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Mon Jul 26, 2004 9:34 pm

I just got a 56 that came with the original splitcase crashbox tranny in place, drum to drum. The previous owner said the tranny works and has been untouched since he bought it some 20 years ago, the bug was an all out drag bug which only saw a trailer and a strip, so the stock tranny was not used by him since he owned it.

My question is is it worth anything? I have already taken it out and would like to sell it, but I don't know if its worth anything, a few people told me its trash. Please help, thanks-steve

Mon Jul 26, 2004 9:46 pm

its gotta be worth something to somebody, the question is do you want to sit on it until you find them?

Mon Jul 26, 2004 9:51 pm

Ya, if somebodys restoring an oval it would be worth it to them, I'll put it on the classifieds for something pretty reasonable. thanks germanstyle

Wed Aug 18, 2004 9:32 am

The Split case gear boxes are getting tough to find. The reason to have one rebuilt is basically for a restoration only. A $50.00-$100.00 is about right for one that's pretty clean.

Wed Aug 18, 2004 9:47 am

It be worth more if it had OG drum to drum set up.

Wed Aug 18, 2004 12:07 pm

what do you mean by "hard to find"? i think people think they may be "hard to find" because most vendors at show/swap won't drag a large, heavy, greasy part to a swap, to be hassled on price all day. they are not really hard to find, just difficult to transport to swaps, and nearly impossible to ship (unless by truck). i often ask vendors if they have splitcase trannies, and they often say something like "yeah i have one at home/shop, but it's too big/heavy/dirty to bring out here".
i personally don't like to pay any more than $50 for any splitcase tranny, less is always better, regardless of drums/brakes, and especially not based on what the owner might say. if the seller wants more than that, i just wait till the end of the day and hit them up just as they are getting ready to load it back on the truck. price drops alot when lifting it and having to deal with it (again) at home becomes a grim reality in their eyes. i figure the chances of the drums being turnable and reuseable, especially original oval bug drums, are slim-to-none at best, but i have found that some bus ones have been turnable. my average purchase price for Bus ones, when i wanted to buy one, drum-to-drum has been about $30, bug ones even less because of all the work to flip ring/pinion if i were to use it as-is for a bus application. almost always the seller/owner is super glad to have this massive piece out of thier hands and to have the room back in the garage. if i can drive the trans and operate it for myself, then i might pay more. i sometimes get them free if i am willing to haul them away.
i bought an unknown bus splitcase, drum to drum, for $25 at a swap, and it turned out to be fully driveable, but a little whining. for the price though, it was worth the chance, and sometimes you get lucky. that $25 was only for the part, too, and did not include my time and parts money to rebuild the reduction boxes, re-do the brakes, install it, clean it, axle boots, etc, which adds up fast.
i have also bought some for more than i wanted to pay (like $45), and they turned out to have absolutely NO good/reuseable parts other than a few small shims and the trans case. it really is a crap shoot.
it's alot of effort to install one, to find out that the previous owner was slightly incorrect in saying it was a good one, when first gear sounds like a marble in a blender and all the gears whine.
and have you priced parts to rebuild one lately? if you were to buy all parts new from, say, wolfsburg west, you'll have many, many hundreds of dollars just in parts, if they even have them. some of the parts are getting very hard to find new. and believe me, when something breaks loose in there, it damages most everything. unless the tranny was recently rebuilt or was incredibly low mileage, you can almost guarantee yourself that if it needs a rebuild, you'll need at the minimum: a mainshaft, first gear, and reverse gear. they are always chewed up. there's nearly $200 (retail) right there.
i think that anyone who advertise used splitcase trannies in the classifieds for anything over $50-$75 will be sitting on them for a while. sorry, but my personal opinion is that used/core/unknown (many times called "yeah, it works GREAT) ones just are not worth that much, and i think if you'd ask someone who may have one advertised for more than that, if they have had any serious offers, i'd bet they'd probably say "no".

Wed Aug 18, 2004 12:10 pm

I have turned down free ones multiple times because I didn't feel like loading them up and taking them home.

Wed Aug 18, 2004 12:22 pm

darn, Ev, i'd take them if they were free! bring 'em up here. (i have also declined free ones, but i don't anymore)
but that brings up another point about these trannies: you can't just pull the axles out and have a nice, compact unit stashed on the shelf like you can with a tunnel tranny. you have to disassemble the trans case halves and the differential, just to get the axles out. storage can be, and is, a big concern when it comes to these units. they are big, bulky, and heavy.

Wed Aug 18, 2004 2:30 pm

is it worth upgrading the tranny in an oval?
learner q and all that.. but the one i have at the moment is non synchro 1st gear.. are they weedier than later ones?