With one of the coolest logos in the business Gibbs Gearbox and Diff has been a part of Australia’s trucking scene in some shape or form since 1957.
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The distinctive orange GIBBS on the arty blue / grey truck has become synonymous with reconditioned gearboxes and differentials that suit a vast array of truck brands.
For Gibbs Gearbox & Diff’s spare parts manager David Shaw, who has been working with the family business for more than a decade, the job is all about helping customers to keep the wheels rolling on the biggest assets any transport company owns.
The group stocks and rebuilds diffs and gearboxes from a range of brands Including Volvo, ZF, Eaton Roadranger, Meritor, Mercedes Benz, Scania, Mack, Dana Spicer and the 4 Major Japanese brand Isuzu, Hino, Fuso and UD.
David says they are happy to help workshops out with US, Japanese and European brands too.
The workshop draws on years of experience and the evolution of the Gibbs business over the years.
The journey started with a car and truck wrecking yard in 1957, opened as a partnership between Ivan Gibbs and Bert Wilson.
Then in 1980 Chris and Paul Gibbs took over with the focus moving away from wrecking in 1990 and into the provision of new parts for the trucking industry.
Over the years the business changed again with Gibbs Parts Pty Ltd created in 2002 focusing on new truck parts for a wide variety of truck brands.
That part of the business sold more recently to Truckline and Gibbs Gearbox & Diff split off to focus on its key niche.
It’s here that David and the team are now to be found, based out of Brisbane, with 10 mechanics working flat out to recondition and repair old gearboxes, diffs and drivetrains and send them out to workshops around the country on a shared mission of minimising downtime for the nation’s road transport fleet.
The business consolidated its Queensland workshops into a more central Brisbane location in 2020, which David says has had a positive flow on effect for customers in terms of speeding up the delivery cycle of parts, particularly to interstate locations.
“Since the move, the business just grown dramatically,” he says.
During the Covid years, David says the demand for their products increased markedly as fleets looked to extend the lives of their existing trucks and dealt with a shortage of new equipment making it to Australia’s shores.
Like David, the mechanical team at Gibbs Gearbox & Diff have been there for a while, many having completed their apprenticeships with the company before staying on and becoming masters in their specialities.
“Finding mechanics is tough. It is a good crew. Lot of guys in their 20s and a couple of older guys.”
Asked about how business is right now, David says May and June had slowed a little, but things were ramping back up in July, to the point where turnarounds were taking a little longer.
“With the amount of work we’ve got on, we’re very lucky to get anything to the shelf. Now you’re building to sell,” he says.
“We’ve found currently some models of gearboxes that you thought were dead, all of a sudden, they’re back in demand. There’s a couple of old Volvo gearboxes, they’re back and popular again.”
Gibbs Gearbox & Diff has full workshop facilities available. It sells spares, reconditioned and new units and can also offer repairs. See www.gibbstrucktransmissions.com.au or
phone 07 3276 9300
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