I bought a 5 rib last year from an air cooled VW gearbox "specialist" it looked nice and shiny with new paint and shiney bolts. I bought it because of my then planned scooby conversion and the rediculous cost of 6 rib boxes. The box imploded on the way back from my scooby install and I had it rebuilt by cogbox. ( I didn't send it back to the original specialist under warranty, cos funnily enough he's vanished off the planet) Cogbox said apart from the shiney paint and bolts not a lot had been reconned inside. I had it rebuilt with a longer 4th added. Unfortunately that 4th stripped a couple of months later. Cogbox had it back and were gonna repair foc, but I choose to have a heavy duty 4th installed just in case this ever happened again. So far so good at the mo. The moral of the story is if you have a 3 rib which you know is good, keep the *****er and have the internals changed. I reckon the amount ive spent on this gearbox from initial purchase, rebuild, second 4th gear rebuild, travel and remove/refitting, I could of bought a subarugears gearbox from Oz
The good thing (if there is one) is I recommended him to @Lardy but I think he had gone out of business before Lardy got hold of him, which was lucky.
Was that the guy down south? Can't remember now. My six rib is still in the shed unfortunately and I've got T25 six rib too now. Gonna cost me bout £500 to have it installed as I've nowhere to do it properly so saving as we speak. Just happy to have the bus on the road properly now. The six rib will make all the difference with my 2ltr lump though. The gearing is better and the box much stronger I've been told so only positives from me
whats thedifference % wise in ratios of 3 and 6 rib as I,m putting bigger tyres on as the 3 rib has closer ratio between 3rd and 4th I,ve been told
There's not a massive difference between a 3 and 6 rib when you drive it. Not sure sure of the ratios got it on a bookmark somewhere
I don't My comment is based purely on my findings. When I put the 5 rib in my bay (before the scooby conv) I was expecting far more gains and lower final gear revs, but it felt and drove almost the same as the 3 rib. I know the final drive on the 6 rib is better than on the 5. Then after my scoob conversion I drove it with the standard 5 rib and also with the longer 4th and yes the revs had come down slightly but not massively. My box now has the same final drive as a 6 rib. The point I'm making is people expect a lot more from a 6 rib box than you actually get, I know I did. I think tbr has had similar findings to me.
I'll send the info to everyone who's asked tomorrow; been away all weekend and travelling all day and can't be arsed to fire up the worlds slowest laptop now.
Interesting! Baysearcher knows more about this stuff than I do but I thought that was a five rib as I only counted the clearly distinct ribs and not the part rib. That suggests I have a 6 rib in mine which I thought was a 5 given mine had a not original 1800 in it. Mine is doing 3000 rpm at 60 mph and 70mph at 4000 which felt about bang on as it is also making good power there too. That means for my bus peak power therefore would be at 70 mph plus or minus about 5mph and this is also when following is working at its best I guess too. Every day is a schoolday!
Same as me Bertibot hence my seemingly stupid question. I now have a 6 rib instead of a 5 happy days. What confuses me is I see people saying "happily cruises at 75+ all day" blah blah blah but I'm a 2lt type 4 on a "6" rib box standard wheels n tires and 65-70 back to 65 is where it's at! I've had it rolling road tuned made 80hp peak backed off to 76hp peak that equated to 68mph bang on on the rollers so how are theses high speed cruisers doing it? Or in truth aren't they? Is it speedo fairy dust? Or are type 4 lower revving.
I thought I had a 5 until someone pointed out you count all of them! Can someone with a known 6 rib put up a photo to confirm? @Moons ?
