Hi,
I’m new to the forum. I own a 2013 Gem Car and recently purchased a 2005 Gem Car for my father. I’ve stripped the 2005 car completely down and have found some leaks in the transaxle area. Does anyone have an idea where i can get a manual for repairing the 2005 transaxle?
Thanks for the help!
Joe
There are only 6 places that the Gearbox can leak.
1 input shaft bearing 99% of leaks
2 vent
3 intermediate shaft caps
4 output shaft seals.
A kit is available to replace the original input shaft and bearing with a new shaft and a proper lip seal. this is the gold standard.
If you want to replace the bearing and hope it wont leak replace the present bearing with an NTN 6500 LU OR LLU, Do NOT substitute any other brand. No matter what the sales guy says, other brands WILL leak.
When the cart was built the seal preloads were higher than current production. Lighter preloads allowed the RPM rating of the bearings to be increased. Now they wont hold oil in a GEM gearbox.
Also suggest you drill a 1/4 hole in he bottom of the motor to prevent possible build up of any oil that will cause motor burn out. Make SURE you put a stop tub around the drill bit to prevent damaging the motor windings.
If you want to go thru the whole gearbox PM me I made up an instruction sheet.
Rodney
I am moving this thread to the GEM section as I think it will also interest other GEM owners.
[quote=OLD HOUSEBOATER;26740]There are only 6 places that the Gearbox can leak.
1 input shaft bearing 99% of leaks
2 vent
3 intermediate shaft caps
4 output shaft seals.
A kit is available to replace the original input shaft and bearing with a new shaft and a proper lip seal. this is the gold standard.
If you want to replace the bearing and hope it wont leak replace the present bearing with an NTN 6500 LU OR LLU, Do NOT substitute any other brand. No matter what the sales guy says, other brands WILL leak.
When the cart was built the seal preloads were higher than current production. Lighter preloads allowed the RPM rating of the bearings to be increased. Now they wont hold oil in a GEM gearbox.
Also suggest you drill a 1/4 hole in he bottom of the motor to prevent possible build up of any oil that will cause motor burn out. Make SURE you put a stop tub around the drill bit to prevent damaging the motor windings.
If you want to go thru the whole gearbox PM me I made up an instruction sheet.
Rodney[/quote]
where exactly do u drill the motor?
The lowest part of the motor as it’s installed just behind the mounting ring.
MAKE SURE you put something over the drill bit to prevent it from damaging the motor windings, (I use a stack of small sockets and TIGHTEN the chuck real good.
I have some pictures of a drilled motor as well as a New input shaft with seal that I got from OH. I had a persistent oil leak the came from the input shaft as OH mentioned.
After replacing the input shaft with 2 sets of Factory (sealed) bearings I decided to upgrade to the new style input shaft with Deicated oil seal. I have had zero oil leaks since and have 100+ miles on the GEM so far.
If you have a oil leak coming from the input shaft and it continues to leak into the motor it will not belong b4 the Oil shorts your motor. Drilling a hole at the bottom of your motor will insure if you happen to have a oil leak in the future the oil has a place to escape. And give you a chance to correct the problem.
This is what it looks like after you install the input shaft and install the C clip and the new external oil seal
Mine just drips a litte at where shaft comes out but I must be a moron. But where do u put oil in at ? I can’t see the plug? Is it close to vent tube? Thanks for pics
Oil gets pumped in via a cheep oil pump into the hole in the sheet metal diff cover, There is a plastic plug that covers the hole remove the plug and go for it
You can squeeze it in if you have a full bottle. Its full when oil starts to run out the bottom of the hole.
With all the discussion, I just topped mine off.
Had a squeeze bottle of 90 wt.
Should have measured but it took a lot.
Don’t see any leaks, so it probably has been neglected.
Wish there was another gem around so I could see if gear whine is normal.
One thing is for sure when you have a nice rebuilt smooth transmission there is almost no whine at all and the car is almost silent. 
And if I had to “Guess” I would say. The lower the gear ratio like the 8:9:1 is quieter then the 10:35:1 and so on. Me thinks the more internal revs in the transmission the more gear noise whine? My theory is based on this. My 02 with a 10:35:1 is much quieter then my 08 with a 12:44 gear ratio.
Thanks for all of the help here - glad the “old houseboater” stopped me before i disassembled the whole transaxle - just needed to replace input shaft assy and not leaking now. Also, Just noticed that a gentleman (Grant West) has posted a youtube video about this. Tried to post link, but guess i’m not allowed at this point. Just put Grants name in and it will pop up.
Is the new input shaft a OEM part or an aftermarket kit? I just took my gem into the dealer because it appears to be leaking from the vent tube and they are telling me that the diff is not serviceable and want $2,000 to replace the whole assembly! Seems wrong to me. It’s not welded closed!
