Broken R7ME gearbox?

I did see a thread about that the other day! It will probably happen in the future if i get the gearbox sorted out... Gonna get the welder out and see if i can get the filler nut off when it stops pouring down rain outside...

Hm didnt quite understand. Are you saying that the mounting arms or propshaft could be the cause of the noise, or is it something i should have a look at if i take out the gearbox?

The standard mount for the transfer box are 2 aluminium arms and they can crack without much provoking which then causes all manner of noises.

I changed all the bearings & seals in the R7ME in my 2001 Jimny really easily, I can't remember if there was a picture guide somewhere or I just followed the workshop manual. The hardest part is getting the gearbox off the car! The main gearbox is horizontally split so it is a doddle to lift the mainshaft out.

You need some bearing pullers and a way to press the new bearings on. The bearings & seals come as a kit from a specialist on eBay.

Provided that you haven't had a bearing collapse and cause the gear teeth to wear oddly new bearings will fix 90% of the noise- the whirring in neutral is the input bearing and/or the needle roller at the front of the mainshaft. I can't remember if the kit comes with new needle bearings or not, they don't wear much unless you have run the gearbox dry, or towed the car long distances with the engine stopped.


The rear gearbox mount is always gone, the transfer box mounts crack out because the arms are made of aloominums, which is the absolute worst thing that you can bolt onto steel- aluminium oxide builds up between the mounting surfaces and shatters the mount.

I changed mine and re-lacquered the aluminium- the once flat surface of the mounts were nearly circular from the pressure.

Hmm interesting. That could be the cause of the metallic scraping noise I am hearing, sounds almost like steel wool or tinfoil rattling against something. Seems like the rain is gonna stop this afternoon so i might have a go at the refill nut and see if I can empty the gearbox and inspect the oil. Fingers crossed and the sounds are something else…

Thank you!! Finally someone who has done it!! The workshop manual, is it a Haynes repair manual or something else? Haynes is the only one I seem to find after a quick google search, haven’t dug that deep though.

The gearbox is actually a little bit wet underneath, around the area of the emptying plug. Any gaskets that could cause it to leak around that area? I can take a picture today after work. So it’s not impossible it’s been running dry. I recently bought the car, and there was a big hole in the muffler so I couldn’t really hear any noise from the transmission while test driving it, and it was running fine so yeah… But after welding and fixing the muffler i can now hear what sounds like some bad gearbox bearings haha, so yeah last owner might have run it dry for a while….