Thom Fitzpatrick wrote:
> 
> And Bill Johnson thus wrote:
> >
> > I am looking at a 1959 bus.  The owner says that it has a bad transmission.
> > I talked to a local VW mechanic and he says to make sure that it is the
> > transmission and not the gear boxes out near the wheels.  He says that
> > neither the transmission nor the gear boxes can be rebuilt.  He says that a
> > transmisson can be found if it is not a split case, but the gear boxes can
> > not be found.  He told me that the gear boxes are not made by anyone.  He
> > has a couple of bus transmissions on hand with bad gear boxes and says they
> > are junk.  Is all this true?  I just find it hard to believe that no one
> > rebuilds these things.
> 
> Those transmissions can be rebuilt, just takes know-how.  I'm told
> by reputable sources that it takes rebuilding several before you
> actually get one right.
> 
> Up to sometime in mid-'59, busses used a split case trans.
> 
> Not much can really happen to reduction box gears, since they are
> pretty much locked together.  Bearings go bad, which are not all
> that expensive.  The only thing you can do wrong is run out of
> fluid.
> 
> If you have a "split-case bus" like my '56, you can get an adapter
> put in a later transmission, otherwise known as a "tunnel case."
> 
> Thom
> --
> > Can you imagine a world with no hypothetical situations?.
> Thom Fitzpatrick
> thom@calweb.com - http://www.calweb.com/~thom
> Keeper of the Barndoor Bus Page: http://www.calweb.com/~thom/barndoor.html

You can also swap nose cones to mount a newer trans.

Both Wolfburg West and BusBoys have helped me with my parts needs. I'm sure 
there are others.

Unless this bus is a flower pot or something, I'd pick it up.

Have fun.

Douglas