Manual gearboxes are all we have done for over forty years
We repair them, recondition them, and keep many exchange units on the shelf so you are off the road for days instead of weeks. Talk to Pete and you will get a straight answer on what it needs and what each option costs.
There is nearly always more than one way to fix it
Most people arrive expecting one answer and one price. A gearbox is rarely that simple, and the difference between the cheapest sensible fix and a full recondition can be thousands of dollars. Which one is right depends on the fault, the age and condition of the vehicle, and how long you intend to keep it.
That conversation is the part we care most about. Pete Hayes has been doing it since 1984, and he will walk you through the honest advantages and the catches of each route before any spanner comes out. We will tell you when a repair is not worth it, and we will equally tell you when a full recondition is money you do not need to spend.
What we can tell you before you commit
- Whether the noise or the crunch is a bearing, a synchro, a fork or something terminal.
- What a repair would cost against an exchange unit against a good used gearbox.
- Which of those we would choose if it were our own vehicle, and why.
- How long each option puts you off the road.
We do not start work on a guess. The symptoms and a road test tell us where to look, but nothing tells anybody what is actually worn until the gearbox is out and dismantled. So that is what happens, and you get a report on what we find before you are asked to spend anything.
Repair, exchange, or a sound used unit
These are genuinely different products at genuinely different prices, and the right one changes from car to car. Here is how we describe them to customers standing at the counter.
Repair what you have
Your own gearbox comes out, gets stripped, and only the worn parts are replaced.
- Usually the lowest cost when the damage is contained
- Keeps the unit that is matched to your vehicle
- Best when one bearing or synchro has failed early
Exchange it
A reconditioned unit off our shelf goes in, and yours comes back to us as the core.
- Fastest way back on the road, often same week
- Carries our 12 month or 20,000km guarantee
- Freighted overnight to most of the South Island
Fit a used gearbox
A tested second-hand unit from stock, when the vehicle does not justify more.
- The sensible option on an older or lower value vehicle
- Checked before it leaves us, never sold blind
- We will say plainly when this is a false economy
Not sure which applies to you? That is what the phone call is for. 0800 432 726.
Symptoms worth bringing in early
A gearbox almost always warns you before it fails outright. Catching it at the noise stage is very often the difference between a repair and a replacement.
- Crunching or baulking into a gear
- Jumping out of gear on the overrun
- A whine that rises and falls with road speed
- Difficulty selecting first or reverse
- A heavy, vague or dragging clutch pedal
- Rumbling that changes when you press the clutch
- Oil pooling under the bellhousing
- A stiff or notchy gear change
- Vibration or knocking felt through the gear lever
- A lever that will not go into gear at a standstill
Driving on a noisy gearbox is what turns a small bill into a large one. A failed bearing sheds metal into the oil, and that metal then works its way through every other bearing and gear face in the box. The repair that was possible last month is a recondition by next month.
Gearbox services in Christchurch
Gearbox Repairs
Manual gearboxes, stripped, measured and reported on before a cent is committed.
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Gearbox Exchange
A reconditioned unit off the shelf, fitted here or freighted overnight. Off the road for days, not weeks.
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Used & Reconditioned Gearboxes
Sometimes the sensible buy. We price a sound used unit against a repair so you can choose.
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Performance & Racing Gearboxes
Over forty years and cars making 1500hp. We have already learned it - not on your car.
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Gear Cryogenic Treatment
Deep-freeze treatment for gears, shafts and bearings that have to survive real abuse.
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Trade Supply
Exchange units, parts and a second opinion for workshops throughout the South Island.
Read more →Forty years of gearboxes, and a very large shelf
We have serviced the South Island since 1984, working both directly with motorists and as the gearbox specialist that other workshops send their difficult jobs to. Two things tend to be the reason.
- Gearboxes are the whole business, not a sideline
- An ever expanding range of new and reconditioned units in stock
- New and used parts held to suit every budget
- Approved repairer for extended mechanical warranty insurers
- Courtesy vehicles so you are not stranded
- Trade operators and the public, treated the same way
- Overnight freight for exchange units across most of the South Island
- 12 month or 20,000km guarantee on exchange gearboxes
The shelf matters more than it sounds. Holding stock is what lets us hand you a reconditioned unit this week instead of quoting six weeks while yours is rebuilt. It is also why workshops from Nelson to Invercargill ring us rather than a parts catalogue.
More on how we work, or read the questions we get asked most.
Have you got an automatic?
Auto Transmissions Ltd
We do not work on automatics - manual gearboxes are the whole of what we do. Automatic transmission work, from a diagnosis through to a full rebuild, is handled by our sister business across the road at 133 Antigua Street, with the scan equipment and the specialist tooling that side of the job needs. Same owner, separate workshop, and their own phone number: 03 379 3692.
If you are not certain which you have, ring us and we will tell you in a minute which of the two workshops you need.
Christchurch, Canterbury and the wider South Island
Most customers drive to us at 156 Antigua Street in Addington, which is a few minutes from the central city and easy to drop a car at. For everyone further out, exchange gearboxes go on overnight freight to most South Island destinations, so a workshop in Timaru or Greymouth can have a reconditioned unit on the bench the next morning.
Tell us what your gearbox is doing
Give us the vehicle and the symptom - crunching into a gear, jumping out, whining, a stiff or heavy clutch, or no drive at all - and we will tell you honestly what your options are and roughly what each one costs. Repair, exchange or a good used unit: you decide, and nothing starts without your say-so.
- 0800 432 726 (0800 GEARBOX)
- 03 366 0421
- info@gearboxcompany.co.nz
- 156 Antigua Street, Addington, Christchurch 8024
- Monday to Friday, 7am to 4pm (some Saturdays)
Christchurch and Canterbury workshop. Exchange gearboxes freighted overnight to most of the South Island.