Ok, I'm new here so a quick 'hello' first! I'm quite new to the Daihatsu owning club, having purchased an 'M' Sportrak around 12M ago. It was cheap and intended as a spare set of wheels after the propshaft on my P38 let go whilst 200 miles from home and towing a boat through North Wales! The propshaft stoved in the bottom of the gearbox and resulted an AA journey home... Not a quick fix, so hence a spare motor.

After a few initial gremlins with 'Hattie' (as we christened her) - like abysmal tracking and self-determined steering, I've taken a real liking to her and quickly clocked up around 11,000 miles before the gearbox let go in November. Although a little harsh on ride (even on 'soft' setting!), she's nippy, capable and now handles quite well.

So, I was happily trundling back from Plymouth about 3-4 miles from home when a loud clunk, followed by a gnashing of teeth occurred briefly. Quickly killing the radio, I listened for further odd noises and pulled over. A quick inspection around and under the vehicle didn't shed any light, so I pulled away and started to head home - I only had a couple of miles to go and all appeared ok again... However, I only got about another mile when the same happened again, but this time no drive at all in 2WD or 4WD (stupidly, I didn't try low range at this stage). I concluded the gearbox was toast and got her recovered home. A bit of searching around found a gearbox on eBay which was duly ordered and arrived next day. Gearboxes appeared identical (supposedly 1 year different) and after a quick once over (first mistake), the replacement gearbox was fitted at the weekend. Although it took a few attempts to get in and was stiff to push in the last 10mm, I thought no more about it - second mistake...

Anyway, all was fine for about 1500 miles when, once again heading up the A38, I noticed the gearbox was starting to whine - feint at first, but seemed to be getting louder... I did double check the oil level after filling didn't I...? A few more miles and a very distinct whine - Totnes now, so only about 10 miles to go! Whine seemed worse in 5th and at speed, so as I was now off the A38, I slowed down into the high 20's and stopped in a lay-by to check for leaks etc - none, so limped home. Having checked levels etc (added about 1/4 cup of oil), I took around the block for a test - still whining and now won't engage 5th. Back home then, ah, no reverse either

Plan B was to look at determining both gearbox faults and perhaps make a good one from the two. Having since given more thought to symptoms, I'd convinced myself that the 1st box was probably output related - possibly transfer box, but the second one worked fine and quiet in 1st, 2nd & 3rd, a little bit noisier in 4th, so was probably input shaft/main transmission.

So, out came the second box, along with lots of bits of shredded pilot bearing! In for a penny, so I dismantled first the old box. Sure enough, the Transfer High/Low clutch sleeve had eaten a nice groove into the shift fork - such that it wasn't holding the sleeve far enough forward to engage (about 4-5mm gone!). Signs of abrasion on the edge of the clutch sleeve confirmed, that this was the gnash of teeth! The sub-gears were also missing most of their teeth too, but the main gears appeared untouched. Could I swap the 2nd hand transfer box onto the original unit maybe? Splitting the 2nd unit revealed a much healthier transfer box, with no sighs of wear and chain etc all good, so have now meshed the original transmission to the 2nd hand transfer box.

By this stage I had also ordered a new bearing and a new clutch online. The former of these listed as spigot bearing - as I have struggled to find anywhere as pilot bearing. So today I pulled off the clutch (still in good shape, but taking no chances this time) and thought I'd tackle the bearing... Well, surprise surprise, it's about 1.5mm too big to fit into the crank... Thinking it must be the wrong part, I checked the gearbox shaft... The old shaft - the box that I'm going to use, fits like a glove, but the 2nd hand box that appeared identical has a shaft approx 2mm larger diameter - how did I miss that! It's the ONLY apparent difference between the two and explains the wrecked bearing/difficult last 10mm when fitting before!

So, where on earth do I find a bearing that's the right size to fit the gearbox input shaft AND the crank?

The one I have is: http://www.milneroffroad.com/daihatsu/sportrakferoza/f300-1-6petrol-1989-81999/f300-clutch-0/f300-clutch-spigot-shaft-bearing-0

The only one listed for the vehicle! Google searches of various forms return 100's of supposed parts providers that turn up nothing when you go through the filling in of all the details...

Any thoughts? The casing doesn't look substantial enough to 'trim' a bit and I don't have the tools to ream out a slightly bigger hole either! :/

Any thoughts/suggestions welcomed.

Cheers,

Rob