experience with defender gearbox ratio upgrade?

Hi all

I'm toying with the idea of getting the ratios changed in my Defender's transfer box to improve cruising.

Basically this mod changes the 1.410 gears to 1.222 gears, resulting in the high range gearing increasing by 15%.

Has anyone done this mod? If so, what are the pros & cons, where did you have it done, how much did it cost, etc?

For more information, have a look here: http://www.ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk/part_34.html

Just stick a disco transfer box on. Same effect, much, much cheaper.

hughesy said:

Just stick a disco transfer box on. Same effect, much, much cheaper.

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hmmm i will ask around.. hope its cheaper though ;-)
otherwise ill have to go without ;-)

last disco box (GB and tranny box) cost me £30 - how cheap are you expecting it to be ?

i'd not recomend doing this if you've got anything less than a 200 - unless you like changing gear lots

i drive a 200tdi, and the revs are very high on the motorway.
is the difference between 3rd and 4th gear also better on the disco box? in hilly areas i struggle my ass off keepin it in 4th, have to gear down all the time.

is an overdrive a possible sollution to this?
not sure if id b able to source a box for 30pounds over here.. thats a bargain.

RenierZA said:

i drive a 200tdi, and the revs are very high on the motorway.
is the difference between 3rd and 4th gear also better on the disco box? in hilly areas i struggle my ass off keepin it in 4th, have to gear down all the time.

is an overdrive a possible sollution to this?
not sure if id b able to source a box for 30pounds over here.. thats a bargain.

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an over drive is a very expensive solution - but if you are allready having to drop gears due to hills it wont make life easier as it's the engine that sounds like it's struggling

have a look at the ashcrofts site as they have a table showing the differences between gearing on dependers and discos

My Disco is on standard gearing, but has larger tyres that make the gearing 7% higher (acc. to the book).

With this raised gearing it does mean that I pull lower revs at 70 on the motorway ... BUT we tow a caravan and definitely have to drop a gear on some hills. Your ratio increse to +15% sounds a bit much to me ... If you're already having trouble getting up hills I'd suggest you don't raise the gearing at all, but need to look at the separate gear ratios and spreads between them.

You might be as well phoning Ashcrofts and listen to what they say as most peoples anecdotal evidence on the forum will be different.