Defender questions

Hi all
I have just purchased a 1992 90 200TDi and have a couple of questions/problems

First is the gearbox, 2nd gear constantly crunches when engaging anything over 5mph, I believe this is a LT77S, it has done 85K so is this just a worn out syncro ring or is there something else I can check, all other gears seem fine (I suppose I am expecting too much to just bleed the clutch and fix this??!!)

The wheels fitted to my 90 are 1 ton wheels, I have been told that these are too big for the 90 and will slow it down due to the tyres being too big a diameter, the tyres are 7.5 x 16, is this the case or are they just wider than standard (the speedo does under read a little)

The final problem are the brakes, they seem to pull the car (or Landie!) to the right, is this a common problem or is something drastically wrong, the discs appear recent, maybe bleeding them would help?

I am hoping this is not going to be expensive as I have spent all my money on getting one! (after wanting a Landrover for many many years), apart from these niggling faults I am enjoying it!

Any help gratefully received

LeeBee

Hi and welcome to the wonderfull world of landy ownership.
Your gonna be permantley skint from now on......but its well worth it.
Second gear is a bitch on my 90 aswell,but it doesnt crunch,just a bit tight.
Im gonna try some synthectic gear oil in the main box and transfer box in the next few weeks,i have heard it smoothes things out a bit so worth a try.
My 90 is fitted with 110 wheels and 235/85 R16 and is fine so you shouldnt have any probs there.
Just enjoy driving it and working on it,you will learn loads as time goes by.

Leebee (correct spelling excused)
The pulling to one side question, if pulling to the righthand side (Drivers). Then take a close look at the nearside (Left) disc. Chances are with this being the kerbside of the vehicle, too much past kerbside puddle jumping the swivel hub seal has taken a pasting and is possibley leaking swivel onto disc and the pads are contaminated.

Hi Leebee You can get additives that might help your gear change problem. Lucas Transmission fluid is one. Ask your local land rover spares dept. Re brakes If yours has rear drums remove drums clean out dust replace drums and adjust. They can cause uneven braking b-b

bigger tyres make the vehicle faster as there is a larger rolling radius, so whoever told you that is a prick
most landy owners that run on crossplys run 750 16's

this one needs filed in beside the exploding bushes. a right **** load of people have put 750x16 on to 88's when the correct size should be 600x16. and the 90 is only an updated 88. of course they will affect the speedo and affect the gearing to the extent that yule accelerate slower( if that is possible)

Therefore the 110 is an updated 109 which came with 750x16 tyres as standard. b.b

and????

doeas that make the 130 an updated version of the 127

no the130 would be an update to the wartburg

Thanks for the info, I will stick with the wheels for now, I have now had a good look around the vehicle and can confirm that the NS seal (the one on the nice big shiney ball) is leaking a bit if left for a day or 2, the disc on the OS looks in slightly worse condition than the other one so I might just replace them as they seem cheap enough, the other thing I noticed is that the OS brake disc shield has had a good knock on it so maybe the disc is slightly bent, I will investigate when it stops raining!

Also can anyone tell me if there is supposed to be play in the hubs, I can grab hold of the top of the tyre and rock it in and outwards and there is noticible play, not sure if this is normal on a Defender but if it was any other car it would fail the MOT

Sorry for all the questions but I am new to all this!

Thanks

You can fill the shiney ball with CV joint grease but how much I don't know offhand. You can buy it as one shot grease from the usual places.

There should be a small amount of play on the wheel bearings (0.05mm-0.10mm) and on the halfshaft(0.12mm-0.25mm)

I read about a bloke who put a Wartburg engine in a Harley Davidson frame and called it a Warthog.

I will look into the CV grease option, someone also told me you can buy rubber boots to go over the ball?

It seems like a lot more than 0.10mm play in the wheel bearings but this might be amplified by fact that I am rocking the outside of the wheel, it certainly clunks a bit when you do this almost like the wheel is loose, it is all the same on every wheel though....

certainly sounds like yer whelk bearing are gubbed. i'd check at least one of them before going any further. you can buy gaiter kits for the swivels from any of the usual lot.

don't know about the defender 90, but my old 2.5td 90 drips oil all over the brake disc on the passenger side. It drips from the bottom of the air cleaner housing. i swapped the disc and pads on that side and put a piece of plastic hose onto the air cleaner dump valve to lead the oil away from the wheel

My 1987 110 does all that. When its cold it Crunches in second, crunches when going into thrd from forth too. It used to pull to the left on braking, that was cos tere was oil leakin inside the right drum. The steerin wheel used to be able to move through about 10 degrees eather way without moving the wheels too, that was a dangerous one and so ive got a new steerin box installed (expenisive ). And im hoping to pass my drivin test in it, u recon the test instructor will be pleased?