At 10:55 AM 6/22/98 -0400, Eric R. Stephen wrote:
>***
>Took the A out for a drive .... while accellerating in first gear I can
hear a "chatter" coming from the gear box. No chatter in reverse or in
2nd, 3rd or 4th. .... Can anyone hazard a guess ....
Probably a chipped tooth on one of the straight gears. But, that's a bit
of a puzzle. If you chip a tooth on one of the two straight gear wheels of
the reverse gear, it should chatter in reverse only. If you chip a tooth
on one of the straight gears for 1st gear it should chatter in both 1st and
reverse, because reverse uses all of the straight teeth. So, here's my
best guess:
One tooth or two adjacent teeth are broken on the sliding gear of the 1st
gear set, but not on the lay gear. Also, that tooth may be broken off at
an angle so that one face of the remaining stub is shorter than the other.
When 1st gear is engaged, the small straight gear ring of the laygear bears
against one side of the teeth on the 1st gear ring, and comes into contact
with the shorter face of the broken tooth, which functionally looks like a
missing tooth, and therefore causes a clicking noise with each revolution.
When reverse gear is engaged, the small straight gear ring of the laygear
bears against the larger tooth ring of the reverse gear, and the smaller
tooth ring of the reverse gear bears against the opposite side of the teeth
on the 1st gear ring, and comes into contact with the longer face of the
broken tooth, which functionally looks more like a whole tooth, so no
clicking noise.
Sorry, but it looks like you're in for pulling the engine and gearbox.
Once the gearbox is out you can remove the side cover and inspect all of
the inner parts. If you were so inclined, you could remove the seats,
floor boards, and tunnel to get at the side cover without removing the
engine and gearbox from the car, but personally I find that rmoving the
engine and gearbox is easier than removing the tunnel.
When you get inside and find out what's wrong, let me know. New gears are
not cheap. However, I have one spare reverse gear and one spare 1st gear,
both in good condition, that could be happy in a new home at very
reasonable price. I do not have a spare laygear.
Transmission work is not difficult and can be done with simple hand tools,
no special tools needed. Just be careful not to lose the balls and springs
from the detents. BOING !!!
For a reasonable explanation of how to go about rebuilding a gearbox, point
a web browser to:
http://www.ntsource.com/~barneymg
and go to "Gearbox Tech".
Good luck,
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude
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