020 Gearbox - where did these come from?

Been prepping my gearbox for painting and when I removed the green end cap from the thrust bearing casing, I found these. What bearing have they come from and how do I fix it? The gearbox felt fine when the car was running.

I guess it's the ball bearing from the clutch release bearing.
You won't know anything wrong with the bearing as it's only engaged when you press the clutch pedal down.

More info on the bearing.

TO Bearing

Remove what’s left of the old bearing and fit new one.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221185983385?fits=Car+Make%3AVW&hash=item337fb64399:g:jCUAAOSwSzRZQ4JL

mark1gls said

Remove what’s left of the old bearing and fit new one.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221185983385?fits=Car+Make%3AVW&hash=item337fb64399:g:jCUAAOSwSzRZQ4JL

Thanks for the info. Do I not need to find out where the missing 4 ball bearings have gone from the throw out bearing before I fit a new one? Where are they likely to be?

With luck the remaining bearings will be in the bearing case?

mark1gls said

With luck the remaining bearings will be in the bearing case?

Sadly not, I have 4 missing balls.  

That looks like half the bearing is still in place - I can just see the plastic cage. If you push or tap the clutch push rod through from the flywheel end then it should push the remainder of the bearing out.
Is there still oil in the gearbox? If so you could get it level so that the drain plug is at the lowest point, similar to how it would sit in the car and drain it, see what comes out. Not sure if you can flush a gearbox. You can get magnetic drain plugs, could stick one of those on, put a bit of thinner oil in and swish it about and see if that moves them to the magnet.

Cheers J, will have to try something like that. Have already drained the oil out. I was just getting it all wire wheeled and ready for a simple paint job, no such luck.

Will have to sieve the oil in the catch can to see if any drained out already, and then try to do as you suggest. I've removed the remainder of the throw-out bearing and I'm missing 3 of the 7 ball bearings. I really don't want to start opening up the gearbox if I can help it.

if those balls are from the TO bearing then my guess is they are still in the 5th housing somewhere. its easy to remove the 5th housing and check. Check out one of my recent posts on "Gearbox Drive Flanges"  https://vwgolfmk1.org.uk/forum/index.php?page=topicview&id=helllllpppp%2Fgearbox-drive-flanges it will show you what is in the 5th housing, but i dont think they will be able to pass through into the main housing so could be simple. Remove fifth housing and then check. You would obviously need new gasket but thats about it. Check the rebuild part of the thread you can see whats in the 5th housing and my guess is your balls will be stuck in there somewhere.

i just checked it myself and i now see there is one big hole next to 5th gear so maybe want to make sure you dont angle the greabox where the balls could roll through that hole but you might get lucky and just find them all in the fifth housing. if not, they will be in the main box and you are going to have to play go fish or remove the main housing.