Disco Transfer box

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Evans Garage

Member
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75
Fitted the disco transfer box to my TD5 90 today, what a difference this has made, well worth doing & has totally transformed it !!

Won't be such a chore now doing long road trips in order to get to the good laning !
 
what ratio was your old box compared to the disco one? what size tyres are you running? Just trying to get an idea on what mine would be like with a disco transfer box, it's something that I was going to do.
 
depends what you use the defender for....
i had the disco before and prefer the defender transfer for the muddy fun.... dont mind the slower speeds on roads
 
I've got a Disco box in mine, the higher gearing is OK for cruising around on the level but i've lost acceleration (very much so at 50mph+), the top end is worse (reaching 70 takes a long time and it struggles to go more than a couple of mph further, just revs and smokes!) and when it comes to a hill it seriously struggles.

I know that they aren't speed machines, but with the original gearing it certainly went better.

This is on my 200tdi with a larger intercooler (tried full length as well and though a little better it was still under-powered) and fuel/turbo tuned up.

It has made me wonder if something isn't right with the engine, but at lower speeds it seems completely fine.

I'm now looking to go back to a 1.41 ratio box when one becomes available for a good price.
 
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I also recon that if you tow heavy loads that it would certainly be unsuitable, as the gears are longer and you really need to get the power up before changing up.
I haven't towed anything very heavy so far, but can imagine trying to drag something up hill would be hard work on vehicle and driver.
 
The original t-box was a 1.4 & the disco one i fitted is 1.222, this is on my td5 90 with EGR removed, non cat front pipe & centre box removed, I am seriously impressed with it, will pull past 100mph on my private test runway with more to go.

Cruising at 70mph is now only 2200rpm in 5th gear this is all done with my 235/65/16 summer road tyres, I guess when i fit the special traks I will lose acceleration & gain even more top end, the truck has loads of power so i don't think it will be an issue, if it is I have a dastek unichip buried in my toolbox somewhere, so ill chuck that on for the extra pulling power !!

Transfer box cost me £50, I replaced the seals & chucked it in, very worthwhile mod i reckon !

I do have a used GKN if anybody wants to make an offer on it, came of a working truck, not sure on its condition though, i certainly won't be fitting it, think the wheels would fall off if i went any faster!
 
soms what engine do you have ???

i was thinking about doing the 200tdi disco transfer box in my truck next year, i have a 200tdi disco engine in my 90 now.
 
gkn were renound for er not being so great. i'd take a punt for 100 quid but no more because of their reputation and over complicated leccky solonoid ecu bollix
 
Mines a 200 tdi, it is "tuned" so to speak, so should have more power than the standard Disco Tdi (which was slightly higher tuned than the Defender tdi).

I had the head gasket done a few years ago, but have always wondered if the engine has performed the same since (through poor workmanship or otherwise). After it was done I found that the glowplugs were loose, rocker head bolts were loose etc, burns a bit of oil...

Whilst on paper the power difference between a Tdi and TD5 isn't a huge amount, i've personally found that changing the transfer box brought more disadvantages than advantages.
 
well if you think that was bad you wanna try genuine 37 inch tyres and a disco transfer box. Could get 70mph eventually but any hill it would die completly!
 
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