Alfetta transaxle no go

[derek1.08]

I gave my 83 sportiva to a mate to look after while I was away.
He told me he was just taking off at a set of lights and the back of the car wobbled and would not go anymore.
He said he was not trying to spin the wheels and there was no crunch or bang, just a wobble.
I believe him
I have a pair of multigrips, a hammer and a roll of sticky tape so I can fix anything.

I have had the car on blocks running, the cv joints are ok, the gears all engage but the wheels they no go around.
I am guessing it is a diff problem but the transaxle is the one part of the car I have not worked on but have in the past paid someone else to replace most of the synchro's. Now I can't afford to pay somone else. I have spent many hours staring into my workshop manual and trying to use all my psychic energy to picture what it is that is brocken. My next step is to start pulling the transaxle out.
Can someone give me any clues before I drop the entire rear end out. Just in the hope that maybe an inner drive shaft has sheared and I can replace it with less effort or if I should remove the gearbox section first

[jimnielsen]

If the main driveshaft is turning, and you are able to engage gears, but the rear wheels are not turning then the diff has probably been damaged (a lot).  The easy path is probably to try to find a 2nd hand complete unit.  You can look at the diff by removing the rear side cover with the transaxle still in the car - but its hardly worth the bother. If you get a transaxle that is exactly the same as your current one, you could mix&match the parts from the two, but use the diff and casing from the 'new' one. You may need a few more tools....

[Storm_X]

i would be your spider gears in the diff.
you will need tobuy a 2nd hand one.

[Barry Edmunds]

derek1.08
I think the diagnosis provided by Storm _X and Jim is probably spot on. Probably a lot easier to drop the whole unit and slide replacement in.

If you are interested I have a transaxle out of a Sportiva II in my garage, just waiting for someone in need of same.

Barry
0405 383 431

[Tristan Atkins]

Hey Derek1.08,

check out Craig's Place: http://www.users.on.net/~craigf/

You should be able to download the manual on the gearbox and diff.

Also I'm not trying to drop you mate in it but I've only seen two cars where their spider gears give it up. The first was on thr track where the driver selected 1st instead of 3rd (I caught most of the bits with the front radiator as I was right behind) and the other was when the driver was giving it everything off the line.

Ask him to give you a hand as the transaxel is heavy. Have a look for Andrews post about removing it, he had a few good tips.

Best of luck,

Tristan

[dehne]

you need to make sure it has the right clutch set up but other than that you can do it urself in acouple of hrs all u needis acouple of spanners and a trolly jack

[Sam]

I had the same problem a few years ago.
I had just got my car back from my son.
He had been driving it for a year or so, and went through a couple of sets of rear tires.
I figured this wasn't a good sign and suspected something was happening.
Like your friend he insisted he wasn't hammering it.
Anyway I had the car for a good 6 months when I heard a crunching sound coming from the back.
It got worse when I turned the car left.
Turns out a piece of metal broke off a tooth on a spider gear.
when I pulled the box apart and I also notice a chip of one of the mesh teeth too. (not sure what they are called,  they are small teeth that are used to engage the gear)
I suspect this came about when my son was practicing clutch-less shifts (yes I know!).
I wasn't sure if this tiny piece found its way from the gearbox to the Diff area. I couldn't see anything to obstruct its path there.
I thought about fixing it, but then I came across a whole gearbox for $100.00.
I installed the $100.00 box in a week end. I stuck some expensive Synthetic Gearbox oil (75-90 I think) 
It had fantastic syncros and changes really well.
That was 3 or 4 years ago and it's still going strong.
I think your best bet is to pick up an old box, put some really good Oil in it.
Make sure the synros are ok, other wise you may want to chnage them with yours if they are semi new.

If you want to put it in yourself you will need to further extend your already extensive array of tools.
You will probably need a 13mm,14mm and 17mm ring spanner and equivalent socket set.
You will also need a set of Allen keys – If I remember correctly, 6mm will be the one used most.

Sam

[Sam]

 I thought all the 2 liter Alfettas had the same clutch and gearbox set up. Is this correct ?
I once I stuck a Twin Spark gearbox in one of my Alfettas.
The Twin Spark box had a different slave cylinder setup so I just used the old Alfetta clutch assembly (slave and all) without any problems.

[Storm_X]

I have gone through 3diffs so far .The 1st two blew because I was giving the car pretty much all it had. 1st diff on the spot and the 2nd taking off. My 3rd diff the spider gears worn all of the teeth off witch wasn't my fault because I just bought the car that day and was driving it like a princess.

I would open the side off the diff up just in case and check if it was the spider gears. I don't know how many people out there that have blown there diff with out thrashing there car it would be possible but mainly it gives way under allot of stress.

And I think with the gtv box's they have a skinnier diff casing witch acquires spacers that bolt onto the disc breaks then onto the axels/drive shaft if im correct. I only know this because my mate had gtv running gear in his giulietta and it had spacers off the disc breaks connected to the axel/drive shaft.

[Mat Francis]

Couple of years ago dad destroyed the spider gears in our 83 alfetta too!

There were 3 kids including myself in the back seat being absolute Sh**heads, and he got very very very frustrated. Wound it up to about 5 and dropped the clutch while stationary. Tow truck home.

Like everyone else is suggesting, we just dropped in a spare gearbox we had. no big deal.

I've said it before, but i'm gonna upset everyone again here. Don't bother changing syncros. learn to double de clutch and be a bit mechanically sympathetic and there won't be an issue.

[Sam]

The Alfetta boxes are all the same (as far as outside dimensions are concerned).
The 75 TS, 2.5 & 3.0 ltr ones are supposed to be stronger.
If I remember correctly, the 2.5 & 3.0ltr also have taller final drives
The TS & 3.0 are LS too.
Some models had smaller CV drive shafts,  these are the ones with the spacers.
Found that out when I installed the Twin Spark box into my GCL.
I just threw away the spacer and used the larger CV joints from the TwinSpark (or GCL – can't remember which).
So the boxes are outwardly the same, and are interchangeable.
Oh , almost forgot, the Iso-Satic linkages foul up against the under body on a GTV, so putting a 75 box with Iso Static links into a GTV requires a touch of panel beating.
Another problem .... The early Alfettas used cable drive for the Speedo (even the GCL!), while the 75s were electronic
Other than that, they are interchange able

[shane wescott]

Having done a number of transaxles (not in alfa's but vw's) would have to agree the easiest sounding option is the full replacement.

IF you want repair the current one you are going to need gaffer tape, sticky tape just won't cut it on a transaxle :-)

Cacth ya

Shane

[Luke]

There were 3 kids including myself in the back seat being absolute Sh**heads, and he got very very very frustrated. Wound it up to about 5 and dropped the clutch while stationary. Tow truck home.

LOL, that'll learn ya!

[pep105]

There were 3 kids including myself in the back seat being absolute Sh**heads, and he got very very very frustrated. Wound it up to about 5 and dropped the clutch while stationary. Tow truck home.

LOL, that'll learn ya!

Great story Mat - your poor Dad - damm kids! I can relate to that did the same thing in the GTV one time when arguing with an ex girlfriend lucky for me it was just the drive shaft boy did I sh*t myself as i thought it was the diff

[Mat Francis]

Posted by: pep105

your poor Dad

oh i wouldn't say that- he got a good laugh out of it after he fixed it