ferraristyle

My sincro for 2nd gear is starting to go so I figured I would replace all the syncros (81 5-speed). What is a good price to get this done at a shop. I'm figuring 1500 to 2000???

BTW absolutely no way I can do it myself, don't have the tools access and right equipment.

Daniel Dudley

I think one of the guys from the owner's club does them. I met him in Wilbraham a few years ago.

PERSONALLY, I would consider sending it to 928 International. I had mine out a few times (4), and it would have been quicker and cheaper to have had it done right the first time. This isn't open heart surgery, but you want someone who has done it a bunch of times.

Mike Frye

What are the symptoms of bad synchros for those of us following along at home?

hacker-pschorr

Good time to make sure your clutch is not dragging.

IMO the majority of synchro failures can be tied to mis adjusted and / or worn clutched. Trying to drive it like a drag racer doesn't help either.

Most common early symption is knotchy and / or grinding into 2nd.

James Bailey

When you hear feel grinding as you try to shift it is one indication of worn syncronizers HOWEVER the grinding is coming from the dog teeth and sliders !! Simply putting in syncros MAY help but if there is too much wear on the dog teeth/sliders they too need to be replaced for the transmission to shift correctly. Most often 2 nd gear is the one that people downshift into the most and the first to show wear.

Brett Jenkins

I have it downshifting from 4th to third or from 2nd to 3rd if the rpms are really high.

I've been wondering what I should do about it and what it would cost.

GregBBRD

I don't think you can replace the input bearing and the syncros, any longer, for under $2500.00. The pieces have continued to get more expensive to fix these transmissions.

Consider 928 International....they have a rebuilder that gets them right, most of the time....me.

GregBBRD

You have a different style gearbox. Not clear what is wrong. Does it grind when you downshift from high rpm's or is it a little crunch? Does it do it more when the gearbox gets really hot?

SteveG

Ferraristyle: After some searching I found Steve Cattaneo's contact info:

http://mastertechtrans.com/contact.html

845-567-0312

The shop is in Walden, NY; you are close enough that I think you should give him a call.

GregBBRD

Steve Cattaneo does manual transmissions?

SteveG

Greg, well there are differences, I guess. If you click on their "our services" button, it says "automatic and standard transmissions" and they seem to specialize on MB transmissions. Although he rarely posts here, he is 928 friendly and took my call years ago when I had a question about a non-928 issue. I'm not affiliated. He probably would rather not get such calls that don't turn into business, so I thought I'd try an send some his way.

GregBBRD

I had always assumed that he was a Mercedes transmission expert and just knew about the 928 automatic transmissions because they we made by Mercedes. Never figured did the manual boxes, as they are not Mercedes. Guess we need to give him a call and see if this is something he does.

Brett Jenkins

It is more of a little crunch and feeling in the shifter, doesn't matter hot or cold.

GregBBRD

The crunch says that you are "beating" the syncro...it is not able to change the speed of the gear quickly enough and the engaging teeth clash against each other. While this certainly could be the syncros wearing, it also could be that you are simply shifting too fast, the clutch does not completely release, or the gear oil isn't working as good as it should. The "syncro" function of the gearbox is completely a "friction" thing. The wrong, or old gear oil can reduce the effectiveness of the syncro. There are many gear oils available, that simply don't work well, with this style syncro.

I'd start by changine the gear oil, if you have not done that, recently. Try Mobil One "LS" 75-90. Give it a week or so to circulate around and get into all the nooks and crannies.

Since the later gearboxes have a syncro in reverse, it is sometimes hard to tell if the clutch completely releases. Put the car in the air and watch the torque tube shaft, while the car is running and someone pushes in on the clutch. It should stop spinning, within a second or two.

If these things don't work, slow down your downshift....or try matching your rpm's better. Second and third gears are fairly massive and take a large amount of friction to accelerate or deaccelerate.