SAYING GOODBYE TO OUR TRANSMISSION
FEATURED ON EXPEDITION PORTAL AUGUST 22, 2020
In my mind, destroying a manual transmission is an act of violence. It is something that involves loud grinding, clunking, maybe even a stalled engine. I believed it was something that would leave you stranded on the side of the road waiting on a tow truck. Turns out, it wasn’t anything like that.
Olivia and I had decided last minute to do a trip to the Oregon coast. She was going to pick up a used gravel bike and we figured we would make a camp trip out of it. We spent the morning quickly prepping the Troopy. We paid extra attention to not forget those items which seem to regularly get left behind.
We were on a bit of a tight schedule due to a last minute repair of our clutch bell housing (the one that almost fell out the weekend before). The gearbox and bell housing were slightly misaligned when I went to install the new bolts. This resulted in using the bottle jack to persuade the two components into alignment.
Four bolts and a bottle of thread lock later, the gearbox and transfer case were properly secured; the way they should have been over the last six months of driving. With the undercarriage sorted, I preheated the intake, spun the engine up, and set it to a high idle. Diesel fumes billowed out the exhaust, filling the neighbors yard.
We loaded the last of our items. Roan was laying on his bench, and we were cleared for departure. The first few miles of a trip are always the most stressful. I go through a mental checklist to ensure we aren’t forgetting anything. While doing this I am also analyzing the feedback I am receiving from the vehicle.
I used the dash gauges to monitor coolant temperature, exhaust gas temperature and boost. Next, I moved to the vibrations transmitting through every part of the vehicle. Does the shifter knob gyrate aggressively while in gear? What does the steering wheel do when I let off the throttle? How do the pedals feel? Each component is a telling me a story about the operation of the vehicle as a whole.
This morning all systems check out and nothing seems problematic. Tightening down those transmission bolts seems to have eliminated many of the odd vibrations we had been experiencing. An hour ticks by as we make our way over the mountain pass. Smooth sailing so far, but I am ready for the quiet that washes over the vehicle while descending.
The grade ahead begins steadily decreasing as does the roar of the engine. The turns open up to a passing lane. I shift to fifth, gently letting out the clutch. A loud click, click, click, click starts as soon as the pedal is out . I press the clutch back in and the noise disappears. Not a good sign. I run through a list of potential causes in my head as I cycle through the gears. Regardless, I know a noise this loud emanating from the transmission will send us home.
Later that day we made it back to our house and I set to finding the source of the noise. After a few tests to isolate the problem I drained the transmission fluid. As soon as I pulled the drain plug it was apparent at least one gear tooth had broken; a large accumulation of metal shavings were held on the magnetic plug in addition to a BB sized chunk of metal. The inch long tooth I pulled out next was a clear sign that we would be needing a new transmission.
The gear had shredded its teeth without giving us the slightest hint that something had gone wrong. One moment the gearbox seemed to be operating normally, the next we had a serious problem. Surprisingly, the loud clicking noise was the only symptom. There was no grinding or excessive vibration. The transmission drove and shifted nearly as it always had. All that remained was to see if it would make it the 200 miles to the repair shop.
