Hewland Mk. 6 need help

[Andrew Stein]

I'm unable to remove the gears from the case; when sliding it out there is interference involving the reverse selector fork. With about 1" separation from the main gearbox case the reverse fork interferes with something, pulling in the selector shaft Any ideas to deal with this are welcome.

[kea]

Sounds like the 1st-reverse hub is sticking on the pinion shaft.
Has this box sat for a long period of time ?
If so, try standing it on end and apply liberal amounts oil (thin like a penetrant oil), now down, the pinion shaft, so it can coat the splines this hub slides on.

[Andrew Stein]

Thanks. The transaxle has been used four times this year and had a new r&p installed last winter, so it hasn't been sitting. I don't doubt your analysis of where the problem is at all. Might there be another way without removing the transaxle from the chassis?

[kea]

Then, from what you've explained, maybe a burr on the pinion spline is sticking things together.
The brass fork isn't very strong, but you might try putting a screw driver between the gap (between main case and gear carrier) on one side while tapping on the other with a plastic hammer.
Not that it's related to the fork movement, but did you remove the draw-bolt from the layshaft?

[Andrew Stein]

Yes, the drawbolt is out. I'll try the tapping/prying tonight. I think the hub is "stuck" on the burr as I also cannot reassemble the gear case to the main case. If I can manage to move the hub back I might be able to work it free as well. Just trying to avoid the worst-case scenario of cutting off the head of the selector shaft to get things disassembled (wouldn't do that in any hurry, especially since a replacement may not be so easy to find). Don't want to pry things too hard. Not concerned about the brass fork, which is easily replaceable, but am worried about damaging either case before that. Starting to dream about a Mk.8 gearbox . . .

[Andrew Stein]

A bit of gentle prying and the gears came off last night. No burrs on pinion shaft, but as the photo shows the gear lube (Swepco) burned on to the shaft in high spots and built up, which I believe caused the interference. It sure FELT a lot more firm than burned gear lube, but perhaps not. I believe this shaft (modified VW) was not machined as precisely as Mr. Hewland intended; the first one I purchased I returned because there was a visible lack of concentricity in that portion of the shaft (spline root showed on one side of shaft but not the other). The second pinion shaft I received - this one - looked better, but still probably not the best. Will need to disassemble between events and keep this clean, even if not changing gears. Thanks for your encouragement, Keith.

[kea]

Congratulations.
Always nice to hear that nothing had to get broken to find the cause.