latest series III transmission ??
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rick.m
latest series III transmission ??
what is the suffix for the last series III transmission? is it the one with the best and strongest synchro?? i was wondering if it is wise to go to all the prouble of swaping a II a from stock to a a SERIES III TRANNY. ??help. :roll:
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DaveB
- Defender of the World
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Hi Rick,
Give me a few weeks, and I'll know alot more about how to answer your question. I'm putting a 1982 Series III gearbox in mine... Perhaps you'll want to come over and help drop it in to see what you're up against.
Have decided to go the way of changing the clutch slave cylinder rather than the bell housing as I don't want to open up the front of the gearbox and end up with my old and questionable input shaft on the newer tranny.
Jim Skelton's also looking at the same thing.
See you Thursday.
Dave
Give me a few weeks, and I'll know alot more about how to answer your question. I'm putting a 1982 Series III gearbox in mine... Perhaps you'll want to come over and help drop it in to see what you're up against.
Have decided to go the way of changing the clutch slave cylinder rather than the bell housing as I don't want to open up the front of the gearbox and end up with my old and questionable input shaft on the newer tranny.
Jim Skelton's also looking at the same thing.
See you Thursday.
Dave
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roverdevin
- Junkyard Master
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- Location: Squamish, BC
- Contact:
Rick,
I think the last series IIIs were made in the mid 1980's (i'm not too sure of the suffix #) but these very late gearboxes are rare here in North America. Ray Wood at Wise Owl could tell you...I know he had one quite a few months back, but don't know if he still does.
These very late gearboxes are reputed to be just as tough as the famed late suffix IIA gearboxes. That being said, I don't think it follows that the earlier SIII gearboxes are necessarily "weak"...just not quite as beefy as the late IIA's or the very late SIII.
As for my own IIA, I switched back to a late IIA gearbox...The double de-clutching gives me an excuse not to loan my car out to all kinds of people.
I think the last series IIIs were made in the mid 1980's (i'm not too sure of the suffix #) but these very late gearboxes are rare here in North America. Ray Wood at Wise Owl could tell you...I know he had one quite a few months back, but don't know if he still does.
These very late gearboxes are reputed to be just as tough as the famed late suffix IIA gearboxes. That being said, I don't think it follows that the earlier SIII gearboxes are necessarily "weak"...just not quite as beefy as the late IIA's or the very late SIII.
As for my own IIA, I switched back to a late IIA gearbox...The double de-clutching gives me an excuse not to loan my car out to all kinds of people.
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DaveB
- Defender of the World
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- Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 7:45 pm
- Location: Vernon, BC
Devin, Rick,
If you're looking for one of the late series III transmissions, you may want to call Mike at Britannica Restorations (Quebec) - 1 819 432 0011. He brought in a container load of trannys, body parts and axles.
Last I talked to him he had about 8 left - pretty good prices as well. He is just prepping mine for shipping right now.
Dave
If you're looking for one of the late series III transmissions, you may want to call Mike at Britannica Restorations (Quebec) - 1 819 432 0011. He brought in a container load of trannys, body parts and axles.
Last I talked to him he had about 8 left - pretty good prices as well. He is just prepping mine for shipping right now.
Dave
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DaveB
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The series III gearbox arrived monday evening. I don't know whether the letter on the box is a suffix of a prefix but it is a B sitting above the following number: 95126376. Can anyone shed any light on how I look up what year it is?
Anyway, teardown Tuesday evening, all bolts removed. Re and re, Wednesday evening.
The known issue with changing this over was the fact that the slave cylinder bolts onto the lower left rather than brackets onto the right. I was expecting to reroute a hose, and since my flex hose on series II was just about shot I ordered a sIII hose. Good thing I did, cuz the threads into the sIII slave cylinder are larger.
The unknown surprise was the frame crossmember gussetting which was in the way of the new slave cylinder position. Pretty easy to remove with an angle grinder -- if the engine/housing wasn't in the way. With angle grinder and hack saw I removed the transmission side, but could only cut the vertical cut on the engine side of the crossmember. Angled area was out of reach.
Had to hook up tow bar and drag it to local metal shop. They removed the front gusset with torch in about 2 minutes.
So its back here now for final bolt ups tonight and Wise Owl should have the flex hose to me by tomorrow morning. I'll drop the seat frame and floor in with a couple of bolts and test drive to see how it is sounds before assembling all the bits...
Dave
Anyway, teardown Tuesday evening, all bolts removed. Re and re, Wednesday evening.
The known issue with changing this over was the fact that the slave cylinder bolts onto the lower left rather than brackets onto the right. I was expecting to reroute a hose, and since my flex hose on series II was just about shot I ordered a sIII hose. Good thing I did, cuz the threads into the sIII slave cylinder are larger.
The unknown surprise was the frame crossmember gussetting which was in the way of the new slave cylinder position. Pretty easy to remove with an angle grinder -- if the engine/housing wasn't in the way. With angle grinder and hack saw I removed the transmission side, but could only cut the vertical cut on the engine side of the crossmember. Angled area was out of reach.
Had to hook up tow bar and drag it to local metal shop. They removed the front gusset with torch in about 2 minutes.
So its back here now for final bolt ups tonight and Wise Owl should have the flex hose to me by tomorrow morning. I'll drop the seat frame and floor in with a couple of bolts and test drive to see how it is sounds before assembling all the bits...
Dave
Last edited by DaveB on Mon May 03, 2004 8:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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DaveB
- Defender of the World
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8:30 tonight took it for a test drive. Very quiet. I only have the seat frame in with a few bolts and drivers floorboards in. Still have to put together the e-brake assembly.
Only one question, how to get a stubborn 4wd high range back into 2wd. Doesn't seem to be allowing the pin to pop back down when I shift into low range. I suppose there might be a bit of corrosion around the shafts inside. I think I'll just drive it for a day or two...hubs are unlocked anyways.
I had to purchase a couple of couplings as the flex hose from wise owl had too large of threads, so the hoses now go 3/16ths out of the master cyl, adapted to 1/4" and fitted to the flexihose.
Not too hard to assemble. Only about 2 hours of extra fiddling.
Dave
Only one question, how to get a stubborn 4wd high range back into 2wd. Doesn't seem to be allowing the pin to pop back down when I shift into low range. I suppose there might be a bit of corrosion around the shafts inside. I think I'll just drive it for a day or two...hubs are unlocked anyways.
I had to purchase a couple of couplings as the flex hose from wise owl had too large of threads, so the hoses now go 3/16ths out of the master cyl, adapted to 1/4" and fitted to the flexihose.
Not too hard to assemble. Only about 2 hours of extra fiddling.
Dave
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DaveB
- Defender of the World
- Posts: 1749
- Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 7:45 pm
- Location: Vernon, BC
A few more hours of cleaning up and painting seat box, and general fiddling to add some Defender seat belts and the job is complete.
This is the biggest single upgrade the truck has had, and after a couple of days of running around town I can say it was worth it for on-road use. I'll continue to reserve judgement for off-road until I try it. Hopefully the Green Lake run...
Initially the pressure plate gave me a bit of worry. Mike sent one along (at no charge) which he said was good, except that it had a bit of surface rust on the face. It does differ from the Series IIa, in that there is no center surface for the throw out bearing to ride on, just the fingers. I took the center off my old IIa clutch to see if I could adapt, but the circumference opening of the fingers is different, so wouldn't likely work.
Anyway, to the worry... I sanded down the rusty surface as best as possible and went ahead and mounted it, using an old shaft to keep everything in center. Initially when I drove the truck it seemed to be slipping in 3rd and 4th, typical of a poor holding pressure plate. I thought, out it comes again... Anyway after a few days of driving, it seems to have sanded all the rust off and is now holding well. Must have been alot of small scale grit in there, which acted like mini ball bearings and allowed it to slip a bit.
Only time will tell whether it holds up or I pull it out again.
One final thing to play with: the park brake, after much adjustment, is still not holding very well. So tomorrow night, I'll take it apart and see what's binding it up. Probably just a bit of Quebec winter corrosion again.
All totaled I spent $750 for the transmission, $38 for the throwout bearing, $55 for slave cylinder, $175 for shipping, tax for a total of $1089.26 (canadian funds). At this end, I spent $12 on mineral gear oil, $16 on flexihose, $20 on metal lines and adapters, $12 beer in exchange for use of cutting torch and $8 worth of flowers for my wife to keep her on side!
Dave
This is the biggest single upgrade the truck has had, and after a couple of days of running around town I can say it was worth it for on-road use. I'll continue to reserve judgement for off-road until I try it. Hopefully the Green Lake run...
Initially the pressure plate gave me a bit of worry. Mike sent one along (at no charge) which he said was good, except that it had a bit of surface rust on the face. It does differ from the Series IIa, in that there is no center surface for the throw out bearing to ride on, just the fingers. I took the center off my old IIa clutch to see if I could adapt, but the circumference opening of the fingers is different, so wouldn't likely work.
Anyway, to the worry... I sanded down the rusty surface as best as possible and went ahead and mounted it, using an old shaft to keep everything in center. Initially when I drove the truck it seemed to be slipping in 3rd and 4th, typical of a poor holding pressure plate. I thought, out it comes again... Anyway after a few days of driving, it seems to have sanded all the rust off and is now holding well. Must have been alot of small scale grit in there, which acted like mini ball bearings and allowed it to slip a bit.
Only time will tell whether it holds up or I pull it out again.
One final thing to play with: the park brake, after much adjustment, is still not holding very well. So tomorrow night, I'll take it apart and see what's binding it up. Probably just a bit of Quebec winter corrosion again.
All totaled I spent $750 for the transmission, $38 for the throwout bearing, $55 for slave cylinder, $175 for shipping, tax for a total of $1089.26 (canadian funds). At this end, I spent $12 on mineral gear oil, $16 on flexihose, $20 on metal lines and adapters, $12 beer in exchange for use of cutting torch and $8 worth of flowers for my wife to keep her on side!
Dave