What does a worn syncro/baulk ring look like?

They can 'look' perfect but be worn to the point where they are ineffective. Assuming the rest of the hub is ok but the gears crunch it's safe to say it's worn.

Gotcha.

My original symptoms that made me bother to do this were:

1. A quick vibration and a "bzzt" sound when shifting from 2nd to 3rd. It didn't happen all the time, but was enough to cause concern.

1. Downshifting to 2nd was a special task. I had to slowly and carefully apply pressure down for it to smoothly downshift. If I did it quickly(I wasn't racing or anything) it got crunchy.

But, looking at the gears and such, no damage or anything.

Sometimes "2" can occur if you've got the wrong grade of oil in the gearbox.

My impression is that baulk ring synchro boxes work best on a diet of straight engine oil SAE 30 or 40. EP oils tend to defeat the object by either providing too much lubrication for the synchro cones or rotting them.

Of course Sir could always learn to double declutch...

Ron Robinson

Would you recommend the same for an all-syncro gearbox with a LdN J-type overdrive? I guess I'll have to do some research. I forgot what gear oil I put in previously. Some blue-colored name brand bottle(yeah that narrows it down).

But right now the next order of business is getting that freakin' brake ring off.

I think you will find that most (if not all) cars with Laycock overdrives were meant to use a straight engine oil in their gearbox/overdrive assemblies. There is a theory that the cone clutch in the overdrive does not like an EP oil and can slip, but I don't entirely believe it.

Ron Robinson

I had this problem with a 50 year old army lorry , after changing the gearbox oil (EP 80/90) the gear box became "crunchy"....... The ever so helpful Castrol technical hotline suggested that the modern oil was "baffling" the 50 year old synchro..... Solution? Fill the box with a mixture of 15w/40 engine oil and EP 80/90. It seems fine now . Lou Bricant

You found a "50 year old army lorry" with a synchro gearbox? What was it?

Bedford RL, mechanically similar to the S type , introduced 1953, the same box was still fitted to some models ( TK/TL) up until they ceased production, which is why people nick them . Lou Bricant ( now you know why I used to be R L Driver)