Broken bits from gearbox???

Can anyone give me some advise with regard to the gearbox problems I am having with my newly purchased series 3 please.

I have drained the oil from the main gearbox which amounted to circa 300ml!!!! (I should have been suspicious over the fact the gearbox was not leaking and guessed there would be no oil in it). I also found a couple of strange pieces of metal waiting for me in the drain plug. Attached is a photo, can anyone give me any pointers as to what is damaged?

When driving (with the correct amount of ep80/90 in it) the gearbox does not jump out of any gears at all, the only problems that are noticeable is that it is sometimes a little stiff engaging first and when changing down from 4th to 3rd and 3rd to 2nd there is quite a loud rushing sound. Everything seems okay when chaining up through the gears and cruzing in 4th or with the overdrive engaged.

Any advice/pointers on the potential problems would be appreciated.

As the noise is not a good sign and the broken bits in the bottom even worst I assume at some stage I will need to get the box reconditioned or replace it, can anyone recommend a landrover specialist in the West Midlands area who could supply a recon unit or undertake the replacement for me.

Many thanks


Wesley

If you've had an overdrive fitted I'm wondering if it has been butchered into place ... could they be bits of locktab and castle nut? Folk without the rare special fitting tool #600300 often use hammers and screwdrivers to do up the castle nut on the back of the mainshaft, generally with fairly messy results.

Are those flat bits around 4mm by 6mm ish? That's about the size of the ears on the castle nut locktab.

Potentially - if the mainshaft castle nut is over or under torqued, you might get noise from the box and difficulties engaging, but regretfully I'm no expert!

Removing the flat rectangular plate on the top of the gearbox that's just in front of the overdrive itself will let you see down onto the back of the mainshaft and the castle nut (you can do this by removing the panel under the middle seat). Re-torqueing the castle nut will mean removal of the overdrive but it's not a massive job.
RDS Fairey Land Rover Overdrive

Good luck.

Actually I'm having second thoughts about that, sorry!

I think if it is the mainshaft castle nut & locktab to blame, the bits would have appeared in the transfer box oil rather than main gearbox oil. Can anyone confirm?

the flat bits are deffo broken detent springs .its time to take your box out i,m afraid.some folk will tell you they can be replaced insitu,don,t even bother trying!the other bits are prolly bits of broken mainshaft.good luck.

they maybe synchro springs which have a habit of snapping. driving without them is fine you will just have to get used to when and a what revs you change up and learn to double de-clutch when changing down.
after driving a 2a for 2 years with no synchros left at all it was something i just got used to and hardly ever crunched gears!

they are detent springs. Exactly the same happened my 69 2a drained the g/box a lump of oil fell out and there was a detent spring broken in two sittinging the drain plug only had the truck 3 months jumped out of second since i had it but otherwise no prob once its in 2nd it stays in ,been off roaded no problem i suspect the last knacker of an owner just couldnt be arsed to put any oil anywhere in the vehicle that probaly caused the g/box problem

Thks for all of the assistance chaps, my research has concluded the same, i.e detent springs.

However I seem to have no problem at all engaging any gears so I assume the synchros carn't be that bad. Will the synchros problem be causing the loud rushing sound or do you think I have other probs??

The thin flat pieces look like the detent springs on the 3rd/4th synchro hub. I doubt it would do the gearbox any harm running it with one missing. The other two lumps look like gear teeth which are probably off the reverse gear or perhaps the first gear on the layshaft. I'm not sure about the rushing sound - one of the bearings perhaps? If your have the time and are fairly good with the spanners you could probably repair it yourself for under £100. The parts are cheap and it's fairly simple.

fenby1976 said:

The thin flat pieces look like the detent springs on the 3rd/4th synchro hub. I doubt it would do the gearbox any harm running it with one missing. The other two lumps look like gear teeth which are probably off the reverse gear or perhaps the first gear on the layshaft. I'm not sure about the rushing sound - one of the bearings perhaps? If your have the time and are fairly good with the spanners you could probably repair it yourself for under £100. The parts are cheap and it's fairly simple.

Click to expand...

what no part numbers !

Detent spring part no: RTC1956 (3 off)

Part Details

fenby1976 said:

Detent spring part no: RTC1956 (3 off)

Part Details

Click to expand...

that's more like it, dont let yer standards drop just cos it's past 11pm