The transmission, or technically transaxle on this buggy has ID numbers on it as well that we can use to identify the year and style of its internal workings. Here are some specs related to the Type 1 transaxle. The Type II, III, and IV are all somewhat different and not necessarily fully cross-compatible.
The numbers stamped on this transaxle are “AM,” here is a close-up…
This trans case is unique though as it is a “Dual side cover,” case, meaning that it is actually a 1969-1973 case. Based on the chart above it is at least a 1971 but there are a few more details to consider. It has a large pinion shaft nut, so that means it is actually closer to a 1972 case, and then after measuring the clutch throw-out bearing and shaft I found that it was the larger 20mm shaft and thus it was actually a 1972.5 case, as in mid 1972 they went from the old 19mm clutch shaft to the 20mm clutch shaft, and in 1973 they went to the single side cover IRS transaxle. So officially, this is a 1972.5 dual side cover swing arm transaxle. This becomes very important later on when I start ordering internal parts for this thing, as there is only one place on the internet that I found to make these replacement parts…Gears | Weddle Industries | Racing Transaxles, Gears, Gearboxes, Clutches.
Talking about specs on Type 1 transaxles gets into the weeds pretty quick and this is where I eventually ended up diving into since I knew I was going to tear this thing apart to fix the reverse gear issue. Little did I know that I would need to go deep into the weeds and learn about all of the intricacies of all the gearing, sliders, synchros, bearings, etc in order to purchase the correct parts. Here is an excellent link to some of that information. Type 1 Part Numbers and Descriptions – Shoptalkforums.com
Let me pause for a moment and just comment that finding information on rebuilding these transaxles was not easy and required a lot of digging and sorting through forums and articles to find the information to go start from a place of zero knowledge and finish with rebuilding this transaxle. It can be done if you are very mechanically inclined and understand why you are doing what you are doing when going through the rebuild. I came across alot of videos on YouTube and lots of forum posts that all said similar things along the lines of “you can’t rebuild them, only a special person knows how to rebuild them, don’t waste your time, you’ll mess it up, etc.” Yes it required learning in-depth information regarding how these transmissions are built and how the pieces all work together and what the common issues with them are, but it can be done. I will say that you do in fact need to buy or fabricate special tools and or jigs in order to rebuild these transmissions, so I just bought a cheap flux core welder, taught myself how to weld and then fabricated my own tools in special circumstances, so yes, it can be done.
More to come…