Hi,

Well that nice to hear that the car has a continuing life.

Where did you locate a good one and how much are they going for nowadays?

Was the in Atlanta place the place you checked or did a mechanic locate one for you

What is the plan for the old one or did you have to give it up for a core?

I ask as I’m thinking about looking into one of the two I have with bearing noises.
Depending on what I find I may double down and apply some changes to both.
I want to see if I can find out which one or more bearings, are the trouble makers.

There appears to be a thread of commonality in here.
It’s more than just the oil levels not being high enough, even though, maintenance or getting the right lubrication can always be a prime suspect.

Especially since there was a first and then second model, so close together.
Rearranging the shifting forks lengths does move the loading thing around quite a bit, plus a possible countershaft bearing design change was another?
A Compromise in using certain angular contact bearings and type of rolling elements from standard catalogs was probably a hot topic on the drafting board.
The various engineering groups, in the transmissions fields, needed to have more meetings.
The 240 manual series had a good run but something skated about, in their decision communications, far from the end. IMHO

The countershaft appears the same in the M46 iron box and over to the M47 aluminum box and yet the bearings changed at nearly the same time. Production changes can seem continuous with notations to follow or catch up, always!
Aluminum versus cast iron presents a wider variation of expansion rate dynamics, in my opinion.
The same or different bearing and it’s preload specifications cannot or stay entirely the same.

I picked up on a post where the two piece main shaft was separated and dropped out its retainer rings.
This was on an M46 J- type overdrive disassembly.
There’s like three and the post said that can get loose?
That got me thinking of different retaining rings and made by the SMALLEY company. They might help here.
These rings spin in differently and are like flat coils made of various materials.
Whoops,
I got to be careful, as I might be thinking ahead of the horse or even the carriage.
I imagine before thinking gets started.
I’m really trying to talk out my hat, that’s probably on too tight. (:-)
I’m no gear box expert, even though, I have machined some really large ones with their blueprinted challenges to go with them.

I have notice that the newer FWD Volvos already have lots of rebuilders with supplies!
Do they NOT last as long?
A lot of trick stuff used in most all cars today.
They have lots of large aluminum parts.
I suspect the industry has had wide the learning CURVE and it’s still curving.
Back with the M47s, that could have been one sharp CORNER.

I have never heard about one of these gear cases cracking with a four cylinder engine, turbo or not.
What breaks inside these exactly?
Noise from wear and abusive shifts, I get that, it comes with some territories.
Too much horsepower, well now, that’ll be all about not enough gear tooth and gear width.
I drive my vehicles in a way that they were designed for to begin with and if that didn’t work I don’t buy another for sure.
The 240s apparently matched up well with a lot of “mid range” consumers for many years with good resales.

Maybe I’m not in the right circles?
In fact I don’t have a circle, just this spot! (:-)
Anyway, I like this topic because of a high interest.
So if anyone starts another thread, I’ll be watching. 👀👀👀

Phil