Defender 90 200Tdi LT77 gearbox - No Reverse Gear ! Help !

Hello Everyone,
The never ending story continues of the resurrection of my 1994 Defender 200Tdi 90 after 22 years sat in my garage.
Story so far - New battery, changed the timing belt / new water pump / new auxiliary belts and replaced all the coolant and turbo hoses for silicone. Then the starter motor wouldn’t run, after all sorts or trials and testing ended up replacing that with a ‘Hella’ starter motor (quite a fiddly job on the 200Tdi tbh). The engine fired up first time after checking the state of the fuel (drained off from the tank) and getting the oil pressure up before starting (disconnected the fuel pump solenoid)… so now to change all the oils, filters and fluids. Engine , gearbox and transfer box…

Started the engine , all electrics worked fine (lights, wipers, indicators etc), I selected first gear (clutch was fine as I had a new one fitted before putting the vehicle to ‘bed’ 22yrs previously) and the vehicle moved forward , no issues.

BUT then I tried to select reverse gear (to reverse out of the garage) and I could not select the gear, no matter how hard I tried it just will not select the reverse gear, all forward gears are fine just the reverse gear won’t engage.
I’m a complete noob to gearboxes , any ideas anyone ? It’s as if the reverse gear just doesn’t exist, it’s very odd, all forward gears select correctly and I can change the Hi to Low on the transfer box no problem.
Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated , is there an electrical aspect to selecting reverse gear on the LT77 box ? Any advice greatly appreciated thank you!

You have remembered lt77 reverse is not in the usual 5 speed place?

lynall said:

You have remembered lt77 reverse is not in the usual 5 speed place?

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lol

Yup lt77 up to the left r380 down to the right

kevstar said:

lol

Yup lt77 up to the left r380 down to the right

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I was thinking bet the op has a had a normal car for the 22yrs and simply forgotten, I never forget you understand cough cough!

lynall said:

I was thinking bet the op has a had a normal car for the 22yrs and simply forgotten, I never forget you understand cough cough!

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Sometimes I forget after going from my disco to fender

lynall said:

You have remembered lt77 reverse is not in the usual 5 speed place?

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Yes absolutely, up to the left top with first gear adjacent, second down, third up to right, fourth down and finally 5th up to the right. It’s as if the reverse gear doesn’t exist, can only get 1st, 2nd, 3rd , 4th and 5th forward gears…

lynall said:

I was thinking bet the op has a had a normal car for the 22yrs and simply forgotten, I never forget you understand cough cough!

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I’ve been driving a Disco 2 with an auto box, I hadn’t forgotten, besides the gear diagram is on the gear stick

Captainflint1967 said:

I’ve been driving a Disco 2 with an auto box, I hadn’t forgotten, besides the gear diagram is on the gear stick

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Then I guess its time to take a look at the turret, maybe some link has seized?

lynall said:

Then I guess its time to take a look at the turret, maybe some link has seized?

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Could also check the reverse plunger or the reverse switch is in too far.

kevstar said:

Could also check the reverse plunger or the reverse switch is in too far.

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Thank you for the suggestion, I’ve looked through the Landrover workshop manual for the vehicle and they both certainly look like potential causes.
I’m hoping it’s nothing more serious as previously (many years ago) the gearbox had problems with the input gear running dry and wearing the splines on the shaft, a known failure of the LT77 gearbox, cost a small fortune at the time to rectify.
Whilst researching the issue on the internet I came across the ‘Slickshift’ mod from ‘Synchro gearboxes’ to reduce sloppiness and minimising travel in gear changing; looks to be a worthwhile upgrade for Defenders. As I’m in that area anyway I might as well do the mod and it seems to have good reviews by fellow Defender owners. Thanks again for the response.

Captainflint1967 said:

Thank you for the suggestion, I’ve looked through the Landrover workshop manual for the vehicle and they both certainly look like potential causes.
I’m hoping it’s nothing more serious as previously (many years ago) the gearbox had problems with the input gear running dry and wearing the splines on the shaft, a known failure of the LT77 gearbox, cost a small fortune at the time to rectify.
Whilst researching the issue on the internet I came across the ‘Slickshift’ mod from ‘Synchro gearboxes’ to reduce sloppiness and minimising travel in gear changing; looks to be a worthwhile upgrade for Defenders. As I’m in that area anyway I might as well do the mod and it seems to have good reviews by fellow Defender owners. Thanks again for the response.

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No probs I hope it an easy fix pal. Ive not heard a bad word about the slickshift.

lynall said:

You have remembered lt77 reverse is not in the usual 5 speed place?

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You mean it is in the correct place for reverse and everyone else is wrong! It is in the same place as a series box, exactly where it should be.

kevstar said:

No probs I hope it an easy fix pal. Ive not heard a bad word about the slickshift.

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Well you are about to, but entirely down to personal preference not because it isn't well made and does what is supposed to. I really do not like them, a friend has one fitted to his and as far as I am concerned it just feels wrong. I have only ever driven defenders and series vehicles since passing my test (other than HGV's which have the same long throw) and for me it just felt odd and was too small and close. I am sure I would get used to it, but I really did not like it. If you have ben driving "normal" cars then it is probably not a problem as that is what you are used to. I am used to having to hold the gear stick at a certain angle to not hit the dashboard with my knuckles when engaging reverse!

dag019 said:

Well you are about to, but entirely down to personal preference not because it isn't well made and does what is supposed to. I really do not like them, a friend has one fitted to his and as far as I am concerned it just feels wrong. I have only ever driven defenders and series vehicles since passing my test (other than HGV's which have the same long throw) and for me it just felt odd and was too small and close. I am sure I would get used to it, but I really did not like it. If you have ben driving "normal" cars then it is probably not a problem as that is what you are used to. I am used to having to hold the gear stick at a certain angle to not hit the dashboard with my knuckles when engaging reverse!

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So its well made & does what its supposed to do an its you who has a dislike to nice tight box.
If your used to using sloppy auld boxes surely it must be great to have a nice tight one for a change.

kevstar said:

So its well made & does what its supposed to do an its you who has a dislike to nice tight box.
If your used to using sloppy auld boxes surely it must be great to have a nice tight one for a change.

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Not so much sloppy, just a long throw. I am on my third gearbox rebuild from ashcroft (mileage not faults) and even when fully rebuilt with new gears, syncro, bushes etc. they are not exactly tight by modern standards.

I’ve ordered the ‘Slickshift’ mod awaiting delivery, I guess if I don’t like it I can always go back to the ‘standard’ configuration.
I can remember changing gears with a passenger on the middle seat; it was always precarious not ‘elbowing’ them during the gear changes, maybe the mod will help with that too ?
I’ve just noticed that the radio/cassette (remember those ) is dead as a Dodo, any recommendations for a replacement ? I’ve seen some with screens and all sorts of gadgets onboard - satnav etc… The world didn’t have ‘internet’ connection from vehicles the last time she was on the road, even mobile phones looked like house bricks back then… the world is certainly a different place now ! … jeez I’m getting old

I also had a problem with reverse recently. It's usually caused by the reverse light switch preventing enough movement of the selector thingy, that would be my first place to look.
Sadly in my case it was a problem with one of the reverse yoke slippers getting out of place and the box had to come out. I also fitted a slick shift about a year ago - I took the opportunity to remove it - I didn't like the different fell to the changes. The gearbox guy I used thought they worked much better with the R380 boxes.

Captainflint1967 said:

I’ve ordered the ‘Slickshift’ mod awaiting delivery, I guess if I don’t like it I can always go back to the ‘standard’ configuration.
I can remember changing gears with a passenger on the middle seat; it was always precarious not ‘elbowing’ them during the gear changes, maybe the mod will help with that too ?
I’ve just noticed that the radio/cassette (remember those ) is dead as a Dodo, any recommendations for a replacement ? I’ve seen some with screens and all sorts of gadgets onboard - satnav etc… The world didn’t have ‘internet’ connection from vehicles the last time she was on the road, even mobile phones looked like house bricks back then… the world is certainly a different place now ! … jeez I’m getting old

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Get the cheapest crappy radio from ebay, these day you can get half depth ones which makes for much easier fitting with all the wiring behind the radio.
I stuck one on our boat and its actually pretty good, bloody thing even has bluetooth for the phone so switches speakers off when phone rings.
Iirc was 12 quid!

Much like this, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/36393847...qXK2V6/jopB30Vxkrznp6FdxFl|tkp:Bk9SR5rhpP_ZYA

lynall said:

Get the cheapest crappy radio from ebay, these day you can get half depth ones which makes for much easier fitting with all the wiring behind the radio.
I stuck one on our boat and its actually pretty good, bloody thing even has bluetooth for the phone so switches speakers off when phone rings.
Iirc was 12 quid!

Much like this, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363938476072?hash=item54bc6c7028:g:JpsAAOSwb9hi8i0i&amdata=enc:AQAHAAAA4Csi77gxGwcCvcCjnUXBl8NDTxzXsrBmu0KQ0ioQlayv2nmat8ji4ZcmaqxZBmzuHaYXAe8rYQ/8NA0FXSy1SVm8/cmwFq+AIwHDwGtRV02AYTaNjiay9qNFV7LCDGDH28Nr9K28dSZgjHwI/R1j2s1D8Jaq++gVmJyhjTe5er/QtRjHn8JgAHj5/nZ3f7J9i4Y8M4a0icifmF2Yf/fXc4770rUBE7HCzWfxhr1tT6bYWqsxQgTs/xFgqhJJvNE+4hV3aJxYso7I9sYgJlqXK2V6/jopB30Vxkrznp6FdxFl|tkp:Bk9SR5rhpP_ZYA

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Thanks for the reply and suggestion, much appreciated. I’ll definitely look into purchasing one of those, an all singing and dancing model will be a thief magnet and we all know how long it takes to get into an old Defender !

So I took all the carpets, soundproofing and tunnel shroud off to get at the reverse gear plunger on top of the gearbox , I found it totally seized up, although the switch was fine after taking that out to check. Ordered all the parts for the reverse gear plunger mechanism as it was absolutely seized solid… but after leaving it in a bowl for a few days with degreaser/contact cleaner it all came apart. I checked the plunger and it had over the years created a ‘lip’ where the detent ball sits, so I carefully ground that off with a dremel , put it all back together with plenty of new grease and it works perfectly now, guess I’ll have a spare when the parts I ordered turn up.But I have reverse gear back !
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions - it was the reverse gear plunger at fault preventing me getting to the reverse gear, much appreciated for all the input.
Now is the problem with the rear wash wiper not working on the back door (front wipers and water working great). No water coming through (pump not working) and no motor turning the wiper blade. I’m hoping it will just be a relay or a dodgy electrical connection , just noticed (now that the front windscreen is clean) that I have a small chip in the glass, right in the middle of the wiper blade drivers side - when the wiper blade is at rest… MOT failure ? I’ll have to call the MOT garage to see what they say for that one….