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Overdrive Rebuild-what to look out for.

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Tinkerman

Tinkerman

Darth Vader
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Transmission will be done next week(waiting for parts). I'm going to start on the overdrive next. Any really tricky stuff on them that I should look out for or secrets of the trade that I should know about? I am using the Nelson Reidel article and the Haynes manuals as a guide. I also have a couple of other manuals one is the Standard Service Instruction Manual and the other is the Lucas manual.

Any and all thoughts greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Tinkerman
 
man you have huge ones to tackle transmission and OD rebuilds at home!!!

I took an old volvo M40 transmission apart althought with out a manual and it never worked again, it was a spare too so really didnt care just wanted to see how it worked

Hondo
 
"if you have a laycock j-type OD, PM me"

Thanks a bunch, but I have an A type of overdrive.

Paul, so far, I have been getting great help from Vinco, in Jacksonville Florida. Course since I'm going to be up there next month I just might look him up. I really was hoping that one of our members had done one and could tell me what to look out for. Dumb as it may seem I really like doing this type of thing and I do have the time.

Cheers, Tinkerman
 
The thrust washer that butts to the annulus on my TR6 overdrive fractured and cut away at the annulus surface. It will be going to Quantum for resurfacing. I understand this is fairly common.
You will want to make certain there are no cracks in the housing. Some friends couldn't get one to work because of a crack that wouldn't allow the psi needed to function.
 
Are you sure you don't need a proctlogist with that problem?
I didn't even know my car had an Annulas!!
 
Tinkerman said:
I really was hoping that one of our members had done one and could tell me what to look out for.
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Dick, I've done several; just can't think of anything offhand that wasn't mentioned in Nelson's excellent series of articles. I do strongly recommend doing the pressure tests on the bench instead of trusting to luck and installing it in the car first. I use a 1/2" drill motor held in the bench vise for motive power; and a length of radiator hose as the coupling.

Oh, and whatever you do, don't forget to take out the anti-return valve on the side of the pump, before you try to remove the pump body (if you do try to remove the pump body, I normally don't). Trying to pull the pump with the valve in place will ruin both pump and housing, an expensive mistake.

Also, never, never force anything together. It should slide together easily, if not, something is misaligned and forcing it will just distort and cause leaks. John Esposito sells a thicker adapter plate that is less leak-prone (but still can be distorted by excess force).

BTW I have the factory A-type OD service manual as a PDF file. PM me if you'd like a copy.
 
3 yrs. ago, I purchased a J type, rebuilt by past Laycock employees, looked as new, has worked as new, purchased outright,no exchange, and they "threw in" the speedo parts which cost over hundred bucks, and the angle drive also, including shipping, 720 bucks, has worked perfectly. Oh, I forgot, its the pleasure you get from doing the say job 3 times, and throwing money away. Got here in 5 days. Nobody in the US would get anywhere near this price, and it is a genuine Triumph OD, not the Volvo one.
 
Thanks for the info Randall!

Tinkerman
 
I second what Randall says. If it does not go don't force it, look for the blockage.

I took a non working A-type two summers ago and tore it apart with only that article to go by. I had never been inside a tranny before let alone an overdrive. I am an electrical engineer so other then that and having rebuilt a TR3 engine I was a novice at this. I found the overdrive had a missing cam for the oil pump, and when that was replace it still did not work. I then investigated more and found the oil pump was not generating pressure (which may have been why someone took the cam out in the past) because the shaft had an issue (that I can't remember, but it might not have been returning or the like) that I was able to fix in my garage with some thought and normal LBC owner tools.

At the same time I took a TR3 overdrive tranny guts plus this now repaired A-type overdrive and put them inside a TR4 tranny housing so that I could put this in my TR4A (I needed the long starter bulge on the case).

All this to say you are not taking on too much. In fact you will enjoy it. I spent about two or three days doing all this and the tranny works fine now. What started it for me was my original TR4A tranny (non overdrive) had a layshaft failure and I needed to repair it. In my shed was this TR3 Tranny with a broken O/D. The path ahead was clear.

Like Randall I suggest you build a test jig to test it on the bench (that is how I solved my pump problem. I used a 1/3 HP furnace fan motor with a fan belt driving a pulley bolted to the output of the overdrive (and a lot of corks to seal off the oil passages that would go to the tranny when the units are mated. I have pictures of the setup if you want to see it.

Good luck.
 
Tinkerman said:
"

Paul, so far, I have been getting great help from Vinco, in Jacksonville Florida. Course since I'm going to be up there next month I just might look him up.
Click to expand...


I may be wrong but there is a guy in Florida that Dave at The Roadster Factory highly recommended to me to rebuild my J-type. Vince somebody. Could this be Vinco??
 
Yes Bill, in fact I got his name from Dave. Charles Vincent. Has been a stout help so far.

And yes Adrio, would really like a copy of the picture. My email is in my profile. I have a missing cam also. Looks like the type of item that would fall out and go missing as soon as one takes the OD off. I was reading Nelson's article about the test jig last night. Concluded that I would have to do something like that. Randall used a 1/2" drill motor held in a vice. So I have options.

Thanks, Tinkerman
 
Is Vinco in Jacksonville FL a relocation of Vinco that used to be out by the airport in Atlanta GA?

I got an OD GT6 transmission from Vinco in Atlanta in the mid-80s; it goes & goes. Not even the typical 2nd gear synchro loss.

I also got an XK140 DHC convertible top from them on that trip! They had a weird assortment of Jaguar XK spares broken from some original car(s) in a room off the shop.
 
Yep, same Vinco. Glad to hear he does good work. He'll be my go to guy if I run into a major snag. Wife said she wouldn't mind a trip to Jacksonville.

Tinkerman
 
I actually got some parts from in the the 80's when he was in Atlanta. He had hundreds of wrecked and otherwise parts cars Triumphs. That is where about 1/3 of all Triumphs ended up before most people started restoring them. Sad that so many good cars got stripped back them.
 
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