Gearbox problems

[SP33DY]

Who has had problems with their gearboxes and what was up with them?

Basically I've already blown a box up on my turbo 182 so have been in touch with gearboxman regarding upgrades and an LSD. He asked what went in my last box to which I admitted that I didn't look and had just gave it away. So I'm going to try and glean as much info as possible from people who have had failures in a bid to identify the weak spots.

Any contributions to this would be much appreciated :)

Steve

[Ricardo]

JC5 phase 1 Clio 172 gearbox

Stripped all the teeth off 5th gear, cracked the inner gearbox casing
3rd gear shyncro was worn

Binned and replaced with another phase 1 Clio 172 with 60ish K.

[extraturbo]

usually the circlips on the outside of the diff just inside where the passenger side driveshaft is they pop out an you loose all drive to the wheels had this happen on 3 boxes

[SP33DY]

TBH the JB3 box is pretty similar so any horror storys about those might help.

I've posted this up on clio sport as well but it seems not many of them know what a gear box is so haven't had much response LOL. Searching through old threads though shows that bearing failures are quite common and a lad with a supercharged clio is on his 4th box!!!!!! He stripped 2nd in one, blew the circlip out of another so bad that it wouldn't go back in and the last one lost a planet gear via the engine casing.

What is interesting is that a french company is offering this upgrade on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Gearbox-Twin-reinforcemen-Clio-Williams-RS-172-JC5_W0QQitemZ180477439350QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Car sParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item2a054b2d76

Could it be as simple as the casings are flexing allowing the shafts to disengage slightly causing all the problems? (obviously not the diff issues Ben had) As when I blew mine up 2nd gear kind of disappeared :)

[Woznaldo]

TBH the JB3 box is pretty similar so any horror storys about those might help.

I've posted this up on clio sport as well but it seems not many of them know what a gear box is so haven't had much response LOL. Searching through old threads though shows that bearing failures are quite common and a lad with a supercharged clio is on his 4th box!!!!!! He stripped 2nd in one, blew the circlip out of another so bad that it wouldn't go back in and the last one lost a planet gear via the engine casing.

What is interesting is that a french company is offering this upgrade on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Gearbox-Twin-reinforcemen-Clio-Williams-RS-172-JC5_W0QQitemZ180477439350QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Car sParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item2a054b2d76

Could it be as simple as the casings are flexing allowing the shafts to disengage slightly causing all the problems? (obviously not the diff issues Ben had) As when I blew mine up 2nd gear kind of disappeared :)

That's very interesting as I stripped all the teeth off my 5th Gear. For the money, it's probably worth a shot and wouldn't be too hard to fit either?

[Andrew Cooke]

TBH the JB3 box is pretty similar so any horror storys about those might help.

I've posted this up on clio sport as well but it seems not many of them know what a gear box is so haven't had much response LOL. Searching through old threads though shows that bearing failures are quite common and a lad with a supercharged clio is on his 4th box!!!!!! He stripped 2nd in one, blew the circlip out of another so bad that it wouldn't go back in and the last one lost a planet gear via the engine casing.

What is interesting is that a french company is offering this upgrade on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Gearbox-Twin-reinforcemen-Clio-Williams-RS-172-JC5_W0QQitemZ180477439350QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Car sParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item2a054b2d76

Could it be as simple as the casings are flexing allowing the shafts to disengage slightly causing all the problems? (obviously not the diff issues Ben had) As when I blew mine up 2nd gear kind of disappeared :)

I've had a box with the planet gear escaped, stripped a couple where the 2nd motion shaft had blown out of the end. That plate on Ebay is a pretty common mod, you have to machine the end of the casing to fit it. I asked about it a few years back when looking into boxes, I was told that they still blow the end out with it, maybe not as much, but it still happens.

Some boxes (JC5-130?) have a bolt on cover instead, or as well as the circlip.

I've not had any problems with planet gears or circlips, but then my diff is welded solid :laugh:

[SP33DY]

When I gave my original box away I kept the bolt in diff, but I'm now looking at getting a quaife ATB.

Bernie from CTS was talking about shotpeening the gears and cryogenically treating the casing for strength? any body explored these options.

[Woznaldo]

I read an article in Race Engineering mag (i think) that detailed the process, and they said that a lot of the WRC teams and Enduro/Motox teams were using the company to have gearbox/driveline and engine parts for increased durability and reliability.

What they didn't cover was the cost but, the process actually involves heating the part up to high temp (700-1200 deg C) and then cooling down followed by freezing (all from memory).

If the price is right, it might be worth a punt?