Firstfives.org

It worked fine, just a little tough going into gear if cold. Made me suspect 200,000 miles might have tired out the syncros.

So, if it's sitting under the bench, how totally crazy do I have to be to think I can take a peek inside, say over the winter ?

Or, do we just trade the core (?), buy new or factory rebuilt, accept the stiffy shift,...and avoid the gear assembly drawings as things never to see in person ?

T.Hanson wrote:It worked fine, just a little tough going into gear if cold. Made me suspect 200,000 miles might have tired out the syncros.

So, if it's sitting under the bench, how totally crazy do I have to be to think I can take a peek inside, say over the winter ?

Or, do we just trade the core (?), buy new or factory rebuilt, accept the stiffy shift,...and avoid the gear assembly drawings as things never to see in person ?

I wish I could give you a conclusive answer, but I have not tried what you are proposing.

But I do rebuild BMW motorcycle transmissions and know that they are much simpler. That said, even a motorcycle transmission is not a project for a shy mechanic. It takes some special tools and careful attention to detail (some things not obvious).

I have heard from this forum and like sources that our car transmissions are not easily rebuilt. That said, our manuals walk you through it.

Keep us posted.

The Getrags require a bunch of special pullers, etc to get stuff apart. I know a couple of folks who have the stuff, but it's not really for the faint of heart.

I've found with 265s that the oil makes the biggest difference. Carl Nelson recommends 1qt of Redline MTL and 0.7qt of 80wt gear oil.

Thank you. Between special tools needed and the oil remedy, I pick install and test, then buy rebuilt if it flunks. One time tool costs might as well go towards a rebuilt if I'm not planning to go a few more times.

Chris is right, oil is critical. Redline MTL was considered the standard for a long time, but I had bearings get noisy in two of them using it, so I'm no longer such a big fan. The mix he's suggesting might be the ticket, I've got synthetic 75-90 in mine right now and it still isn't cold friendly. HD motor oil is also spec'd, and I used it in a ZF 4 speed for quite a while with no problems and greatly improved shifting over conventional gear oil.

The problem with gear oil isn't just the viscosity, it's for hypoid gears and is designed with a certain "sticky" quality that doesn't work well with synchros.