[jimnygirl]

hi guy's got a 2007 jimny with a 1500 cc swift engine swapped in. the jimny has 219 000 kms & 40 000 kms on the swift engine. it has been making a noise that everybody thought was a throw out bearing noise for about a year. i was waiting for the clutch to wear out abit more so i could get them changed togeather . but 5 days ago something let go & made a bad noise in 2nd 3rd & 4th gear. we took it down to our local mechanic to get the clutch changed, but when he drained the oil in the gearbox 2 ball bearings rolled out!!! he got some quotes & looks like $1700 for a 2nd hand box.
if i'm spending that kind of money i want a good tuff box thats gona last & take some punishment.
so i'm looking for some info & tips on what things can be done to these boxes or can sierra boxes be used . this jimny has 16" wheels with road tyres atm , but will get all teraines next. it see's mostly road uses atm but intend of getting a front locker & 2" body lift so it can go most places . it also has sierra manual locking front hubs.
what needs to be done to the drive line in these jimnys to make them strong & reliable.
and who does good work & knows what there on about. i'm in brisbane on the south side. don't bother about the suzzi joint on the side of the highway at slacks creek. they have done heaps of work on this car & the works not that flash & cost a arm & a leg.

[zukenutter]

My Jimny is a 2006, same gearbox. My wife owned and drove it for four years before I got it. While it was hers it was not used off road at all. At 40,000 kms and 6 months out of warranty it failed catastrophically. Main output bearing disintegrated leaving the shaft and gears to bounce about destroying them. At the time secondhand VVT Jimny gearboxes were very hard to find so we bit the bullet and had it rebuilt at a cost of $2200. VVT boxes are weaker than the earlier box. The earlier box will bolt up but the ratios are wrong so not really a practical solution. $1700 is too much for a used box unless that includes fitting.

[zukenutter]

I'm now running an early box but combined with a Sierra transfer and 30" tyres to correct the gear ratios. This box has a whine that mechanic friends thought was the throw out bearing but once I replaced that I realised it was actually the box
I'm also trying to decide whether to rebuild or replace at the moment.

[losfer]

$1700 is the going rate (if not more) for a good used gearbox for a vvt jimny , they are so hard to get . i am a trade customer and even if i were to buy one off another shop i would pay in excess of $1700.

Zukenutter , when you say output shaft you mean the shaft that the jackshaft connects to ? because this bearing rarely fails. the shaft where the bearings fail , i prefer to call it the layshaft its the shaft that all gears drive through except 5th gear (which is 1:1).

Ive rebuilt quite a few of these boxes and my advice is to get it repaired when you hear a noise and not when the bearing collapses because recently i had to replace a layshaft and 5th gear after a bearing collapse and it was costly.

[zukenutter]

Yep true, been misquoting that for a while. Just went and dug out my box of broken gearbox parts and sure enough it's not the output.