Defender 90 200tdi Wont move in gear!

Just got a Defender 1990 200tdi, gears have felt fine and moved off with no issues. Then started to shudder slightly when reversing.
Persisted but this got worse ,then it struggled to move off in 1st gear and had to give it some power to get it going again so i could get home but all gears felt fine when driving.
Tried to move it backwards and forwards in the driveway and it doesnt want to have any of it. The car thrusts forwards in the direction i want but it feels like its chained up.

i can get it going again but only if i really give it full power but the whole thing shakes violently.
Tried rocking with clutch but again, wont work. Strange as it worked perfectly when i picked it up earlier.
Had someone look underneath whilst i lifted the clutch and revved in gear and they mention the prop shaft and hand brake drum rotating very slightly.
Should also note that the handbrake drum will not rotate by hand. Should this be adjusted as well?

Any recommendations?

Thanks

hand brake sticking on,could be over adjusted or rear output bearing failing etc

jamesmartin said:

hand brake sticking on,could be over adjusted or rear output bearing failing etc

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Researched more and looking increasingly likely the handbrake drum is too tight so going to attempt to loosen it tomorrow. May have to completely disassemble and clean.
Another question, should the propshaft be able to freely rotate by hand? Cant get it to rotate so will jack it up tomorrow and try rotating the wheels. Hoping that it just needs some basic adjustments

prop will only rotate if a rear wheel is jacked up,hand brake is off and box in neutral

Nick20 said:

Researched more and looking increasingly likely the handbrake drum is too tight so going to attempt to loosen it tomorrow. May have to completely disassemble and clean.
Another question, should the propshaft be able to freely rotate by hand? Cant get it to rotate so will jack it up tomorrow and try rotating the wheels. Hoping that it just needs some basic adjustments

Click to expand...

Rear prop won't rotate if the hand brake is on. With it off, in neutral and both rear wheels on the ground you should get something like1/8 turn due to backlash. With it off and one rear wheel (or both) off the ground you should be able to turn it all the way.

Take the nuts of the prop shaft and set it up properly. You might need to strip it anyway and have a look inside.

I had a similar problem with my 110 where the hand brake was sticking on. Turned out that the handbrake cable was too tight and the actuator didn't have sufficient reserve travel and stuck. I slackened the cable off and took up the slack with the adjuster on the handbrake drum which sorted it out.
In the short term get underneath the vehicle with a hammer and gently hit the bar that exits the handbrake actuator, which should free the handbrake.
(I'm assuming it is on level ground and won't run away without the handbrake.)

Nick20 said:

Just got a Defender 1990 200tdi, gears have felt fine and moved off with no issues. Then started to shudder slightly when reversing.
Persisted but this got worse ,then it struggled to move off in 1st gear and had to give it some power to get it going again so i could get home but all gears felt fine when driving.
Tried to move it backwards and forwards in the driveway and it doesnt want to have any of it. The car thrusts forwards in the direction i want but it feels like its chained up.

i can get it going again but only if i really give it full power but the whole thing shakes violently.
Tried rocking with clutch but again, wont work. Strange as it worked perfectly when i picked it up earlier.
Had someone look underneath whilst i lifted the clutch and revved in gear and they mention the prop shaft and hand brake drum rotating very slightly.
Should also note that the handbrake drum will not rotate by hand. Should this be adjusted as well?

Any recommendations?

Thanks

Click to expand...

Not stuck in centre diff lock is it?

Did some checks this morning, jacked up each wheel with handbrake off to check for any transmission windup (slight movement in rears) Nothing in front.
Front prop shaft rotates as it should and turning one wheel, rotates the other in opposite direction so that seemed ok to me.

Trouble was with the rears. Jacked both wheels up, handbrake off and the rears rotated but the rear prop barely nudged. More made a clicking sound. I tested it with the difflock in its neutral and with it back and to the right of the driver.

Gazbo said:

Not stuck in centre diff lock is it?

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Thats what i was worried. I was told that the diff lock should be set as back and to the right towards me though on the knob, that does read as L.
Not sure whether ive been trying to move it off in neutral or if its stuck somewhere. Idk, driving me crazy.

Nick20 said:

Thats what i was worried. I was told that the diff lock should be set as back and to the right towards me though on the knob, that does read as L.
Not sure whether ive been trying to move it off in neutral or if its stuck somewhere. Idk, driving me crazy.

Click to expand...

it wouldnt effect forward or reverse diff lock is engaged when lever is pushed over to the left in any position lever is forward or back,likewise hi and low is forward and back regardless of where lever is side to side

Nick20 said:

Did some checks this morning, jacked up each wheel with handbrake off to check for any transmission windup (slight movement in rears) Nothing in front.
Front prop shaft rotates as it should and turning one wheel, rotates the other in opposite direction so that seemed ok to me.

Trouble was with the rears. Jacked both wheels up, handbrake off and the rears rotated but the rear prop barely nudged. More made a clicking sound. I tested it with the difflock in its neutral and with it back and to the right of the driver.

Click to expand...

sounds like hand brake is stuck on

jamesmartin said:

sounds like hand brake is stuck on

Click to expand...

Thanks, hope so.
Annoying as just got it and already problems lol.
Would this be a case of adjusting the handbrake cable or the drum?

Classic stuck hand brake.First thing is to free it,back off adjuster on the back plate.Check the hand brake leavers are moving. If drum now turns remove prop and drum and give all inside clean.If not turning then remove prop and drum nuts and pelt the drum,this should free things and allow drum removal.
Given the age of your landy renewal of shoes,return springs,expander and adjuster may be an idea.

Nick20 said:

Thanks, hope so.
Annoying as just got it and already problems lol.
Would this be a case of adjusting the handbrake cable or the drum?

Click to expand...

perhaps both when you adjust hand brake you should wind in the 17mm adjuster at the bottom of back plate in out clockwise till drum locks and then back it off till it spins freely,then adjust cable to giver 3 nor 4 clicks, if you undo the 2 hand brake lever bracket securing bolts you can pull cable through and adjust cable in the foot well,check theres no play in output bearing shoes are secure etc etc, it might just be adjustment but checking for a cause is no bad idea

Thanks all for advice.
Spent a couple hours loosening the 2 bolts on the handbrake drum and hammering the drum. Still barely moving, maybe got it to nudge a mm.
Im confident though that the drums locked itself when i reversed as the problem was noticeable once i had started to reverse.

Will try to get some photos tomorrow of what exactly im loosening as i dont seem to be having much luck. Handbrake cable below the car moves when pulled and released but i cant work out how to get that drum to freely move despite what i loosen.

Nick20 said:

Thanks all for advice.
Spent a couple hours loosening the 2 bolts on the handbrake drum and hammering the drum. Still barely moving, maybe got it to nudge a mm.
Im confident though that the drums locked itself when i reversed as the problem was noticeable once i had started to reverse.

Will try to get some photos tomorrow of what exactly im loosening as i dont seem to be having much luck. Handbrake cable below the car moves when pulled and released but i cant work out how to get that drum to freely move despite what i loosen.

Click to expand...

You need to back off the adjusting bolt, located on the front side (facing front of car, between the backing plate and transfer case), of the handbrake backing plate at the bottom, it's a fairly large hexagon, 17, 19mm AF, turn it as described by @jamesmartin to unload the brake shoes, yo will never be able to remove the handbrake drum without first backing the shoes off.

Thanks for all the help!
Spent another hour adjusting the cable bolt with a 19mm spanner and loosening and tightening the two hex bolts on the underside of the drum with a 15mm whilst hammering with a mallet. Got some slight movement which was encouraging but not enough.
Then noticed a large nut in between the two small hex nuts and on top was a squared off bolt. Exhausted from trying everything else that i managed to loosen the square bolt with a small (i think 7 or 9mm spanner and it freed up the drum! About time
Adjusted everything properly now and all is well again.

Unfortunately you'll most likely hear from me again.

Nick20 said:

Thanks for all the help!
Unfortunately you'll most likely hear from me again.

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It's a Land Rover, that's it's job, and I quote..........
"Land Rover, making roadside mechanics out of men since 1948!"