Synchro parts?

[printjunky]

OK, it looks like that to me. Found them in the little cupped part of the drain plug. Anyone want to confirm/diagnose/prognose? Is it bad? How bad? I need this thing to get me through the winter (no garage - and I had enough of that last winter!)

Also, the 90wt was definitely laced with clutch fluid. I remember there being some problems getting everything sealed up when I did the M/C S/C this summer, but I finally got it locked down - not mysteriously losing fluid. Someone here said under some similar circumstance it can get into the tranny? Anyone confirm that, or do I need to dig further?

[SalemRover]

They do not look like they are part of the 3rd/4th synchros. They are too thin for that. Given the thickness they appear to be part of the internal member of a SIII reverse gear assembly. Without knowing the suffix it is one of these 3 part numbers; 608283, RTC2195, RTC2685. If that indeed is the part that failed. Personally I cannot imagine how you got clutch fluid into the transmission.

[cedryck]

those are gear teeth,

[printjunky]

cedryck, I know they're gear teeth, but there are only a couple of places in the tranny where the gears are spur (straight) as opposed to helical. The two most likely spots these came from are the first/second synchros (which have tallish, small teeth - so I was hoping). And as Salem suggests, the reverse idler gear.

[SalemRover]

It could be that these remnants are a result of trans-positating fillifitation of ferrous ions in a structural matrix causing these rare examples of ravenous man-eating Pliocene clam teeth to take on the deceptive appearance of gear teeth. Spiff-arino! :D

citation (http://www.snopes.com/humor/letters/smithsonian.asp)

/ horribly plagiarized
//couldn't resist some tongue in cheek humor

[printjunky]

I WISH!

[cedryck]

Well the good news if it is the reverse Idler, I have replaced this, and it is not hard to do. Obviously you need to pull the tranny,

[cedryck]

hello again,
the other obvious question is, does reverse gear work?
cheers,

[printjunky]

It does - reverse work, that is. No way to do the reverse idler in situ, huh? Unfortunately, there will likely be no more of yesterday's flukey 80-degree days here in the middle of the Midwest, and I am nothing if not the epitome of a shadetree mechanic. ie: No garage, no shelter, no heat. Unlikely I'll get to pulling the tranny til spring. So I'm down to risking it - at least if it's Reverse, I can make that work under most circumstances. (The SIII I drove in college had no reverse for most of the time I owned it. Eventually I almost never forgot to not box myself in!)

If it's worse and get worse, I can always get back on the bicycle after the snow flies (normally stop bike commuting around Mid-Nov., trying to make it to Dec. 1 this year). That will be a tough way to do the entire winter, though.

[cedryck]

Yes, to do reverse gear, the tranny will have to come out. If you have four forward gears, drive it like that, and do a repair come warmer weather, cheers,
Jeff