Mission impossible

Airportable wrote:

There’s some good advice floating around at the moment. Obviously there’s a broad engineering base with skill sets throughout. It’s quite possibly the most productive cohort we’ve had on here for a good while. MGB28’s pallet truck is inspired, now we need an inspired idea for its storage
M

Maybe hire one to remove the subframe and get it to your garage, do the required work then rehire to replace. No idea what the hire charge might be, maybe SHWMBO won't mind it being on the driveway for a few weeks.

Thanks for the advice RE the pallet truck.
I'm now the proud owner of this :whistle:

I'm hoping to have everything out tomorrow if it stops raining.

I seem to be unable to see the whole thread so am unable to see if anyone else responded. Two photos of my old subframe and one through the wheel spokes. The spacer goes behind the lower arm.

I have always considered, when you are searching for a partner to spend your life with, that they should have an idea of what they are letting themselves in for, this should be viewed from both aspects.
If the female in the partnership is keen on knitting the man should take an interest & try & understand needles sizes. If they are fond of cooking, be prepared to eat cake whilst wearing the jumper just recently knitted. Even if it doesn’t quite measure up to the ideal.
Conversely if the gentleman in the partnership likes a side order of engineering, then it’s not unreasonable for the lady to be happy to view old cars, railway locomotives, mill engines, be content with a day out at one of our excellent open air museums around the country or to visit the Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester. A trip to the Welsh Highland Railway & Ffestiniog is a lovely day in the mountains.
The list is extensive but so is the list of National Trust houses that she has to visit.
The clincher for me was a little over fifty years ago when my then girlfriend helped me remove the gearbox from my car, provided assistance whilst repairs were effected, replaced the clutch & put it all back & this the day before we were due to walk the route of the Welsh Highland whilst it was just a track bed.
There have been many such japes over the intervening years but she’ll be holding the ladders when I clear the house gutters when the sycamore we planted sheds it’s leaves during the first storms of autumn.
A pallet truck would be neither here nor there ( I hope).
M

The pallet truck was a total game changer, I did get the rolling eyes treatment when it arrived but it was worth it.
Today I joined the snapped bolt club, why they used such small bolts on a subframe is a mystery.
I then joined the mgf monster truck club..I did try the method using planks and a jack but on my driveway it was too unstable so I did this.
Finally got it out.
My better half then helped me to push everything into the garage over 2 gravel driveways and 3 speed bumps 💪

Magic, aren’t wives brilliant!

I gave everything a bit of a wash and put it up on stands.
A neighbour is going to lend me a engine hoist but until that arrives I plan to remove the gearbox but when I drained the oil I noticed that it had a little bit of water in there. I have no experience with gearboxes so should I refill with fresh oil and work it around or should I just bin it and start looking for a good 2nd hand replacement?

Nah given that the water would’ve been sitting in the gearbag for some time, it will need disassembling and inspecting for damage, if nothing is too bad then give it a good cleaning and reassemble with new bearings, seals and gaskets……. Or bin it and get another

How much water, a teaspoon full, tablespoon, ladle, or cup? The oil, as you will know will be bobbing about on the water, too much water could mean more problems, but unless you’ve got more than a cup full of rusty water I’d just get on with it.
M

Oh look a disagreement, now what do we do. Cobber had been doing this to make a living for years, I do it for the fun. If I were doing the job I’d probably listen to Old Oily Hands. But I’d certainly see what that water was like first.
M

It must be noted that as I work for large corporations, I don’t mind spending their money, not only because it’s not mine but I can’t afford to leave things to chance, stripping any suspect things down and rebuilding them is more economical than having the fail causing downtime, the costs of which will far exceed the cost of giving the suspect components a birthday.
Of course the problem is trying to convince the parsimonious dickhead bean counters that run these corporations that they need to spend money to save money!

As a private individual you don’t have to worry about loss of production from downtime.

So if you don’t mind running the risk of the gearbag shitting itself at the most inconvenient moment and having to pull the car apart again, the you could just refill with oil and see how it goes, but as far as I’m concerned, I wouldn’t.

You’ll probably get away with it…. But maybe not…….. roll those dice!

It's probably six months ago now but I put a good spare TF gearbox in the for sale sections of a couple of forums, no one even enquired about it, the price? Free to anyone who collected but I did suggest they donated £10 to one of the cancer charities. You will find plenty on ebay at low prices, it's much quicker than stripping your old one down.