Going to collect a t5 this week... there are 2 boxes so just wondering as they are in unknown condition which one to buy? They dont have gear levers either. Take off top cover and have a look? What am I looking for in terms of a box that been abused or been to the moon and back.. Any pics of troublesome areas would be great as I'm not familiar with the internals of a gearbox. And anyone got a gear lever!!??

Check the drain plug for filings. Check the teeth for damage.

Other than that I don't see you can check much else.

i suppose you could do the following :

check seals around input/outputs

Check for any play in the input shaft (if there is any play you can detect by hand the box really is in a bad way)

(If you can) check the gear teeth are free from pitting on the contact face of the tooth and have no cracks in the root of the tooth (the valley at the bottom)

Make sure there are no chips off the edges of the teeth

If you can either rig up a way of changing gears (either by manipulating the input or taking a gear lever with you) check for engagement of all gears

Other than that it would just be general condition - what state is the input shaft in? is there any damage around the bellhousing bolts? any obvious damage to the casing from bad handling of the gearbox?

i would also agree and check on the plug for filings

maybe check the oil level in the box too

These are just things i would personally look for - hope they might be of use to you


Matt