The unicorn jc5

[NorthloopCup]

Well as I’m sure you all know, I rebuild quite a lot of jc5’s, so when I was asked to rebuild a box that had covered 165,000 miles, I was expecting the worst.

Oh how wrong I was!! This gearbox is THE best one I’ve ever seen, and when you consider the mileage, it’s a unicorn! Lol!

Here’s some pics of the internals:

Still got points on reverse gear

Still has points on the dog teeth for 2nd gear, and zero synchro wear

Minimal wear on the selector fork for 1st/2nd gear

Nice pointy teeth on 3rd

Same goes for the selector hub for 3rd/4th

4th gear as new

Synchro ring showing minimal wear

This just goes to show if you don’t abuse them, they can last.

Next up the bits that have worn and require replacement!

 

[incy-spider]

Standard ELF oil?


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[NorthloopCup]

@Darren S

Mainshaft bearing is finished

The diff shaft has suffered some serious wear to the splines

And what the dog teeth look like when they normally get abused, crap oil and no oil changes!

 

[NorthloopCup]

Standard ELF oil?


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Not sure tbh mate. I’ve tagged the gearbox owner in though, so we will find out! Lol!

 

[Darren S]

It could well be @incy-spider - though I couldn't honestly confirm the oil without going through the receipts.

What I will say (and have said in the past) that dropping and replacing the oil in the gearbox as an occasional service item clearly does work wonders. Yes, it has never been on track in its life and I do have a fair amount of mechanical sympathy for cars in general - not just my own. I don't give it death everywhere and not changing gears like a F&F film seems to help too.

I'm thinking (and Mark would be a far better judge than I) - that what damage has occurred was directly related to the driver's side driveshaft going bang about 16 months ago. Even though it let go at sub 5 mph when pulling out of a junction - what issues are there could have been as a direct consequence of that?

It was definitely on borrowed time - the whining racket that came from it in any gear at any speed, kind of convinced me that it would be terminal without immediate help!

Thanks again @NorthloopCup!

 

[Bankrupt_drunk]

Really interesting to see. Thanks for the pictures.

 

[frayz]

Great to see.

I'm willing to bet my original box is in similar condition as iv'e always changed the oil and nurtured it too.
Great to see that if you look after your things there's no reason for them to not provide many years of service.

Nice job Mark

 

[Coops Mk1]

Mint, when you fancy a crack at my 213k original that has been on track a few times now 😜 @NorthloopCup

 

[NorthloopCup]

Mint, when you fancy a crack at my 213k original that has been on track a few times now 😜 @NorthloopCup

Get it out and we can open it up! And the gearbox too! 😂

 

[Coops Mk1]

Get it out and we can open it up! And the gearbox too! 😂

Not until it needs it, still going strong so no need currently, would love to strip engine and box down when something finally does let go just to see what sort of nick everything is inside

 

[Krarl]

Other end of the spectrum, I bought a box on 62k

Opened it up, the selector fork looked like it had been raped by an oxy torch, the diff bearings groaned more than a deaf person having sex and the synchros crunched more than a farmyard animal rolling around in 6 tonne of lego. I had my mate make 2 good boxes out of 1😂

Oh and 2nd and 3rd gear had less teeth than a 65 year old smackhead ffs