Daf XF gearbox problems?

A friend of mine runs two XF dafs, one which he has owned for 2 years has in the last 6 weeks started jumping out of high/low split, not all the time but when it does it sends shudder through the driveline . the Daf dealer took the vehicle in and checked it over, they replaced a spring in gearbox and said it was okay. but the problem persists so Daf have said they will remove gearbox and check it out [ large bill ].this truck is a 52 reg 480 superspace with 300000km. The second truck is a 02 reg 530 s/space with 330000km which he bought 5 weeks ago to replace a trusty Scania R 124-420 which gave 4 years trouble free service. He rung me last Thursday (8.9.05) to tell me that his recent purchase had started jumping out of gear, I asked if it was the same problem as his other truck but he said no this one was jumping out of gear to neutral which meant that he had to clutch to get back into gear. He took it to a DAF dealer(not his local dealer) and they told him the gear stick was in the wrong position and should have been adjusted when it was serviced and that this had probably done damage. They checked back through the service history which revealed that they had been no gear stick adjustment or any problems found. On Friday morning (9th) I got a call to say that the truck had stuck in low range and could not be used. He took it round to his local DAF dealer who said that it was a collapsed bearing inside the gearbox and would need a replacement/reconditioned gearbox. He asked DAF if there is an ongoing problem with the ZF box as fitted in both his XF’s to which DAF said no there was no problem and he had got unlucky.

I just wondered if anybody out there had similar problems or were aware from talking to other XF owners if this is an isolated case and he is indeed unlucky to have two trucks with gearbox problems.

I had always thought that the ZF box was bulletproof and had never really heard a bad word said about them.

Only had experience of scania gearboxes but there are two rules of thumb

Which could go for any gearbox

If the gearbox jumps out when its under load(foot down on throttle)
Then it could be the Syncro teeth (gearbox strip out)

If the gearbox jumps out on the over run (coasting)
Then it could be the Detent springs which hold the gear when no load applied

The linkage could also be at fault if it is adjusted wrong then the cab movement could move the stick into neutral but when this happens you would usually find it hard to get a a certain gear as the stick hits the cab,

The splitter one sounds like sonething is worn internally causing it to slip between splits

I’m afraid both sound like it is going to get expensive, Should have kept the scania, Why replace something that is not broke?

Hope this is of some help?

Welcome to TruckNet Uk R143-500 :smiley: .
Sorry that I cannot help with your question

I know a guy with 3 XF’s and they all gave problems with jumping out of gear when the intarders where being used.

Welcome to Trucknet R143-500, :laughing:

thanks for the warm welcome. big truck regarding your comments about jumping out of gear with the intarder on, the 530 has an intarder but he never mentioned it jumping out with it engaged, the 480 only has the standard 16 speed ZF. the 530 is currently off the road with the gearbox having been sent away for repair he has an MAN tga on hire just a flat roof with comfort shift says its a load of doggy doo [ technical term ]. :unamused: :unamused: :unamused:

welcome 143 500 im no mechanic but after reading your posts id say both trucks were given a hard time by previous owner to your mate and he,s just been unlucky .a question about your name do ya drive a 143 500 and if ya do any chance of posting some pics of it :laughing:

A friend has four DAF;s ALL are running a-okay but he does get new lorrys every 3years due tothe amount of work and the mieage/kilometers
that he and his drivers carry out ,so far he says that DAF are the best vehicle
on the market at present and do give the best all round service,

just a quick update on the zf gearbox problems my freind is encountering at the moment on his two XFs. :blush: A ZF gearbox specialist in croyden have been trying to find out the problem, took the range change out and apart from a few scuff marks on the cogs found nothing broke or damaged . They then rang my freind to make sure they had the correct information and he confirmed that it was jumping out of gear in high range . Rather than putting the box back together and refitting it they rang ZFs technical dept in Germany, the problem was with the pistons that push the range into high not pushing it in far enough especially under load . the answer is to shim it up so it pushes the range in fully. the shims are arriving from Germany on monday so he hopes to have it back on the road on wednesday. A word of warning to any of you who operate or drive XFs if you find it starts slipping out of high range dont try forcing / ramming it in because you will smash up the gearcogs and do serious [expensive ] damage. as a footnote the shimming of the range change piston can be done in situ , so the gearbox doesnt have to come out hope this helps save someone some time and aggro / money in the future.

Just heard from my mate with the 2 Duf XFs that the gearbox has gone again in the 530. This is just over 13 months since it was repaired by a ZF approved rebuilder. Some problem with the range change means gearbox out send away to said repairer to fit modified parts and another bill in excess of £3000. Apparently the 530 has an uprated box to handle the high torque output obviously not uprated enough in this case. :unamused:

Presumably DAF are footing the bill, correct?

R143-500:
Just heard from my mate with the 2 Duf XFs that the gearbox has gone again in the 530. This is just over 13 months since it was repaired by a ZF approved rebuilder. Some problem with the range change means gearbox out send away to said repairer to fit modified parts and another bill in excess of £3000. Apparently the 530 has an uprated box to handle the high torque output obviously not uprated enough in this case. :unamused:

:confused: What age is this one, is it the ■■■■■■■ engined one ?

can’t really shed any light on the problem but a mate of mine runs three xf’s and has had simular troubles with the two older units (99,2000) both have had the box out and been reconed by a firm in brum, not cheap but 3k seems a hell of a lot of money to spend on repairing a box?
i’ll be seeing him monday and i’ll ask what the problem was.

DAFMAD:
:confused: What age is this one, is it the ■■■■■■■ engined one ?

No it is 2002 with the Duf 12.6 litre engine. The truck has only done approx 400000 K and belonged to an O/D before my pal got it and he drives it himself and is very steady with it as you tend to be when you have to foot the bills. In answer to your question Rob, no Duf wont be footing the bill as it was repaired by an approved ZF repairer. He did not use Duf for the original repair.The ZF specialist say its a different problem to the one they fixed previously and besides they give 12 month warrenty not 13 :cry:

My 85 Synchros went at about 650000k The gearbox casing had also gone porous, I think that these things may have been related. Thank god for Maintenance contracts is all I can say

I didn’t have time to address this problem on my web site (link removed) , yet. In my opinion it is a factory mistake or better yet intentional „mistake“ of the ZF. In the back of the gear box is the reducer (hi and low change), the sleeve that changes it is manipulated by brass „pads“, the pads and the sleeve have to big tolerance between them. With time the brass wears out and the tolerance is so big you that can’t switch any more. Then you need to weld on the brass and the turner makes a lesser tolerance and you put it back in. All you need to buy is a set of gaskets. Only the back of the gear box needs to be opened the gear box can stay on the truck. There are other things that can create similar problems, but in your case it is probably it.