Stiff Gearbox - 4 speed Ford Cargo 1987?

I know it is but the specialist gearbox company who are taking it to rebuild told me to put that in for the time being as it would help short term. The box is off to them later this week so hopefully it will all be sorted soon!

Emma
May 2008

Sorry to have to tell you this Emma but 10W40 is an engine oil! The correct gearbox oil is SAE 80 EP or EP 80/90 would do.

JD
May 2008

Thanks for all your help, much appreciated! The problem re living with it is that it carries horses so the ride must be as smooth as possible, and unfortuantely I do use 2nd alot, pulling away and also going up steep country hills. The rest of the chassis is fine and my Dad changed the oil in the box yesterday (10W40) which has made an amazing difference! Think I'm going to take the plunge and get it overhauled, got a quote of £400. It was sat outside for a while so maybe spending £400 on a good overhaul will sort it! Here's hoping.

Thanks again.

Emma
May 2008

Sounds like the synchromesh rings/cones have disintegrated. The same could happen to the others - not just between 2nd and 3rd. This could be due to ingress of water in to the gearbox (if it was second hand, it could have been lying exposed in a scrapyard before it was fitted in your truck).
Although you could try taking off in 1st (you'd normally take off in 2nd unless the truck is fully laden) and skip to 3rd etc etc, it isn't the kind of thing you should be trying to live with. The economics of whether you should scrap it or not really depend on your financial circumstances and also what type of body and or special equipment (if any) is mounted on the chassis and the general condition of the engine and the rest of the truck.
You could get the gearbox overhauled.

JD
May 2008

Hi Emma
sounds like the replacement box is worn too.... not to worry...my cargo has trouble changing down into second but I find when driving a truck its a rare thing to have to do unless you're going up a really steep hill...when stopping at lights in a cargo you can keep it in third right up until walking pace and just drop your clutch at the last minute ...its common practice.....as long as you can change up ok then i don't think its that much of a problem you'd have to consider scrapping your truck.

Richard

RICHARDS RESCUE
May 2008

It sounds like your replacement gearbox has synchromesh problems, if you say that the clutch is correctly adjusted. I wouldn't call the scrappy though before getting a quote for a gearbox overhaul - it could be worthwhile, and replacement of bearings and synchro rings may not be as expensive as you think. Worth a trawl through the yellow pages, anyway. Good luck with it!

John
May 2008