Thread: Series III gearbox and clutch advice needed

Hi all, took the old truck for a spin down a very steep decent, put it in low range 1st - again it jumped out of gear in gearbox. I checked all engine & gearbox mounts, all oil levels etc still it jumps out. I think this is more sinister; anyone got some thoughts on this? Any help would be greatly appriciated before I consider pulling th box out.

syncro units or if your lucky weak detent springs.

you only have to uncover the box for the latter and should replace those as part of a rebuild anyway so its no loss to replace those straight up and see if that cures the problem.

have to agree with blknight.
I have exactly the same problem.
Tried the detent spring and ball, no better.
A fitter mate of mine reckons its the syncro, a transmission bloke I know said maybe the gear itself.
Either way seems i'm going in! - keen to hear what you find too.
Rob king

Originally Posted by Rob king

have to agree with blknight.
I have exactly the same problem.
Tried the detent spring and ball, no better.
A fitter mate of mine reckons its the syncro, a transmission bloke I know said maybe the gear itself.
Either way seems i'm going in! - keen to hear what you find too.
Rob king

Thanks to all for your responses, Replaced detent springs - no good, pity there's no readily 5speed conversion kits out there looks like box may have to come out.

For what it's worth, we replaced our box a couple of weeks ago. Two teenage boys plus some advice and a little assistance from me as they went along, and it was done in a Saturday afternoon. It really isn't that difficult. I'd say the only thing you need which you may not have is an engine crane to lift the box out. If you have a couple of strong blokes on hand you could probably do it by hand, but the box is very heavy.

And if you don't have a Haynes manual, grab one, they are worth their weight in gold.

Good luck!

Edit: Pics here: http://www.aulro.com/afvb/series-3/8...ml#post1316476

Hi guys, this may sound like a dumb question - I have a 186 Holden in my S3, it was origionally a L/R 6 to my Knowledge. I want to know if the gearbox used would be the 'six' box or the 'four'. How can I tell? I hear most of the adaptor plates used for Holdesn conversions use the 'four' box. Any info greatly appreciated.

no questions are dumb mate - most of us learn by asking them

the gearbox is essentially the same...

the difference between the 2.25 & 2.6 is the bellhousing -

the difference being the location/pattern of the bolt holes holding the bellhousing onto the flywheel housing

to ascertain the difference, the bellhousing for the 4 cyl (petrol or diesel) has a bolt at the 12 o'clock position, the bellhousing for the 6 cyl does not.

any of the S2/3 gearboxes can mate with any of the S2/3 bellhousings , so choose a bellhousing appropriate to your engine

hopefully other expertise from others will be added

Originally Posted by Eddie S

Hi guys, this may sound like a dumb question - I have a 186 Holden in my S3, it was origionally a L/R 6 to my Knowledge. I want to know if the gearbox used would be the 'six' box or the 'four'. How can I tell? I hear most of the adaptor plates used for Holdesn conversions use the 'four' box. Any info greatly appreciated.

Holden conversions to 4 cylinder vehicles usually required the radiator to be moved forward and a the front cross member cut out on the top/trailing edge. The gear stick usually rakes backwards, the engine mount brackets on the chassis are almost below the mounts on the engine.

The conversions to six cylinder vehicles did not require the radiator to be moved forward. The gearstick is almost vertical. The engine mount brackets on the chassis are about 6" in front of the mounting bolts on the engine.

The gearboxes are internally the same.

You can fit a 4 cyl bellhousing onto a 6cyl box and vica versa.

Adapter kits were made for both models, but sometimes they have subsequently been swapped around.

Diana