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| Razon Date registered: Jul 2008 Location: Vancouver, BC Vehicle(s): 1986 280ge Cabrio, 617A, 5sp manual  | End of the Auto Well, at least for me  I think the bigger tires are taxing my drive-line a little, and the transmission in particular. I had the transmission rebuilt at the end of 2012 before a trip down to Panama and now it's acting up again. So, I'm done with it! This afternoon it's coming out, and this is going in: (I'll then take it "out" on a trip and let you know which one's "better") EDIT: Photo removed to be resized. | |
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| EdwinJ Regular Date registered: Dec 2012 Location: Quebec Ontario border, Canada Vehicle(s): C280 1997, 280GE SWB 1983 Posts: 83  | ||
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| Motto Regular Date registered: Jul 2013 Location: Vancouver. BC Vehicle(s): 1985 W460 LWB 300GD Turbo Posts: 61 | ||
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| chris505 Date registered: May 2007 Location: San Francisco Vehicle(s): '79 280E/'80 280GE/'00 G500  | RE: End of the Auto Razon - 4/11/2014 8:49 AM Well, at least for me I think the bigger tires are taxing my drive-line a little, and the transmission in particular. I had the transmission rebuilt at the end of 2012 before a trip down to Panama and now it's acting up again. Bummer, 4.88 axles with 37" and your style of offroading sounds like a perfect recipe for cooking transmissions, especially when the G is loaded down with gear, how heavy do you think your G was on the trip to panama? I wonder if a transmission fluid temp gauge may have extended its service life? I swapped to Auto because I was burning up a brand new clutch trying to crawl the 280GE, and that was with 4.7:1 first gear and 35" tires. | |
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| Razon Date registered: Jul 2008 Location: Vancouver, BC Vehicle(s): 1986 280ge Cabrio, 617A, 5sp manual | Re: End of the Auto I got all the parts from Germany. A little bit slow to get here due to a trucking strike we had, but they're here now and that's all it matters It's a 5sp, low 1'st gear transmission. I will have more details about the install once I get it done. I do/did have a transmission temp gauge; quite a nice one actually that has a controller built in that would switch on an electric fan automatically to make sure the radiator temp is as cool as it could be. It's mounted in the oil pan. I did have it up to 240degF on a couple occasions, but for short time. This time it doesn't slip, but a really long delay to engage reverse (and only if I rev the engine) then when it engages,it's so violent it spins the tires backwards. The shifts in the forward gears are not consistent either, and I get some shuddering (vibration) in 2'nd and 3'rd....fluid looks burned after very short time just from driving on the road (temp never goes above 180degF) I always "preached" auto is better for off road, I just don't have confidence in it's reliability anymore. That's more important for me right now. If I could buy a brand new transmission from Mercedes, I'd probably still go auto. Yes, I'm afraid i'll take a huge hit in off road performance, but I should get slightly better fuel economy and reliability. So far, for long trips I use 35' BFG's on stock rims. It's a very common tire all over the americas. You can find spares, it's light, radial and performs good enough. Now I have for the first time a 37"setup that drives really good on the highway, very good off road, and much more solid tire construction (D load rating=more plies but also heavier tire). It's been a great setup for about a year now, so I think I'll use it like this in my trips this year ... fuel economy went out the window though ...more later, gotta get back to work | |
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| Motto Regular Date registered: Jul 2013 Location: Vancouver. BC Vehicle(s): 1985 W460 LWB 300GD Turbo Posts: 61 | ||
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| bram_r Expert Date registered: Apr 2007 Location: the Netherlands Vehicle(s): 1984 MB 280GE, 1982 MB 300GD, 1986 Subaru XT 4WD Posts: 1659  | ||
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| Razon Date registered: Jul 2008 Location: Vancouver, BC Vehicle(s): 1986 280ge Cabrio, 617A, 5sp manual | Re: End of the Auto It's a 711.116 (it was the picture name, but it is now removed). It seems it's not possible to edit old posts and re-post the picture. Anyway, swap is done and everything is working well. The only inconvenience was the shifter linkages. I folowed the diagram from the manual for this transmission and it didn't work at all. I had to figure out what each lever does and how the shifter mechanism works, then connect them accordingly. All 3 rods had to be shortened. I shortened them at the shifter end and re-threaded them. Reverse lights is the only thing left to do. That'll be a job for tomorrow. First impressions: I like the way the clutch works, very progressive engagement, so a lot of controll. L gear is very low, and the shifter/transmission doesn't like to go quick from L to 1'st, so king of unusable on the street. Big gap between 1'st and 2'nd; I have to rev it quite high to stay in power band after the shift. Well, "high" for my liking... Normally I keep the revs low. When shifting, all the boost is lost, then it takes a while to pick up again, so it's slower than the auto in a straight line acceleration. Maybe working the gears harder would yeld different results. On the highway, same speed is lower rpm. You can feel it and hear it, no two ways about it. Maybe it'll help with fuel economy afterall I also put new, harder motor mounts. They're white color code. For whoever might be interested, they don't feel hard. However, I do feel more vibration now, but I'm not sure if it's strictly because of the mounts. Motto, you should of come to help; THEN go for coffee! Yes, we can meet up I'm in Coquitlam; Send me PM. | |
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| Motto Regular Date registered: Jul 2013 Location: Vancouver. BC Vehicle(s): 1985 W460 LWB 300GD Turbo Posts: 61 | RE: End of the Auto Hi Razon, After reading your post on Friday, I talked to my dad about what parts you would need and install, to get the job done, almost all afternoon . I even suggested him that it would be nice to go and see you in your garage. But after second thought, I decided that it would be nice to leave you alone for letting you focus on plan. But if you think we could have given you hand, next time just mention that. I enjoy being part of things that are being fixed. And for coffee, this is how I have my coffee when I am on the trail. So its up to you to decide if you want to meet in a coffee shop. lol.. anyways I am in Van. I ll send you pm. lets meet. (coffee.jpg) Attachments ----------------  coffee.jpg (160KB - 0 downloads) | |
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| chris505 Date registered: May 2007 Location: San Francisco Vehicle(s): '79 280E/'80 280GE/'00 G500 | ||
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| Loki Laufeyjarson Date registered: Apr 2006 Location: 66°N, 19°W Vehicle(s): | ||
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| Titus Pullo Elite Veteran Date registered: May 2007 Location: Ottawa, ON, Canada Vehicle(s): '90 Wolf 240GD, '06 G270 CDI. Posts: 1010 | ||
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| Razon Date registered: Jul 2008 Location: Vancouver, BC Vehicle(s): 1986 280ge Cabrio, 617A, 5sp manual | RE: End of the Auto Oh Oh... careful posting pictures like that. I might grow to demand that kind of treatment next time we go out I have an old, nicked, tin can from Canadian Tire. It burns my hands when the coffee's hot abut then it cools quite fast, so I only have a short time to enjoy it... similar with other things in life I've had other over time, but they just didn't "stick around" always find myself going back to this one. I didn't match balanced the flywheel, mainly because the flywheel and torque converter were changed in the past, without any considerations for balancing, so I wouldn't have the factory setup to go by. That being said, the engine is free of vibration when I rev it up in neutral. The vibrations I'm talking about are under high load and highway speeds. The reverse lights work now. The switch was in the right position, I just didn't get to do the wiring until today (auto has reverse switch on the transmission, manual is on the shifter). However, I busted the switch.... broke one of the mounting tabs trying to take it off, so now I have to get a new one. I managed to hold it in place for now till I get the new one. Just to clarify, if the speed is low enough, it goes into L just as any other gear, but up-shifting to 1'st needs to be done slower. These trucks don't have a lock-up torque converter, so even if the transmission belts don't slip, there will always be a difference in speed between the engine and transmission input shaft. I can't edit my original post to put a proper size picture, so I'll just post it again. (711.116.JPG) Attachments ---------------- 711.116.JPG (152KB - 0 downloads) | |
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| bram_r Expert Date registered: Apr 2007 Location: the Netherlands Vehicle(s): 1984 MB 280GE, 1982 MB 300GD, 1986 Subaru XT 4WD Posts: 1659 | Re: End of the Auto That looks like a Guido gearbox | |
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