My 2005 Panda Dynamic's clutch started slipping and I promptly went bought a clutch kit. When I started dismantling half the car to get to clutch I noticed a oil leak that turned out to be the gearbox input shaft oil seal that failed due to the main bearing failing. The car only has 100000 Km on the clock and was services at the local Fiat dealership once a year as it did less than 20000 Km a year. I have removed the gear box and found a reputable gearbox rebuilding service to replace all the seals and bearings. I have received the rebuild gearbox and upon first inspection everything seemed fine. When I started to prepare for reinserting the gearbox I noticed that the passenger side output shaft is very, very difficult to turn by hand were as the driver side output shaft can easily be turned.

My question is, is this normal and me being paranoid or do I have to take it back to be checked out before embarking on putting it back? I am assuming the gearbox do not have transmission fluid in it at this stage as it is lighter and easier to carry and move around.

Can it be that the new oil seal on the passenger side only need some oil to loosen up?

Good point about the oil, don't forget to check the oil level before you drive it !!!

Both output shafts should have the same sort of resistance, there seems to be a big difference and my advice would be to get the firm to check it out.
The differential needs to be shimmed correctly, but I think if this was wrong it would affect both output shafts.

With the gearbox in gear when you turn one output the other output should go in the opposite direction.
I assume you're checking the resistance with the box in neutral.

Good Luck with it

I have contacted the re-builder and he assured me that it is correct and that it due to the shimming. I have read about the pre-loading / shimming of the bearings with a spacer. But this does not explain why the one shaft is almost unmovable and the other free to turn by hand. If the gearbox is in gear and I turn the output that is easy to turn then the input shaft turns and not the other output in the opposite direction as expected. If I use my oil filter removal tool to grip the difficult output shaft and turn it then the other output shaft turns in the opposite direction as expected. If I understand it correct the pre-loading should apply to both bearings and not just the one. I'm no expert at this but my gut feeling is that the one oil seal is incorrect.

Do any one know how to remove the differential output shafts with external three lobe joints? I was thinking that if I could remove the output shafts then I could test my oil seal theory before taking the gearbox back to be checked out again.

My Con'd box DIDNT have oil in it
So you will need to refill the box with Fresh oil
No point putting old oil back in

AS for the resistance, i would have thought they'd be the same
Mine was
I can spin both wheels are easily as each other, so no worries there
I had a pig of a job getting 1 cup to go in, and stay in

Try a little lubricating spray on the stiff side, see if its makes a marvelous change or not?

Ziggy

Just a quick update. I went back to the gearbox re-builder. He quickly disassembled the differential section to prove that the seals are not causing the friction. After resembling the differential the both output shafts had the same friction and I could easily turn both sides. Installed the gearbox and all is well with my Panda.