, but I guess you
must have done that or you wouldn't have any movement. If you haven't,
push out the layshaft and let the laygear drop into the bottom of the 'box.

It's a while since I did mine, but IIRC, I drifted out the input shaft
bearing first, which lets the input shaft slide forwards a bit, giving
enough room for a drift to push out the mainshaft bearing. This loosened
it up enough to remove the input shaft.
Can't remember what came next, but I distinctly remember Haynes being
very wrong about the process. The shaft had to come out from the
opposite side to what they suggest.

No, there's a stop on the mainshaft so it can only be built up from one
direction.

I can clearly remember removing the overdrive cam. Couldn't have done it
without. Isn't there just a Woodruff key holding an eccentric cam? I
think I just drifted the cam off by hitting it lightly with a nammer and
chisel. The speedo drive had to come off to of course.
This was a Vitesse gearbox with Dolomite bits, but I'd have thought the
design would be the same.

Good luck!

In article <xYKdnV_LurE9a-XYnZ2dnUVZ_tDinZ2d (AT) comcast (DOT) com>,
S1500 <s1500 (AT) comcast (DOT) net.nospam> wrote:
Sounds like you want a BL workshop manual - essential for working on any
car like this. They give full overhaul procedures for everything unlike
the Haynes 'take it to your dealer' crap.

Generally, you have to remove the layshaft first so the laygear drops to
the bottom of the housing. After removing circlips etc you drift the third
motion shaft forwards which pushes out the first motion shaft. When that's
out, collect any bearing between the two and remove the third motion
shaft. There's often some form of plungers to restrict first gear forward
motion on the third motion shaft (non synchro type) - after that is off
the others come free.

Dunno what you mean by a chuck key. Most common type of removable drive is
a Woodruff key. This is may be drifted out.

--
*It was recently discovered that research causes cancer in rats*

Dave Plowman dave (AT) davenoise (DOT) co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

I wrote:
Just found a photo I took when I had mine apart:
http://www.pixaerial.com/gears.jpg
I think you can see that the spined part is wider than the rest of the
shaft to the left. This is why the gear on the left there has to be slid
off that side rather than passed right along the shaft.

(s1500 = Big Teebo. Posting at work).

Gotcha. After I made the initial post, I did a rough measurement of the
frontmost splines across the "gap". It is indeed a larger diameter on
those splines. So I won't be taking that forward route to take the
first gear out.

The layshaft shaft is indeed out, with the gears nicely resting at the
bottom, with front row seats to all this madness.

The reverse shaft & gear are also out. The mainshaft now has just the
bearing and (big)1st gear, a washer, and that's it. And still, not
quite enough to get any clearance to get the shaft out.

That's correct. I looked to see what was holding it onto the mainshaft,
but I couldn't come up with any sort of conclusion. All the pictures
and sketches I've seen of mainshafts don't show the cam whatsoever. For
indeed, the mainshaft looks different for an OD transmission, unless
I'm looking at it wrong.

Here's a picture of the mainshaft in the question from an earlier point
in the dismantling.

http://home.comcast.net/~s1500/end-of-mainshaft-cam.jpg

So, what's the exact procedure for safely removing the woodruff key? My
first impression was with a blowtorch to heat up the ring/key, thus
expanding it out, and it slide it out. Of course I'd have a machine
shop or tranny shop do that so I wouldn't break it.

Ugh.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll overcome this obstacle yet. Heck,
if I can get that dang inward snap-ring out(combined total of 3 hours
of work) without the special tool, I feel now that I can do everything.

In article <1165588901.955573.247870 (AT) 79g2000cws (DOT) googlegroups.com>,
british1500 (AT) gmail (DOT) com <british1500 (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:
Tap one end with a soft drift and hammer. Brass is ideal, but a bit of
decent hardwood or plastic might work. The woodruff key is curved where
you can't see it and any movement fore or aft will force it upwards since
it fits in a matching 'slot'.

--
*Money isn't everything, but it sure keeps the kids in touch.

Dave Plowman dave (AT) davenoise (DOT) co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

british1500 (AT) gmail (DOT) com wrote:

Have you removed that snap-ring thing that shows clearly in the photo
holding the cam in place?
With that out of the way, the cam ring should just slide off (with a few
taps) leaving the Woodruff key in place. The key is only stopping the
cam rotate - it's that ring which stops if sliding off.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Not bad advice, especially as Triumph manuals (Heralds & Spits at
least) are ten a penny.

OTOH The Haynes Spitfire is excellent and gives full details of all 3
gearboxes and complete rebuilding instructions, down to the "machining
needed" level. I presume (from the poster's email) that this is the
last box, the all-synchro single-rail as fitted to the 1500.

My favourite Haynes is still the Alfasud. You really ought to read the
dire warnings not to even _think_ of touching the gearbox on that! 8-)

If you don't have a Haynes Spit, then I just happen to be flogging one
on eBay right now 8-)
Bundled book of roadtests for free too!

That Woodruff key needs to come off the mainshaft. Then It's pretty
easy AFAIR. I've not done a Spit of this ilk, just the Dolly 1850
which I recall is the same.

In article <1165611250.906048.192210 (AT) 80g2000cwy (DOT) googlegroups.com>,
Andy Dingley <dingbat (AT) codesmiths (DOT) com> <dingbat (AT) codesmiths (DOT) com> wrote:
Ah - right. Of course earlier Haynes were a bit better. But all the ones
I've ever owned have that magic phrase somewhere. ;-)

--
*If work is so terrific, how come they have to pay you to do it?

Dave Plowman dave (AT) davenoise (DOT) co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.