David Griffiths from the Sydney Bus & Truck Museum has been working with us for a few days. David arrived with the Aussie group in September, but he and his wife Pennie are staying on with their son in London for 6 months. David owns one of the two CX19s at the Sydney Museum so his help and advice was invaluable over the few days that he was working with us.

We decided that with David here with us for a few days, we would endeavour to do a full rebuild of the gearbox. I had been lucky to acquire a spare CX bus gearbox which Bill Struthers of Jackton had stored carefully for many years and which Ian
Walker of Renfrew had taken into care when Bill had to clear his yard.

We laid the two identical gearboxes side by side to decide which one should form the basis of the rebuild and we decided to use the spare box because it had an undamaged casing. The box which came off the bus had at some point in the past
broken its bellhousing and had been repaired with a large and not-too-pretty aluminium weld. We decided it was better to use the undamaged casing from the spare gearbox. So the first thing to do was to strip this box completely and examine all the parts. The strip down revealed that it was in better overall condition inside with less wear apparent so we decided to use all the
gearwheels from this gearbox. A couple of bearings had seen better days, so the original box was stripped and the bearings found to be in much better condition. These were then fitted into the overhauled gearbox.

All parts were thoroughly cleaned and both boxes were fully rebuilt so that the spare can go into the stores in case anything happens in the future. All that remains to be done is fit the clutch stop mechanism and we are awaiting parts which David is having sent from Australia.
 

David Griffiths (on the right) joins us for a few days intensive work on the bus.
Along with Davie and John they inspect the two gearboxes to decide which
one will form the basis of the rebuild.
 

The "spare" gearbox is chosen because the casing is in better condition.
It came out of a CX39 some 35 years ago and although everything is a bit stiff,
it appears to show less wear than the box which came out of the bus.
 

The box is dismantled.
 

Davie gets the steam genny in about the empty casing - its the only way
to get 50 years of grime and deposits removed.
 

The casing ready for rebuilding.
 

"Were there 67 or 68 needles in this needle roller bearing?" David asks!
 

Davie installs the front bearing on the main shaft.
 

Paul cuts a gasket for the speedo drive.
 

A major part of the mechanical restoration nearing completion.
 

Two gearboxes completed, one for the bus and one for the stores!