My gearbox went “special” yesterday. Well, it went special on Tuesday actually, with some of the gears in the top half of the box needing a lot of force on the gearstick to get them to engage. Then yesterday it decided it wasn’t going to go into high range at all. When you slap the stick across (it’s a slapover range change box) it feels like it has gone over (i.e. the sprung neutral position moves over as normal from between 3rd and 4th to between 5th and 6th) but there is no clunk from the gearbox itself and you still have gears 1-4 instead of 5-8. The splitter still works and the four gears you do have engage fine as normal without any force needed.
I managed to limp it to VTP near Malton (at 15mph top speed!) who are going to have a look at it today but thought I would ask on here too in case anyone has seen the problem before.
Hi Paul, we used to get this a lot on Turbostars with the ‘slap over’ ZF box where despite the lever going to high range the box stops in low. It was only an air valve problem on them & hopefully yours too, the only thing that would bother me is that yours is the later alloy case ZF where the Iveco’s back in the early 90’s had the older cast iron box and all subsequent (alloy case) Iveco fitments have dispensed with the ‘slap over’ and gone for the switch on the lever. Both however use air to shift the range change, so hopefully it’s only an air valve fault.
May be the clutch slave pack - that sends air to the rest of the g/box - If it doesn’t stroke far enough you don’t get air assistance to change gear or to change range or split.
I thought clutch pack because of the force needed to get it into gear - Air to this comes from the clutch pack when you depress it - as does the air for range/split
They took the air lines off and air was going to the right places, they then took the cover off the piston thing that operates the range change inside the box and pushed the thing in my hand and it was still in low.
Looks like it’s terminal then, almost certainly not worth spending 2k+ on a new gearbox given the age and mileage of the truck.
Thanks for your replies, we’re off shopping for a new one this afternoon.
They took the air lines off and air was going to the right places, they then took the cover off the piston thing that operates the range change inside the box and pushed the thing in my hand and it was still in low.
Looks like it’s terminal then, almost certainly not worth spending 2k+ on a new gearbox given the age and mileage of the truck.
Thanks for your replies, we’re off shopping for a new one this afternoon.
They’re taking the old one in part-ex and swapping the tipping gear over for me as well as swapping the batteries and the best tyres. The mileage is apparently verified as genuine by Renault.
It’s a much nicer drive than the old one, a lot less rattling and banging and the gearbox actually has synchro that works which will be a novelty…
They’re taking the old one in part-ex and swapping the tipping gear over for me as well as swapping the batteries and the best tyres. The mileage is apparently verified as genuine by Renault.
It’s a much nicer drive than the old one, a lot less rattling and banging and the gearbox actually has synchro that works which will be a novelty…
Paul
Paul, if that mileage is correct no wonder the syncro’s are all good!! Low miles normally make most used trucks unaffordable and should be at the top of any used truck buyers wish list.
bigr250:
Paul, if that mileage is correct no wonder the syncro’s are all good!! Low miles normally make most used trucks unaffordable and should be at the top of any used truck buyers wish list.
Good luck which ever route you take.
Ross.
that is low mileage mines on 190000k’s and its 4 years newer
Denis F:
that is low mileage mines on 190000k’s and its 4 years newer
They have 8 in and they vary from 170,000 to about 300,000km and all have allegedly been confirmed by Renault to be correct.
Paul
I reckon much of the time they have been running between Dyce and Aberdeen waiting for ships [/quote]
Correct or at least not far-off…most of the stuff is just local transfer work for the oil industry, i.e. roughly 30 mile radius of Aberdeen with North-sea oil industry consumables re-engineered assets etc. So not too hard-worked. The beds have probably never been slept in and they were probably only 6x2 sleeper cabs for the lease agreement and the residual value i.e 44gvw.
Talking about the noticeable low mileage on thier old fleet, the silly thing is that over that six-year period from new, every one of those trucks will have made about 3x the profit for the operator than 90% of more “standard” operators owning a similar truck and it would have approx 600,000k too…purely down to ASCO’s unique niche work and combined services. I think they have a unique set-up even compared to other local hauliers up there i.e their own pipe yards, chemical bunkering, oil waste management facilities etc.
You also mentioned tipping gear…hope you’re not planning on running too heavy with it though as the 420 engine is not the best pulling unit. What was your previous Renault??
dave_k:
You also mentioned tipping gear…hope you’re not planning on running too heavy with it though as the 420 engine is not the best pulling unit. What was your previous Renault??
Thanks for all the info Dave. My existing truck is basically identical to the new one - it’s a 52 plate 420Dci Premium and I’ve been running it on bulk work at max weight happily enough for the last 18 months. It’s not going to win any speed records but it’s sound enough.
Bit of a bummer in your first year, you’ve dropped on a peach with your replacement at that milage though, only just run in will that one have Volvo running gear?
Big Joe:
Bit of a bummer in your first year, you’ve dropped on a peach with your replacement at that milage though, only just run in will that one have Volvo running gear?
Time flies Joe, I’ve been going 18 months now. I’m hoping the new one is a peach but only time will tell, these things are always a gamble to a certain extent. It is too early to have Volvo running gear, that started with the late 06 plate ones but you pay a lot more for those as they’re Euro4.
will that one have Volvo running gear?