Matbro TR250 major overhaul, gearbox advice needed.

[dennis_f]

8 years ago i bought a used Matbro TR250 telehandler from northern Ireland and shipped it to my home in northern Sweden.
It has served me well since then and always starts even in temperatures down to -25 degrees Celsius (i do have and electric engine preheater installed), except that time that i got diesel algae in the fuel tank

The gearbox has given me som trouble right from the start though (refusing to engage the clutch in any direction when it had sat for a few days), it also had some bearing whining noise in first and second gear. The rust on the cabin was getting worse and worse. The electrical system in the cab was also getting closer and closer to a total meltdown.

So this spring i started the tear-down. The cabin interior and the cabin was removed. The cabin and doors were then sent to be sandblasted and painted with an epoxy base coat. The interior parts were cleaned and resprayed with 1 component boat paint.

After this i took the gearbox out and split it.

I found some wear and tear that i would like som advice on.

1. There is an idler gear with a needle bearing that has put som wear on the axle it sits on. The axle and bearing will be replaced but do you think the bearing surface inside the gear has taken a beating as well or will I be able to reuse it? I have not checked the price on parts yet, perhaps the gear isnt that expensive and its better safe than sorry?

2. I am also wondering what could have caused the bending force on the gear that made the wear on the axle?

3. The gear that drives the idler gear has damaged teeth. I think its called pitting damage in English but I'm not 100% sure. Could this be reused or is it an imminent failure waiting to happen?

The first pictures are of the gears and axle in question and then I included some mixed pictures from the project.



The driving gear with pitting damage. Its situated on the forward-reverse clutch axle.



The needle bearing that sits on the damaged idler axle


The damaged idler axle.


The idler (driven) gear bearing surface


The idler gear teeth.

The rest of the project so far (in pictures)


Started in May. Still some snow on the ground but temperature was acceptable (Around 0 degrees celsius)









Rust on the doors.



Rust on the cabin. I


More rust on the cabin



Steering console?


The cabin was returned from sandblasting and paint.


Replacing some sheetmetal on the doors.








Started painting the interior parts.


Steering console painted with 2 layers of base and 2 layers of top coat.

The gearbox on its home made stand. Started disassembly.
Unfortunately I dont have a garage so I have to do my repairs in the great garage with the blue ceiling

 

[traineefarmer]

That looks like quite a challenge, Dennis. Best of luck with it.

The angular wear on the shaft, bearing and gear would be caused by the natural thrust from the helical gears. What is the biggest concern is the pitting on the gear surfaces. This will create more noise and wear if left and all parts showing wear should be replaced.

My guess is that at some time in its life it has been run low on oil or with the incorrect specification. Or it could just be nearly 30 years of very hard work that has done it!

Parts should be easily available from JCB Transmissions the successors to International Transmissions. A local JCB dealer should be able to help, failing that try an email to JCB, their technical department is very helpful.

Finding a good 2nd hand unit may be a cheaper alternative though!

There is a company call Great Exportations run by former Matbro people who will be able to help also.

 

[Matthew Britton]

If you need parts HES in the uk are the stockists of Matbro spares.

 

[ACEngineering]

its not uncommon to find the bearings worn in the gearbox casing and the shaft worn in to the casing as well. This can be re bored and sleeved. I just send the boxes away to a specialist cause I got better things to spend my time on IMO.

 

[dennis_f]

Thanks everyone for your swift replies.

I have sent an email to both HES and great exportations with the part numbers that i need.

I have never taken apart a gearbox before but i like a good challenge
Also, i have both a JCB and a matbro workshop manual and im hoping that the pictures in the JCB one might close the "gaps" that i find in the matbro one. The pictures in the matbro one are terrible to say the least. Im guessing it is a copy of a copy of a copy sent by fax machine in the early 1990's.
I have not noticed any wear in the casing so far. The bearings on the ends of the shafts seems to be in OK condition. But since the gearbox is taken apart im thinking of replacing all of them so i dont have to redo this operation in the next 20 years.

 

[dennis_f]

I got some quotes for the parts today. Seems to be totaling about £600-£700 for all the bearings in the gearbox + both gears, axle and some spacers and other small parts, not to bad I think, il have a closer look to see if i need all the parts in the quote before I place an order. I already have a new oil pump and friction disks that i ordered during the winter.

 

[marco]

what hours are on it?

 

[dennis_f]

what hours are on it?

When i got it the meter was stuck on 6700 hours so 6700 plus
I mainly use it to move snow (we get about 150-300cm of snow each winter) and that doesnt put a lot of hours on the clock. I put about 70 hours/year on it. So when the repairs are done im hoping that i will have a tractor working for me for many years to come!