Getrag 265 Rebuild Rant

jamesw

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Please allow me to vent. I am in 265OD hell...

A few years ago I purchased a car which came with a loose old-style 265 with speedo cable. I took it to a local shop who rebuilds manual transmissions and asked them to open and inspect it and replace what needed replacing. They took 2 weeks but finally found the right bearing puller and press/separator. I eventually ended up replacing all 6 syncros per the shop's recommendation at a parts cost of $600.

I brought the transmission plus Sahara to the local BMW guru Sergio who did a fabulous job installing it (he even put new seals on the trans because the shop neglected to do that). He ran the car through the gears on the chassis dyno and all was well. They called me to come pick it up - woohoo! Then they called me back and said the car wouldn't go into reverse :-( I asked them to make sure it was warmed up and keep trying - no luck.

So I had the car towed back to the trans shop. They removed and disassembled the trans and told me one of the forks looked bent and a number of the syncros were buggered up. ???? WTF?

I sent them the exploded parts diagram but they just weren't interested in getting the parts and trying to rebuild it again.

So I ended up buying another Getrag OD trans off Ebay - should be here Friday...

So what do you all think happened? Do you think the shop "runner" trashed my trans trying to take my car to get washed? Did the rebuild shop put it together wrong?

Cheers
James
 
These transmissions are notoriously difficult to rebuild, my bet is on incorrect assembly.

Sorry about your ordeal, now my hopes are dashed that you found someone reasonably close who could rebuild them :cry:
 
They did a decent job on my Datsun 5-speed (Servo syncro box) but whiffed on the Getrag w/ Borg Warners I guess :-(
 
6 new synchros and didn't replace the 3 seals? Not so good...

Synchros cost almost 100 each so this bill doesn't make sense.
Even a cheap shop would have charged double the final bill.
 
Don: I bought the syncros and gave them to the shop. So the parts cost was $600. They said they replaced the bearings and seals when they rebuilt the trans - but I won't know for certain until I get over there and look at everything. It's disassembled on their bench right now so I'll take a look when I drop off the "new" replacement on Saturday.
 
if memory serves correctly the 265 OD tranny needed some weird press to separate , not just some bearing puller, Those trannies need to be built by someone who specializes in them , there is a reason rebuilt ones cost thousands .
 
4250+core WOW! I picked mine up for 650.00 w/105K on it a couple of years back. Maybe look for a car that has the right transmission?
 
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These transmissions are notoriously difficult to rebuild, my bet is on incorrect assembly.

Sorry about your ordeal, now my hopes are dashed that you found someone reasonably close who could rebuild them :cry:

Indeed! Mine is becoming increasingly stiff into second when cold and I was considering rebuilding it this summer. Now I'm not so sure. Has anybody in the southern area had any luck with a rebuild shop?
 
hey guys - DriveGear rebuilds several Getrag models and their prices are very reasonable. www.drive-gear.com


Please allow me to vent. I am in 265OD hell...

A few years ago I purchased a car which came with a loose old-style 265 with speedo cable. I took it to a local shop who rebuilds manual transmissions and asked them to open and inspect it and replace what needed replacing. They took 2 weeks but finally found the right bearing puller and press/separator. I eventually ended up replacing all 6 syncros per the shop's recommendation at a parts cost of $600.

I brought the transmission plus Sahara to the local BMW guru Sergio who did a fabulous job installing it (he even put new seals on the trans because the shop neglected to do that). He ran the car through the gears on the chassis dyno and all was well. They called me to come pick it up - woohoo! Then they called me back and said the car wouldn't go into reverse :-( I asked them to make sure it was warmed up and keep trying - no luck.

So I had the car towed back to the trans shop. They removed and disassembled the trans and told me one of the forks looked bent and a number of the syncros were buggered up. ???? WTF?

I sent them the exploded parts diagram but they just weren't interested in getting the parts and trying to rebuild it again.

So I ended up buying another Getrag OD trans off Ebay - should be here Friday...

So what do you all think happened? Do you think the shop "runner" trashed my trans trying to take my car to get washed? Did the rebuild shop put it together wrong?

Cheers
James
 
drive gear has had TWO of my 265's for 18 or so months , they have been for some reason or another not been able to rebuild even one of them . they do an awesome job on more common tranies but failed on the 265
like I posted earlier there is a reason it costs thousands to build those things
 
Well the Ebay transmission came in on Friday and it looks pretty good. Turns really smoothely.

I took it by the transmission shop and their opinion was to just change the front and rear seals and put it in. Woohoo! We'll see this week.

Based on what they saw in the "bad" tranny, something is fishy. They said the 1-R shift fork is bent and the syncro is jammed/bonded into the coupler. It sounds to me like someone tried to jam it into reverse with either no oil in the tranny, or it just wasn't broken in and was forced :-(

James
 
drive gear has had TWO of my 265's for 18 or so months , they have been for some reason or another not been able to rebuild even one of them . they do an awesome job on more common tranies but failed on the 265
like I posted earlier there is a reason it costs thousands to build those things

Last year, when I was looking for my tranny I asked drivegear whether they knew where I might find one. I don't remember exactly what they said, but I got the impression they were not particularly interested in getting involved, so I dropped it and moved on.
 
Note that Drive Gear is not listing the 265 gearbox, only the 260 and E36 bodies . . . this would give me pause, as stated above these are difficult and labor intensive to rebuild and get them to be correct!

There are only two solutions I am aware of:
Eriksson Industries http://www.erikssonindustries.com/
They have done numerous for me w/o issues , Talk to Nat.

Metric Mechanic .. YMMV .......

Sadly Jim Blanton is no longer doing gearboxes . . .
 
I like Petes Gear Shop and liked Metric when Paul Burke was doing the trannies.
Strange point in time now- so few left.
 
Note that Drive Gear is not listing the 265 gearbox, only the 260 and E36 bodies . . . this would give me pause, as stated above these are difficult and labor intensive to rebuild and get them to be correct!

There are only two solutions I am aware of:
Eriksson Industries http://www.erikssonindustries.com/
They have done numerous for me w/o issues , Talk to Nat.

Metric Mechanic .. YMMV .......

Sadly Jim Blanton is no longer doing gearboxes . . .

Mario- I notice Eriksson Industries advertises ZF work... do you know if they can service the old 5 spd ZF race box?

Thanks- Richard
 
Big news (for me at least) is I got my car back! The trans that I purchased through ebay from "Socalbrit5" feels fantastic. I put about 30 miles on my car yesterday - as it's basically the first time I've really gotten to drive Sahara with her new suspension (CN), 16" Alpinas, and 5-speed. Not to mention the triple webers sound and feel fantastic!!!

I don't know what to do with the non-functional 5-speed but I think I'm going to keep it for a while for "evidence." I'm going to have to have a talk with the shop that put it in as I have a bad feeling their shop "runner" damaged it moving the car around...

Cheers
James

PS: Good thing the A/C works well on this car btw - it was 95 yesterday.

Next up is tuning/jetting the Webers using my A/F meter and setting the timing curves in my 123Tune distributor.
 
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