Defender 130 Td5 Clutch Problem.

Gents.

Help needed.

This weekend, with the help of a couple of competent but reluctant friends, I put a new clutch kit in my Defender TD5. The old one was snatching and the thrust bearing was making a hell of a din. This was the first time any of us had done a Land Rover and owing to the fact that you have to take half the vehicle apart, it took us most of the day.

Anyway, when it all eventually went back together and time to try it.. Nothing! I couldn't get any gears. The only way to get drive was to put it in gear and start it up, obviously as soon as you turned the key you were off, which is how I got it out of the workshop we were borrowing and to my mates house where it has been whilst we had a rethink.

The mate that had dealt with the slave cylinder thought it was knackered at the time, so we blamed that and I got a new one which went on the next day. Unfortunately it is still exactly the same, the clutch won't clear. We have bled it several times, the pedal feels about right. We have also gone right back through everything, asking ourselves all the basics, like did we put everything in the right way round etc.

So we are stumped, I am struggling to get to work and all that, and would really like to hear from anyone who has had this problem and knows wht need doing...

Cheers in anticipation.

SP.

Did you put the clutch on the right way round? S'pose you must have done if you drove it home.

What noises can you hear when you press the clutch pedal with the engine running, can you hear the "slack" being taken up in the gearbox?

What do you mean when you say you cant get any gears? Do they go in but you don't get any drive? Or wont they go in without crunching the gears, can you change gear with the clutch once you've got going

Yes it is in the right way round, as there are bosses and cut outs etc that would prevent it going in wrong. Can't hear any noises on pressing the clutch. When I say I can't get the gears,what I mean is you can push the stick as hard as you want but they won't go in. The gears could be changed once I got going, but only by hit or miss like when you try changing gear without the clutch. Hope this helps.

SP

Are you sure you've bled it properly, they can be a sod to do. I ended up unbolting the slave cylinder loosening the bleed nipple pushing the piston up the cylinder and gently pressing the clutch peddle till the piston moved and oil came out of the nipple, another way is to force the oil into the cylinder through the bleed nipple using an oil can. There are kits to do the job.

Another thought is that the master cylinder push rod might need adjusting.

This is all good advice, stuff I want to hear as I am knackered as it is!
I will investigate these tomorrow. Especially as I don't want to take the gearbox out again just yet!

Another suggestion I've heard tonight is that possibly we disturbed the fork on it's pins without realising, which obviously will be a strip down job...

SP

That did cross my mind but don't really think its likely. If the arm was pushed into its clippy things then I can't see it coming out by accident. Also the push rod could be displaced, but the peddle would feel odd with either of these. I'm still going for the lack of oil in the system and the piston in the slave cylinder not travelling far enough to disengage the clutch.