Bears use sealant not gaskets. The box doesnt sound bad when shaken, but who knows.. I tried a starter in the bellhousing and even the bushing area is maybe 0.5 to 1mm off true, the starter goes in slightly crooked.. Probably within range of a gentle bending back true, or a pre stressing with a brace.. The box was seen going on a tail lift at Bears, it came off a tail lift at home and was shifted on an electric pallet trolley my end. But I think it was on one of the group hauliers systems where one firm collects, another delivers.
It's like having a child leave home when one goes. Bears will have been more gutted than you that it got damaged. It's comforting that coz they've been around so long that they've got a good stash of older parts to be able to replace bits like this. All well that ends well though
Back on track : replacement bellhousing arrived midday. Now fitted. Need to remember to put the oil in it and the throwout bearing - the NO OIL label is still attached to the broken bellhousing ..
Its back in the bus, and I even remembered to fill it up with oil. The only detected mistake was putting the wrong bolt through the gearbox hanger , the correct one is M10 with a 15mm head and a turned down tip so you can push it into place then start turning it to wind it into the threaded section of the gearbox hammer. It turns out the long bolt that goes on the nearside holding the engine to the bellhousing is exactly the same length and diameter with a normal tip and a 17 mm head. I expect the difference is because if both types had 17mm heads, its too easy to undo the gearbox hanger bolt on the nearside with a 17mm spanner and then partially drop the engine and gearbox together by mistake, instead of disconnecting the correct bolt .. I was sure I had grabbed the two identical bolts for the gearbox hanger. It didnt take too long to swap back except having to jack up the engine to get the gearbox to stop it all hanging off the bolt. New Schnorr washers went on the driveshaft bolts, new clutch cable Bowden tube. Tomorrow I shall complete the engine bay wiring and pipework and then see what happens ...
Keep your old clutch Boden tube, when mine was changed it didn't like the new one, so the old one was refitted
I have kept it, the new one at least has a curve in it at the bottom, the old one had a bit of a kink. Its nice to be able to turn the road wheels while its in gear and up on stands, and feel them come to the end of the backlash in the gearbox , without a second clunk from the front of the gearbox after a bit more turning...
Ok, well now I am 500 miles into running the gearbox. Firstly - it no longer locks up in 4th gear. Good . Backlash on the driveshafts is smaller and the main shaft doesnt clunk.. Secondly, I had got used to the amazing whining so now it has gone it is almost quiet in the bus up to about 55 mph. Also good. Thirdly, with the correct reversing light switch, reverse gear no longer feels like you are bending a spring to get it to go in. Good . There is still a tiny bit of a whine in second, compared with other gears, and despite dipping the clutch fully, sometimes it feels like synchromesh on second is not quite 100%. It was much worse before, I thought I was not dipping the clutch far enough the first time it happened, but you can hear a sound as it goes into gear ..
