Rookie transmission question, broken first repair Options

[Charles Freeborn]

My transmission is reported to have a broken 1st gear. Not uncommon.
I've taken one pass through the EvilWerks videos (I bought the series) and as best as my memory can provide - the 1st and reverse gears are under the outer cover and not nested inside with the rest of the gear clusters. So, here's the question: If the damage is limited to just those components can one do a diagnosis and repair without cracking open the whole gearbox? Obviously if upon inspection things like synchros, etc are worn I'm all in, but this trans is reported to be sound other than the broken 1st, but yeah, race car...
Any transmission repair advice welcomed.
Thx.

[mepstein]

It’s false economy to just look at part of the transmission. I would pull the stack and inspect the diff.
Track days are too expensive and time consuming to go when your equipment may not be up to snuff.

[brant]

It’s false economy to just look at part of the transmission. I would pull the stack and inspect the diff.
Track days are too expensive and time consuming to go when your equipment may not be up to snuff.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

Once you pull the back of it
It’s not much more work, to open the front

Plus the last one I actually blew something up on. I found tons of metal bits under the diff in the front of the case. Much easier to clean that with the side cover off

[stownsen914]

It's easy to pop the rear cover off the trans to look at first gear. The synchro hub or the slider could be badly worn to the point that they no longer engage properly. Another possibility - the spline on the 901/914 first gear is small and can strip is first gear is abused.

I'd have to agree with other comments above, that once you're that far it's easy to pull the intermediate plate and gear stack. They come out as a unit and you can look at the gear stack and ring & pinion.

You probably know this, but keep the gasket that goes between and the main case - it is used to set pinion depth, so you'll want to replace it with one of the same thickness.