Castor Correction Bushes?? and Gearbox???

Hi, I have just bought an 84 plate 90 fitted with a 300 TDI engine, box and axles, it is also fitted with a 3" lift kit but still has the original radius arms and bushes which means that the front diff looks like its at the wrong angle. Will castor correction bushes cure this or do I need cranked radius arms as well or will it be ok as it is with the originals??
Also as the discovery R380 box has been fitted the seat box has been hacked about to allow the gear lever and hi/lo range lever through, not in the same place as the original but works ok, can anyone shed any light whether this will put any undue strain on the transmission or should I try and locate a defender box and fit that???

Regards Andy

Either bushes or new corrected radius arms will cure the diff, one solution obviously being cheaper than the other!
As for the gear box, the box its self is exactly the same just the shifters are in different places so as long as you can cope with the strange lay-out im sure it'll be fine!

tom

r380 used by people in defenders, as long as its not a thrown in job should be fine

While bushes and cranked arms offer a quick and /or relatively easy way to correct castor alignment they are not ideal.
Altering the diff pinion angle throws out the correct geometry on the propshaft added to the increased angle due to the lift, it will cause U.J`s etc to wear more quickly and possibly cause vibration. The best way to correct castor is to fit castor corrected axle spheres??

Agree with above. Arms and bushes affect prop shaft angles badly.....also bushes wear out.

Best two solutions are redrilled swivels or rejigged axle casing. Both relatively fit and forget.


As for gearbox, it certainly sounds like some one fitted a Disco R380. Probably cheaper than the Defender unit on the 2nd hand market. I don't see it as a problem altho' I assume that the seat box mods could be neater.

13aldy13 said:

Hi, I have just bought an 84 plate 90 fitted with a 300 TDI engine, box and axles, it is also fitted with a 3" lift kit but still has the original radius arms and bushes which means that the front diff looks like its at the wrong angle. Will castor correction bushes cure this or do I need cranked radius arms as well or will it be ok as it is with the originals??
Also as the discovery R380 box has been fitted the seat box has been hacked about to allow the gear lever and hi/lo range lever through, not in the same place as the original but works ok, can anyone shed any light whether this will put any undue strain on the transmission or should I try and locate a defender box and fit that???

Regards Andy

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I hate these conversions it would have cost a little bit more to get the right gearbox and do it properly. I would be going over the workmanship very carefully. This kind of conversion is usually thrown together if they do not care about getting the right bits why bother to put it in right.

Thanks for the comments, the fitting of the discovery R380 box looks ok and the 90 does drive very well, but I would quite like to put in the correct box to return the levers back to their original posistion, is it just a case of sourcing a 90 300tdi box and transfer box and swopping them over putting the gearbox mount back into its original place or is it a bit more involved than that??