Old Leafsprung Land Rovers

Hi.
Just replaced a suffix A gearbox in my series 3.
The replacement was rebuild this same summer by myself using as much as possible geniune bearings and seals (bearings labelled as Made in Italy - so durability is questionable and delivers an upsetting feeling already.)

The Gearbox was in my hands and was driven on the other land rover i have. i just thought of rebuilding the non runner and swapping to reduce down time. The gearbox's niggles where leaking rear seal into T case and all three flat springs on the 3rd 4th speed missing. on inspection all gears seemed fine apart from the reverse gear train. the shaft was badly worn and also needle bearing was falling apart. the teeth on the lay shaft appeared ok even if there is some sort of depression - wear on them like hooked sort off but not so deep. the idler gear did know show such marks. but the gears were not that straight. the outer member on the first second synchroniser were slightly rounded. but at the moment of strip down i thought "i never had bad moments with the reverse gear train when in use so i just replace the evidently worn shaft and needle bearing"

Initial test runs are good - no grinding smacking and frightening sounds. Only concerns are 3rd and 4th selection is a bit tough and sluggish. I am trying not to rush the shifts on all forward gears giving it its time.

THE PROBLEM APPEARED NOW WHEN REVERSING UP A SLIGHT GRADIENT.

The gear stick starts to tremble a bit and after few meters pops out of gear. no matter how hard i hold it in.

It does not jump out upon jerking the accelerator pedal on flat road driving in reverse..

Today i removed top to examine the selector fork and check if i snapped a tooth. appears that teeth are all there. but selector fork is kind of worn unevenly on one end of its 'C' the with is 5.5mm and the other is roughly 4.5 or bit more.

Just checked for the parts.

layshaft suffix D - available 231 GBP (300ish Euros)
1st2nd synchroniser - available 164 GBP (200ish Euros)
Reverse gear kit which includes gear and bits - available 47 GBP (55ish Euros)

the prices are for supposedly genuine items. the Britpart items are half the prices. but i am not even considering it. i dont konw what to look for now.  do i go the 'change the reverse gear only' route or all the bits. My land rover is my regular runner so i dont want to get on some poor parts and end up paying more later for newer parts - if they are still available.

joseph

i am leaning onto the idea of just getting the idler. i think. the wear on the shaft was causing the gear to be driven on an axis that was off/tilted away from layshaft making its teeth wear in this fashion ">"  hence the speed coming off under load (being pushed forward finding its easy way out.) i dont think layshaft and synchroniser outer member are that bad.

I have put in 300 euros of bearings into it. the other gearbox a suffix A was not that bad just not smooth 3rd and 4th speed. and leaked badly enough and needs bearings too.

I will give it another try. you can get spare boxes here. but knowing the unloving attitude towards these vehicles i doubt getting a half decent one mostly lacked regular servicing and were used behind Dorothy Perkins 3.3 litre lumps.

i just wished to have a decent suffix D inside it as i was leaning into getting a tdi or td or the sort in the future.

pictures of replaced shaft. and the teeth on the layshaft. the groove/wear can be seen.


joe

i am just concerned about the fact that the layshaft cluster would then end up being new and the other gears on the main-shaft being used and so induce uneven wear in the teeth.

i was also interested in buying all concerned gears..

at the same time.. getting such layshaft from britpart (in region of 50 GBP would still be lame. )
joseph

The question now is change layshaft or not... the teeth in picture belong to it.
thanks espacekiller. is it a bearing type ? FRC 1810 i belive. kev is crossing to malta on the 10th of sept

back to topic to determine if i go change the layshaft or not. since the teeth are pitted but stil straight cut.

is the layshaft and inner outermember in constant mesh? or not?

Joseph

hi all i don t know if this is a God's send or luck.. though i doubt it is the latter.. i am so bad at being lucky.

I came through this

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=75814

sorry it is another forum but seems like the same problem i have spot on. and it does feel tight-ish in my opinion - the lay-shaft i mean. Oh well sod it i am lifting the box out. at least i know that all the bolts were fitted with a dab of grease on them maybe they come out easily perhaps i need to invest in an air powered ratchet for this occasions to save my wrists. i hope it is ok 

i do recall now the layshaft bearing was not ordered from a land rover supplier but from a local bearing supplier .. suposedly with good reputation. maybe the whole thing is jsut tight. lets see

joseph

hello parts finally here and started to put gbox back together.
new reverse gear and selector fork which needed some grinding to stop it for hitting the 1st/2nd gear selector.
i am busy assembly and hope i try it out on friday or saturday evening and see if the reverse pops out. with gearbox still not fitting to T case the shafts spin ok and freely (?) on all forward gears. and on reverse it is just slightly tighter than the forward gears. but turns with one hand i still need to tighten up layshaft and main shaft rear nut too. i will go easy on torque figures . layshaft will go 50ftlbs and mainshaft nut at 85ftlbs (initially i gave it 100 as the Od manual states.) but ran into the 85 figure on several readings.

Joseph

  shouldn't we not hijack the post

Gearbox work on the way postponed for tonight. i have maltese guests here

And i am constantly showered with ... you should chop the series and ditch them and get some pa*ero or Tr**per or Hi*ux instead... i am really swimming up stream i gess... why am i always busy making my life difficult !!!

joe.