Defender with Discovery transfer box.

[anonymous-user]

Did this cheap little upgrade last week.
All I can say is....
"Ok Chewie.....punch it!"

5th gear in now known as "light speed". Great to be able to actually make use of all that previously pent-up power.

[Syd knee]

How does it effect 1st, where did you get the bits, what did it cost and how easy was it?

[anonymous-user]

Syd knee said:

How does it effect 1st, where did you get the bits, what did it cost and how easy was it?

On a TD5 it makes no perceivable difference. There are a couple of times where I've gone to pull away and got caught out (but not actually stalled), but once you get used to the higher final drive it's perfectly driveable, and doesn't need loads of revs to get going. Low range remains the same.
Got a 70k-mile transfer box from a 200TDi Disco, sourced via the miracle of eBay. Do some searching though, and read the ads carefully to get a good feel for what you're buying. Needless to say, there's a lot of junk out there and being honest, I was willing to give it a punt and just happened to fall upon a box that was sweet as a nut. There's no way to really check a box out of the car, apart from feeling for excessive backlash - leaky seals will only show up once it's in.
Cost me £115 plus a bit of diesel to go get it from Kent.
Fitting it was easy. Just a case of remove the props, take the handbrake off, disconnect the levers, speedo pick-up, diff lock light switch and earth strap, then unbolt the old box and slide it off. Beware - they're fooking heavy, especially when being held up inside the transmission tunnel of the wagon.
Before fitting the Disco box I replaced the input gear with the later, cross-drilled version from the outgoing Defender box, and there's a mystery counterweight on Defender boxes that has to be swapped. There is one additional electrical connection on TD5 boxes that just isn't there on earlier cars. It's a simple two-terminal plug on the hi-lo selector, and no one on any forum anywhere or at any LR specialist seems to know what it's for so I just wrapped it up and tied it up out the way.
I had the truck up on a lift, and use of a transmission cradle to lift the new box in but if you were really pushed it could be done on a driveway.
Assembly is the reverse of removal, as Haynes manuals would say.
The only other bit to be aware of is the speedo under-reads as a result. I was aware of this before donig the job, and it's still within 10% so I'm not too worried. At an indicated 30 I was doing 32 on the GPS which is closer than other standard LR speedos I've seen.

A quick V-max test last night took it above 90 on the satnav at which point I ran out of road and testosterone, bearing in mind the rest of the truck is still pretty standard.

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 19th January 11:31

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 19th January 11:31

[Bish]

It is the best mod you can do. I had a Stage 2 TD5 and fitted a GKN overdrive.....what a pain that thing was. The Disco transfer box is cheaper and so much simpler and therefore more reliable.

[anonymous-user]

fesuvious said:

Ramp and transmission jack! You lucky sod.

Yep, paid for by the taxpayer