Verifying a w58 gearbox

[wilbo666]

Isn't the steel sandwich plate of any significence?
I was under the impression that only w58's have a steel sandwich plate between the tail and main section.

Nope, I have a steel plate W55 (ex GS300 I believe)...

Oh and by the way I want some kudos for giving cruzida the W57 1st and 5th gear tooth counts so he could work it all out



Cheers
Wilbo

[DX20VT]

We had abox apart, W55, and can confirm that that the tooth counts for that box are correct.

[af300e]

A gs300 had a 1980's vintage box in it? Really?

[CrUZida]

What did you think the NA JZA80 supra's had in them?

[af300e]

NA jza80's have either a six speed manual, or a w58 don't they? Not a w55. To my knowledge, the w55 seems to have been phased out in 1986, meaning that it never made it to the GS300.

Sorry, looks like w55 did continue some time after 86 but in the is300, not gs300.

So some w55's have a steel sandwich plate? Or all?

After further research it appears that not all w58's are steel sandwich plate boxes too. Pre 1989 could be all alloy, post 89, steel sandwich plate.

[CrUZida]

Yep, and like all W/G series they went through the 'upgrade' phase in 1989 where they got the steel plate.

W55 is just a ratio change of the W58 (or vice-versa as history tells us).


True that the W55 was far less common than the W58 in its later stages, and that the W57 basically ceased to exist after the late 80's.

[JustCallMeOrlando]

W55 was the gearbox in the IS300 manuals for the states, they were still around.

[Glenno52]

Just to add my two bobs worth, here is the method I used to verify the gear ratios in a box I thought was a W55. (Turned out to be a W57).

The main reason I did this was because I didn't have a helper at the time to count rotations at one end

I am not against the methods used above. I just found this easier to do on your own, and it is very accurate providing you mark the measurements on the clutch plate indicator disc carefully.

First, bend a small piece of wire into shape to slide over the output shaft to make an indicator that will line up with a mark you put on the rear housing.



Slide it into place and align with dot.



Cut out a piece of paper the size of the clutch plate and mark it into equal segments starting at zero....full circle to same point (1). Do this as carefully as possible and with lots of reference points around the plate, it will be very accurate. Tape it onto clutch plate.



With a nail in a small block of wood as the indicator for the input shaft....line up the rear indicator with the dot while gearbox is in Neutral.
Now, for example, if you think you have a W57 which has a First gear ratio of 3.285:1, place shifter into First gear and rotate the Clutch plate 3.285 times and the Rear indicator should have completed One revolution and be back on the dot
Now repeat proceedure through all gears and match them with the appropriate number of clutch plate revolutions to verify your ratios.

Use the Ratio information in the tables above, and you will soon work out which box you have!