Joris Posted November 24, 2005 Share Posted November 24, 2005 Hi all, Recently I bought a Dodge WC51 (built in 1942) but after only 3 weeks the tranmission died on me. Suddenly I could not get it into gear, it was possible to put the clutch in the right position but no gears were changed, this got progressively worse and no gears work anymore. I had it towed back to my garage and during the tow the gearbox kept making horrible sounds, even with the gear in free and my foot on the clutch pedal. At the moment I'm afraid I have to remove the entire gearbox and replace it. I was wondering if anybody has done this before and has some tips or experiences to share. Here is a picture how it looked while still driving: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB Posted November 26, 2005 Share Posted November 26, 2005 I had a similar problem with my WC51, went over a bump in the road as I was changing gear and lost all the gears. Took up the plates inside the cab and the top off the gearbox to look inside rather than start with removing the gearbox. We moved the selectors and this cured the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joris Posted November 26, 2005 Author Share Posted November 26, 2005 We examined it closer today and it seems we have a clutch problem. We can shift it to first, second and reverse but the 3rd and 4th gears are gone. The plan is now to open the clutch from above and see what's wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashley Posted November 26, 2005 Share Posted November 26, 2005 Hi MM, have you checked the adjust ment on the cucth cable i have had this problem on my jeep in the past. Ashley (knowing nothing about theWC 51) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joris Posted November 26, 2005 Author Share Posted November 26, 2005 Today we took a closer look on the gearbox / clutch etc and we think we found the problem. When starting the Dodge for some tests I did not have my foot on the clutch pedal and it immediatly jumped forward. Which was a good and a bad sign because the yoke indicated that we were in neutral. This was our first clue that the gearbox was in fact working but that it was the shifting that caused the problem. Then we tried all gears but all without luck although releasing the clutch pedal caused the enigne to stall even while pushing the gass pedal. Then after a lot of shifting I suddenly got in into 2nd gear and the Dodge suddenly became mobile again. The 1st and reverse gears were also soon workable although a lot of care had to be taken shifting into them. 3rd and 4th gear were completly dead although once I got it into 3rd gear. So I think we narrowed it down to the clutch and this seems a far easier operation to perform then getting a new gearbox. We think it may be one of the forks that is bent or broken so we plan to examine those. Also we are going to get all the gear oil out, and replace it with new oil because we are not certain that the oil is still good. Also we are going to test it with a magnet (thanks for the tip!). All in all it seems like we are getting somewhere!! @AndyB, I have not checked that but will do so, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted November 27, 2005 Share Posted November 27, 2005 Check your clutch fork. My Dodge lost the ability to clutch because the fork which attaches from pedal to the clutch hed been welded in the past and started tobend. Effectively I couldn't operate the clutch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeroen Sleijpen Posted November 27, 2005 Share Posted November 27, 2005 make sure when you take the top of that all of the gears are still in good shap and not missing any of their teeth. when one brakes of the gear it can cause the trouble that you have The clutch can only be a problem if you select a gear not if everything is in neutral!!! take of the top and put the gears in neutral bij hand. if one of the gears is still driven then take the box out and rebuild. easy job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joris Posted November 27, 2005 Author Share Posted November 27, 2005 Yeah well it sounds easy but taking the gearbox out doesn't seem that easy to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeroen Sleijpen Posted November 27, 2005 Share Posted November 27, 2005 take out floor in the cab take out the propshaft between box and case take out the speedo cable loosen the crossmember and slide to the rear. take out the pto in case there is one then put jack under the gearbox release all bolts and slide box to the rear. realy one of the easiest trucks to remove the gearbox... much easier then a jeep!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joris Posted November 28, 2005 Author Share Posted November 28, 2005 Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joris Posted December 3, 2005 Author Share Posted December 3, 2005 This is what we did today: Today we started operation Gearbox, Part one! Before we began: We took out the left floor panel: And then the centre floor panel so we had access to the gearbox, this took us about 30 minutes to get all the bolts out. Then we took off the yoke and the problem was rather easy to spot, one of the forks had broken off and was missing. Inside the gearbox the fork was nowhere to be seen so we had to drain the oil. After opening one of the side panels of the gearbox we saw the missing fork and took it out: Finally we lifted one of the wheels and spun it around so the gears would rotate and we could see any damage done by the fork. Even though there was some damage to the teeth and some marks on the fork there was very little damage to see. Some teeth were a bit damaged but that was no more then could be expected since it has been used. There seems to be no reason to replace the gearbox. Now I'm going to hunt for a fork and then install it. I've got the feeling we'll get this Dodge running very quickly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Grosvenor Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 Hello, I wish that I could get into the habit of taking photos before and during a job, not only is it interesting to look back on, it must make it easier when putting it back together. Looks like the vehicle as been restored to a high standard. Very Nice! Good Luck Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 Great work MadMan. I bet that was a relief finding out that the problem wasn't so bad after all..............one of those nice feelings in life 8) And agree with Richard, looks a nice restored WC. Richard, I always take pictures before, during and after any work I do as being newbie to this it helps me to have my own digital manual! Cheers. Jack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joris Posted December 4, 2005 Author Share Posted December 4, 2005 You had no idea how elated I felt when we saw that the problem was this easy to fix. The Dodge is in exptional good state, the former owner really did a great job restoring it. That was why it was such a bummer for us to have it broken down after only four weeks. But it turns out we were lucky and this turns out to be a good lesson in Dodge maintance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joris Posted December 11, 2005 Author Share Posted December 11, 2005 Yesterday we fixed the gearbox so the Dodge is running again!! I shot this Movie of the gearbox in operation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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