Problems Swapping The Gearbox Mount

[humanz 3]

Yesterday, driving along, went over a rough spot in the road. Not quite a pothole. More of a badly done patch. Then I started to get a lot of noise from the N/S front of the car...sounded like that wheel was wobbling and about to come off! But strangely, no significant shaking in the steering to match the noise. Even more strangely, the gearshift lever started rocking back and forth in tandem with the 'bup bup bup'. Seriously thought the wheel was going to fall off at any sec. Had a good scare, lol. Anyway, jacked the car up, and tried to wiggle the wheel back and forth, up and down, and I hardly got any play in either directions. In fact, I would say no play at all, even though i did get a small noise that makes me wonder if the bearing in the hub is gone. But that noise was nothing compared to the noise I was getting as I dove. Anyway, put the spare on and checked the wheel to see if maybe it had gone out of shape or if the rim was damaged, but both were fine.

 

As I wasn't far from home, I nursed the car home. Had a good poke around the engine bay trying to check the conditions of the driveshafts and the front arms, jacked the car up and still no obvious damage So I decided to check the gearbox mount. Took the battery out and what I found was a mount that no longer looked the way it should. If you can imagine a sandwich with a lot of filling that had been squeezed, the top metal washer part of the mount had actually sunken into the rubber at a slight angle, with the sides of the mount ballooning out.

Well, remembering I had a spare mount, I tried swapping out that mount. I supported the gearbox and tried to break the nut but instead of the nut moving, it appears as if the bolt from the gearbox and the metal washer were moving too. Had a poke under the battery tray with my fingers and found that I could feel a slight space between the bottom of the bolt and the gearbox (an early BE1). I thought the bolt was an integral part of the gearbox, as in welded on, or actually extruded from the casing. Is it screwed into the gearbox casing? As I didn't want to snap the bolt, I turned the nut on top of the mount as if to tighten and found that I could decrease the space between the bolt and the gearbox casing, so it looks like it hasn't snapped, and the box is still somewhat supported, even though the mount looks messed up. Had to put the battery back in so I could move the car out of my dad's way. In the short drive, I didn't notice any play in the gearshift lever, or hear the noise I was getting before.

 

So my other questions are,

Does my problem sound as if it truly is related to the gearbox mount?

How can I get the nut off the bolt on the gearbox without unscrewing the bolt?

Do you suggest unscrewing the nut together with the bolt, and then trying to separate the two?

The spare mount I have doesn't feel very smooth or tight where the bolt on the gearbox would come up through, and my father figures it'll allow too much swaying of the gearbox and lead to the same problem with the mount currently on the car. Should I be at least able to get a couple weeks use out of the mount until I can get an uprated one I had intended to buy? The spare mount looks fine in all other respects. Just don't know how old it is.

 

Very long post. Thanks for taking the time to read it. I'm going to leave the car parked today until I get some advice. Thanks.

[Goliath 94]

The stud in the top of the gearbox is screwed into the gearbox and not welded on. I would suggest you unscrew the but as you were but obviously this will unscrew the stud from the box, that is fine, wind it all the way out. You will then need to undo the 2 smaller nuts (10mm or 13mm) that hold the rubber bit onto the battery tray, once you have done that you should be able to pull out the rubber bit with the bolt still going through the middle. You will then see a 'nut' on the other side of the stud and will then be able to get a spanner on it (17mm IIRC) and get a spanner on the nut ontop at the same time to undo it.

 

I would replace the gearbox mount asap, i suspect that is your only problem causing the wierd noises.

[dcc 855]

if the gearbox has essentially lowered itself because of this, the car will have more vibrations due to alot of the weight being put onto your drive shafts, although i dont think your case is as severe as mine (broken gearbox mount - 100% engine weight on shafts) i think your 1st priority is to replace that engine mount. see if the problem persists,

 

If the gearbox nut and bolt unscrew together, its no major issue. get them both out, and watch for any washer that drops off, then when out you mihg tfind it easier to get the nut off, the gearbox bolt can be held still using a spanner as it does have the shape for a spanner to hold it. size 17 or 18 iirc

[humanz 3]

Thanks for the replies. I'll try swapping the mount again this evening. Will let u know the result and take some pics.

I know the bolts holding the mount to the tray itself can be easy to snap (previous experience) when removing the two nuts. Is there anything I can do to reduce the chances of it happening?

 

Cheers.

[dcc 855]

use some (alot) of penetrating oil, and leave it soak! if they snap, its not the end of the world!

[humanz 3]

Swapped the mounts successfully. No problems really. It turns out the bolt in the gearbox (at least in my early BE1 box) could be held by a 22mm spanner, and not 17. Took it for a short drive.

 

I'm still getting a rocking kinda noise from the front of the car. It's not as pronounced as it was, and I was thinking about taking it for a longer drive this morning. Is it possible my problems are related to a driveshaft then? The gearstick lever is still swinging back and forth. Should I risk driving it how it is? I'm thinking of driving it to my mechanic.

[nick 3]

I would check the other mountings too, the lower mount would stop a lot of movement back and forth as the engine just hangs on the other two. The drivers side top mount do snap in half quite regularly, but if the buffers are tight against the mount you wouldn't really notice.

 

Nick

[humanz 3]

Just noticed that my front wheels seem slightly out of alignment. As in, with the steering dead straight, both wheels are pointing outwards slightly. That's not normal, is it? Could this be the cause of the noise I'm getting? I mean, the gearshift still wobbles, but...

 

Ok, just did some research. So maybe the toe out thing is normal, but going from straight to full left lock, takes more turns than going from straight to right lock. So my wheels probably do need aligning, right?

 

Now I'm also getting a metal on metal noise when I reverse the car. Sounds like front O/S tho. Can't be a good thing, so I'll take the car to the mechanic on Monday and see what he says. Thanks all.

Edited April 25, 2009 by humanz

[johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars]

check the cv joints on the shafts! sounds exactly the same as what happened to mine, and after replacing all the mounts, i found i tiny hole in one of the cv joints which had p*ssed all its lube out and knackered the shaft

[humanz 3]

Well, I nursed the car over to my mechanic. He checked out the N/S driveshaft, and the problem turned out to be the inboard joint (iirc). Seems like at some point, someone rebuilt the joint and somehow left one of those spring cup things in a crevice covered in grease! Well, the rough patch I drove over seemed to have jarred it loose, and the noise I was hearing turned out to be the shaft butting on the extra spring cup thing. So joint cleaned up, and rebuilt without the extra cup! To further compound the problem, my shocks were really bad off (one was leaking oil), so he set me up with used standard springs and shocks. Now that the front of the car is back to standard height (the back hasn't been adjusted to match as yet), the feel of the car is sooooo much better on our terrible, pothole-riddled, uneven roads. I had every intention of getting new lowering springs when I order my new shocks, but the car at standard height feels simply brilliant! Maybe the money I save on springs I'll use to order some poly bushings for the front sussie . Who on here does sells them? Or where's a good place to get a decent set from?

Edited April 29, 2009 by humanz