[TR] All the shafts that's fit to spin

[Jim Muller]

A short while ago I got the internals of my gearbox back together.  
Main shaft, input shaft, laygear and layshaft, all the thrust 
washers, and even reverse.  Dale, thank you for the help.

Thanks too to whoever suggested standing the gearbox on end to get 
the layshaft in.  Great tip!

I'd put the laygear in the box with a wooden dowel inside it to hold 
the needle bearings in place.  (MEMO TO SELF AND OTHERS: Next time 
cut the dowel longer, just long enough to fit in the case instead of 
fitting totally inside the gear.  That way it will hold the thrust 
washers more or less lined up too.)  Anyway, I balanced the gearbox 
on the input shaft and lined up the rear thrust washer and laygear 
end by working though the reverse access hole.  Then I stuck the 
remaining 30" of dowel into the case to hold that washer, and turned 
the gearbox over and balanced it on the dowel.  Lifting the box 
slightly unloaded the front thrust washer so I could pry it back into 
alignment.  When it and the laygear were lined up with the hole the 
long dowel pushed the shorter one out and held everything nicely in 
place.  All that remained was to lay the box on its side and push the 
layshaft through.  Slick as a whistle.  It took all of 90 seconds.

What fun!  
-- 
Jim Muller
jimmuller at rcn.com
'80 Spitfire, '70 GT6+