Gearbox rebuild - £1400!!!

A friend of mine has a 2008 Jimny and recently a bearing in the gearbox (manual) failed and sprayed bits all around the inside of the box, trashing a lot of the gears.

He has just spent £1400 on getting it rebuilt which to me sounds like he has been ripped off. He insists that because it's a later version with the electronic TB, that the gearbox is different and therefore the cost is much higher. I really can't see why it would be so different to the earlier versions that a second hand box would not be far cheaper to buy and fit.

Maybe I am missing something here?

yes does seem expensive, depends if he's had replacement gears etc that would be main dealer only??

my question is... would an older gearbox eg 2003 model fit the newer vvt engine?

surly would be cheaper to then get a intermediate prop modified to suit? if this it the case?

:ohmy: I paid less then that for my Jim!

Apparently it was a 4x4 specialist here in Redhill, Surrey.

To make matters worse he drove it home and it kept popping out of gear, so it has got to go back and be stripped down again.

Cam Suzuki do exchange boxes for the vvt for £850 ish

I think gearing is different on the earlier boxes. You would need the earlier prop to and then fabricate a gearbox mount as I believe its in a different place.

If the box internals have been trashed then that probably includes the mainshaft and probably some gears??
An exchange box from Suzuki is app £2500!! If caught in time and it's just bearings/seals it'll be around £850.
These boxes are different from the earlier ones so it's not a bolt in swap.
Just do a search on here for "VVT gearbox" and you will find plenty of posts.
The VVT box is fragile and seems to have some issues.
I believe they have lubrication issues on the output bearing and it has been replaced with a sealed version??
As others have found out VVT boxes are rare.
The early VVT models suffered from a manufacturing fault on the gearbox-T/F box prop. which allowed oil to leak out the gearbox.
This was replaced under warranty but a few escaped(like mine) but was caught before too much oil was lost so a new propshaft/output seal cured it but at my cost at 33000 mls but well out of warranty.
The dealer just charged for the parts