Defender V8 Engine & Gearbox removal
Discussion
Does anyone know whether it's possible to remove a V8 with an LT95 on the back from a Defender in one hit? I need the gearbox out of mine, to replace it with one which doesn't whine like a banshee and has an overdrive fitted, and at first glance it looks like taking the front panel off and having the power unit out in one piece is the simplest option. But I don't know whether the box/transfer box etc will fit through the bulkhead.
I'm going to take the seat box apart later and see what it all looks like from that angle but just wondered if anyone else had done this. I've Googled it with limited success. Main reason for this is that the new box apparently weighs 250kg and I don't fancy my chances at lying on the floor under that trying to manoeuvre it out on a trolley jack!
I'm going to take the seat box apart later and see what it all looks like from that angle but just wondered if anyone else had done this. I've Googled it with limited success. Main reason for this is that the new box apparently weighs 250kg and I don't fancy my chances at lying on the floor under that trying to manoeuvre it out on a trolley jack!
I'm halfway through a DMF change on my 2.8i Defender with R380 box. It's not all that hard to get to the gearbox from above, although obviously if you're fitting something else it'll be trickier with the engine in place.
I suspect you'd struggle to lift the whole shebang out in one piece as the transfer box is a long way back and weighs a bloody tonne, I suspect you'd end up lifting the engine as far as you could with the gearbox mounts still happily in place, or if you did manage to get the angle of the dangle right then you'd have to have 3 people standing on the front of the engine crane to stop it falling over
I suspect you'd struggle to lift the whole shebang out in one piece as the transfer box is a long way back and weighs a bloody tonne, I suspect you'd end up lifting the engine as far as you could with the gearbox mounts still happily in place, or if you did manage to get the angle of the dangle right then you'd have to have 3 people standing on the front of the engine crane to stop it falling over
I think I'll have a look later, my wunder-plan had all the benefits of enabling me to sort the few dodgy threads on the exhaust manifold points while the engine was out, and paint the chassis in the engine bay and the bay itself! But I'm starting to wonder now. I'll see what the access looks like when I've got the seat box out and take it from there, I think. If I go that route there will still be a 250kg gearbox lying on the drive under the car and another waiting to take it's place, requiring lateral thinking once again!
Access is actually not that bad, if you need more space you can always take the seat box out, but I haven't bothered.
CAPP0 said:
If I go that route there will still be a 250kg gearbox lying on the drive under the car and another waiting to take it's place, requiring lateral thinking once again!
You could always drop it onto something with wheels!!
Had a good poke around tonight and now convinced that dropping the box on it's own is the way to go. MachineMart have what are called "dolly trolleys" (no, really!) which I can drop it on to.
Have discovered that the new box I have has a completely different handbrake drum and linkage; I could possible unbolt the whole unit and replace but I *think* the new box will bolt up and allow me to use the alternative handbrake arrangement without significant problems (probably just some new slots in the floor/gearbox cover). We'll see! It'll be an interesting engineering task! Worst case I should be able to replace the whole handbrake unit (and I've no idea why they're so different.
Next decision point is whether to pop the engine out whilst I'm at it to do the exhaust bolt holes and paint the chassis. I do use the truck regularly but I'm not reliant on it so I think we know the answer! Once the gearbox is gone there aren't many more bolts to have the lump out anyway.
Have discovered that the new box I have has a completely different handbrake drum and linkage; I could possible unbolt the whole unit and replace but I *think* the new box will bolt up and allow me to use the alternative handbrake arrangement without significant problems (probably just some new slots in the floor/gearbox cover). We'll see! It'll be an interesting engineering task! Worst case I should be able to replace the whole handbrake unit (and I've no idea why they're so different.
Next decision point is whether to pop the engine out whilst I'm at it to do the exhaust bolt holes and paint the chassis. I do use the truck regularly but I'm not reliant on it so I think we know the answer! Once the gearbox is gone there aren't many more bolts to have the lump out anyway.
Thanks for the tips. I've had a good measure up and on the wheels and suspension I'm on at present, it looks like I need an extra 3" clearance under the main chassis rails to slide it out. If I dropped the box onto a sheet of timber I'd probably get away with putting the front wheels on a couple of sleepers to get the extra height, but the roller skate/dolly option, at £27 from Machinemart, is going to make life a lot easier (including moving the new box around and the old one after) so I think I'll go for a dolly and stick the front up on ramps.
Krikkit said:
I know it's not concrete, but this thread at Landyzone reckons on an LT95 weighing about 120kg. b
d heavy, but not a 1/4 ton!
I think I saw that before I bought the box and that was what I was working against, but the manifest from the courier did have 250kg printed, and he said they had weighed it! Did include the pallet but that can't be more that 10kg. Maybe I'll try my suitcase luggage scales and hang it from the engine hoist d heavy, but not a 1/4 ton!
Does that not mean they've weighed it to make sure it's <250kg, the limit for their pallet services?
Reading around there's some more bits where folk have weighed an R380 and LT230 together and it was only just over 100kg. I can't see it being 150kg heavier than that (i.e. a 2/3 of an RV8's weight), just from a stronger gearbox!
Reading around there's some more bits where folk have weighed an R380 and LT230 together and it was only just over 100kg. I can't see it being 150kg heavier than that (i.e. a 2/3 of an RV8's weight), just from a stronger gearbox!
Edited by Krikkit on Wednesday 14th August 10:43
Well, the gearbox is out and on the deck 
Fought me towards the closing stages but it's done. I dropped it onto a skate but as above, it wouldn't clear the chassis rail like that so it got put onto a sheet of vinyl flooring and dragged out manually - still had to jack the chassis up.
I think that replacing it the same way will be even tougher so I'm going to pop the engine out now (pretty straightforward from here) and do some jobs which need sorting on that, like helicoiling a few of the exhaust manifold holes, and when that's done I'll bolt them up and see whether replacement of the whole unit looks a goer or not - if not I haven't lost anything, the engine will be sorted and I can replace the same way it all came out.
All part of the fun!
Fought me towards the closing stages but it's done. I dropped it onto a skate but as above, it wouldn't clear the chassis rail like that so it got put onto a sheet of vinyl flooring and dragged out manually - still had to jack the chassis up.I think that replacing it the same way will be even tougher so I'm going to pop the engine out now (pretty straightforward from here) and do some jobs which need sorting on that, like helicoiling a few of the exhaust manifold holes, and when that's done I'll bolt them up and see whether replacement of the whole unit looks a goer or not - if not I haven't lost anything, the engine will be sorted and I can replace the same way it all came out.
All part of the fun!
CAPP0 said:
Maybe I'll have to remove the transfer box first.... the LT95 complete with transfer and overdrive is alleged to weigh 250kg!
If you can remove the transfer box it isn't an LT95. If it is an LT95 and original fitment it has the lowest ratio transfer gears. Fitting the RR transfer box gears will raise the gearing significantly. It's not an easy job to do with the box in though.C Lee Farquar said:
CAPP0 said:
Maybe I'll have to remove the transfer box first.... the LT95 complete with transfer and overdrive is alleged to weigh 250kg!
If you can remove the transfer box it isn't an LT95. If it is an LT95 and original fitment it has the lowest ratio transfer gears. Fitting the RR transfer box gears will raise the gearing significantly. It's not an easy job to do with the box in though.
That's excellent news, because the box I picked up had a much smaller handbrake drum - I have in fact swapped the whole lot over because otherwise I'd have had the handbrake lever and the hi-lo lever in different places and would have had to cut the seatbox etc. Sounds promising for higher gears then, thanks v much, that's something else I didn't know!
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