350i gearbox

[Ozbruce]

I need to rebuild the gearbox from my 1984 350i I understand the gearbox is a Rover SDI LT77,
however we are having dificulty finding suitable parts here in OZ. If anyone has any info on locating parts here or if there is a rebuild kit available in the UK you would make me a very happy man.

thanks in advance

cheers Bruce

[Wedg1e]

There are 'specialists' who can rebuild a worn or damaged LT77 thouh I've never seen repair kits as such.

Essentially the same gearbox was fitted to Landrovers of the same era so if you could find any of those going cheaply it might be worth stripping them down and comparing parts; opinion seems to be divided as to how identical they were to the SD1 but you know the British car industry: why make something specific for a job if you can rob it from somewhere else

[UKAuto]

I have had mine rebuilt in the past - and it was an utter failure - days after rebuild it needed work, and then again weeks later... I gave up and put an unknown used TR7 five speed in the car and it was trouble free for about 100,000km - but even it failed with an intermediate bearing going south. I bought another used TR7 transmission and it was garbage, so I too am looking to rebuild or replace again.

It seems the best reputation is Ashcroft, they may be worth a try, and certainly their site has some interesting information:

http://www.ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk/index.php?...

Best of luck - heavy shipping costs for a rebuild, but they do seem to be the experts; they do rebuild kits as well, so if you have a good transmission shop perhaps they can rebuild it.

Rob.

[adam quantrill]

The land rover ones are quite a bit different - a mate tried using one in his P6 (yes a 5-speed P6) but it turned out that so many parts needed to be swapped over he virtually had to re-build it.

A Rover SDi one will go in straight - just the remote linkage/gearbox lever might need swapping over, along wil the speedo gear (incidentally if sending off for a rebuild definitely keep your speedo drive or you won't see it again).

I buy mine off fleabay then stick 'em in, much cheaper than a dodgy rebuild, and the same risk level.

[Mr Tank]

Hi

I have mine rebuilt by A1 Gearboxes of St Neots. Great job never had a problem with any of the rebuilds they have done for me!

Andy

[Yatesy350i]

Mr Tank said:

Hi

I have mine rebuilt by A1 Gearboxes of St Neots. Great job never had a problem with any of the rebuilds they have done for me!

Andy

Hi Andy

Do you know roughly what it costs to get one rebuilt by them. When the time comes I don't mind travelling to get it done right.

Cheers Karl.

[Mr Tank]

Yatesy350i said:

Mr Tank said:

Hi

I have mine rebuilt by A1 Gearboxes of St Neots. Great job never had a problem with any of the rebuilds they have done for me!

Andy

Hi Andy

Do you know roughly what it costs to get one rebuilt by them. When the time comes I don't mind travelling to get it done right.

Cheers Karl.

Karl

The last one they did for me was around £270 to 300 notes.

Andy

[RCK974X]

Probably wrong gearbox, but there's lots of Range Rovers here in NZ across the ditch - I don't know if they used an LT77 with a 4 wheel drive transfer case at the back or not ?
Anyone know ?

I have seen a couple of Rover SD1s, but rare (and probably expensive)

I reckon it's worth considering a T5 instead, if you don't mind non-original.
My guess is that they will be cheaper and easier to find (VN Commodores onwards...) They seem to have bellhousings to fit nearly everything, and Rover V8 is after all a Buick pattern.

[lefvl]

RCK974X said:

Probably wrong gearbox, but there's lots of Range Rovers here in NZ across the ditch - I don't know if they used an LT77 with a 4 wheel drive transfer case at the back or not ?
Anyone know ?

I have seen a couple of Rover SD1s, but rare (and probably expensive)

I reckon it's worth considering a T5 instead, if you don't mind non-original.
My guess is that they will be cheaper and easier to find (VN Commodores onwards...) They seem to have bellhousings to fit nearly everything, and Rover V8 is after all a Buick pattern.

Look at this website describing the various types of LT77 :

http://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/gearboxes2.html

[K4TRV]

UKAuto said:

I have had mine rebuilt in the past - and it was an utter failure - days after rebuild it needed work, and then again weeks later... I gave up and put an unknown used TR7 five speed in the car and it was trouble free for about 100,000km - but even it failed with an intermediate bearing going south. I bought another used TR7 transmission and it was garbage, so I too am looking to rebuild or replace again.

It seems the best reputation is Ashcroft, they may be worth a try, and certainly their site has some interesting information:

http://www.ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk/index.php?...

Best of luck - heavy shipping costs for a rebuild, but they do seem to be the experts; they do rebuild kits as well, so if you have a good transmission shop perhaps they can rebuild it.

Rob.

If you check out Ashcroft, they also talk about the R380 box, this replaced the LT 77 and are far more common to Land Rovers??

An extract of info is here: R 380 Development

The R 380 was introduced in 1994 with the suffix J which was a significant improvement on the LT 77 it supercedes, differences included a steel oil pump (as opposed to the LT 77 fibre one), an additional 2 support bearings were used on the layshaft and the mainshaft, wider gears, bigger diameter syncro rings, syncromesh on reverse and a longer mainshaft spline.

This suffix J did unfortunately have a couple of design flaws which gave the R 380 some bad press, they were prone to the mainshaft shearing across the oil feed holes, the layshaft also sheared at a stress concentration behind the sandwich plate causing loss of 5th and reverse also early ones still suffered from mainshaft wear until the cross drilled transfer case gears became fitted as standard on the suffix G transfer cases.

In 1999 the suffix K was used very briefly for a few months then came the suffix L. The K and L are virtually identical, the only difference I have found is the L outer main casing has an additional strengthening rib, internals are the same. The J and K/L are very different, 2 of the bearings were substantially uprated and pinion and layshaft teeth were widened again, this results in a much stronger unit.

The R 380 gearbox was introduced in approx 1995 with the suffix J and has now evolved to the suffix L which was used until the end of the Disco 2's and until 2007 in the Defender

Hope that helps?

Trev

[RCK974X]

I see the T5 is mentioned on that Morgan website, and as I said, in Holden Commodores from about 1990 - most Commodores were autos, but there are manuals around, and the V8 and HSV versions probably had tougher spec ones. (Holden HSV = Ford RS), and so I think a T5 will be much easier to find .... There's got to be good numbers of Commodores around in Oz scrappers by now......

[K4TRV]

If you are looking for a T5, please ensure its a World Class version (WC)..

See this linky for specs: http://www.britishv8.org/articles/borg-warner-t5-i...

Trev

[Ozbruce]

Thanks for all the info, all very informative and helpful. Given the expense of freight it would not be worth bringing a complete box to Australia so I am looking at buying the needed internals from Rimmer Bros or similar and having them shipped out if I don't do any good locally. Another alternative would be to try and locate a TR7 box here and take the punt on it being OK or going with the L5 as suggested by RCK974X. Anyway I'm sure(hopefully) it will work out in the end and I will let you know the result as it may well help others in this part of the world.

Thanks again

Bruce

[adam quantrill]

The LT77's on Rangeys are the same as Land Rover ones - they suffer from the same differences - output and inpus shafts are different, I think the rear end of the gearbox is different too. I have one I took off my last rangey and can post up some pics - it's a monster with the transfer box on there too.

I have been looking at R380's too but all I can find on e-bay are Land Rover ones and have a low box on the back, so I'm not sure how that could be used in a wedge without some serious engineering. Or else have two gearsticks!

The internals weigh almost as much as the box so I would have thought it'd be not much difference to get a second hand box shipped over therer intact.

[Mr Tank]

adam quantrill said:

The internals weigh almost as much as the box so I would have thought it'd be not much difference to get a second hand box shipped over therer intact.

Or better still find somebody who's going to OZ on holiday and get them to take the gearbox as Hand luggage

Sounds daft but I once took a starter motor and charge panel to Finland as hand luggage they were heavy

[jmorgan]

Slightly OT but there are size limits but I do believe one or two airlines have no weight limit on hand luggage as long as you can lift it into the overhead bins? Bit of a problem describing it as the wife makeup bag at the scanner though.

[UKAuto]

Mr Tank said:

Or better still find somebody who's going to OZ on holiday and get them to take the gearbox as Hand luggage

Sounds daft but I once took a starter motor and charge panel to Finland as hand luggage they were heavy

The rear bumper on my 350i was bought on-line, a friend was flying from Paris to Toronto with a stop in Heathrow - the seller bubble wrapped it, met him at the departures drop off, and it came on the plane AS CARRY ON!

...so Andy, NOT daft.

(sorry to wake you up. Ijust noticed how old this thread is... )

[Mr Tank]

UKAuto said:

Mr Tank said:

Or better still find somebody who's going to OZ on holiday and get them to take the gearbox as Hand luggage

Sounds daft but I once took a starter motor and charge panel to Finland as hand luggage they were heavy

The rear bumper on my 350i was bought on-line, a friend was flying from Paris to Toronto with a stop in Heathrow - the seller bubble wrapped it, met him at the departures drop off, and it came on the plane AS CARRY ON!

...so Andy, NOT daft.

(sorry to wake you up. Ijust noticed how old this thread is... )

Hi Robert

I forgot to mention they were from a Tank and the starter was for a 27lt V12 engine so it was no light weight nor was the panel!