Failed clutch?

Just had a wee break down. Was driving along, changed down to go up a hill and suddenly lost drive.

Neither props are turning and it won’t move in diff lock.

Sounds like the clutch to me but there’s now an oil leak out of the bell housing, which is definitely new, which doesn’t fit with it just being a clutch plate issue.

I wondered if the slave cylinder had failed and is now leaking, but that would normally mean you can’t disengage the clutch? I thought maybe a rear crank seal (or gear box main shaft seal) and has sprayed oil onto the clutch plate and it’s slipping but odd to lose drive so suddenly and completely?

Any thoughts before I pull it all apart?

Maybe the splines have stripped behind the PTO cover. Easy to check, 6 bolts.

Flossie said:

Maybe the splines have stripped behind the PTO cover. Easy to check, 6 bolts.

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I put a cross drilled input gear in when I rebuilt the transfer box a couple of years ago that exact issue happened and resulted in a 700mile tow back from northern Scotland to Suffolk. Got to love land rovers.

Clutch centre plate broke,

tottot said:

Clutch centre plate broke,

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That was my thinking but doesn’t explain the new oil leak. Unless that’s water draining as we were driving in the mild rain today, seems unlikely tho.

Maybe something has come adrift and/or seized in the high/low mechanism? Can't see how anything breaking in there would cause an oil leak either really

Kev12 said:

Maybe something has come adrift and/or seized in the high/low mechanism? Can't see how anything breaking in there would cause an oil leak either really

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I agree. It behaved like a sudden clutch failure but that oil leak has got me stumped.

The clutch fail had you looking around, oil leak may have started a while ago but now you have found it. Whatever it's time to take a look.

tottot said:

The clutch fail had you looking around, oil leak may have started a while ago but now you have found it. Whatever it's time to take a look.

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Yeh you could be right. If it’s a rear crank seal I can at least do it all in one go. Plus I’ve got the weekend off...

Is the clutch pedal solid/unable to press down?
If it is the fluid out the box is oil.
With engine off can you engage any gears & get drive?
If no,this may mean drive clutch plate

remove the transfer box to make the gearbox easier to handle

Hicap phill said:

Is the clutch pedal solid/unable to press down?
If it is the fluid out the box is oil.
With engine off can you engage any gears & get drive?
If no,this may mean drive clutch plate

remove the transfer box to make the gearbox easier to handle

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The clutch peddle feels completely normal and I can select all gear with the engine off and engine running. Not making any funny noises just no drive. The oil drip is out of the bell housing drain hole. I’m fairly sure it wasn’t there before as I’ve been underneath it a lot in the last few months doing various things.

Half way through taking the engine out. Could it be that some in the gear box has gone to mean it’s stuck in neutral? Just a thought, it selects all gears fine which I guess makes this unlikely but I can’t remember if I checked if it worked in reverse.

Yea the clutch plate centre gone will make it feel like neutral. Oil in bell housing can be from engine or gearbox.

If it’s black it’s engine if it’s (****ty red) it’s gearbox ,

Have you check the hi/lo linkage? mine likes to spit itself out of hi every now and then, think detent is weak.

Hope payydg has checked the hi low coz his engine is on the way out.

What seemed like an oil leak out of bell housing seems to have disappeared.

I haven’t actually had a look at the linkage that’s a good point but it feels like it’s going from hi to low on the gear stick not visualised the mechanism. May do that tomorrow before going any further...

tottot said:

Yea the clutch plate centre gone will make it feel like neutral. Oil in bell housing can be from engine or gearbox.

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What exactly fails when this happens. It’s a bit annoying as I changed the clutch probably only 5k ago

The splined bit in the middle comes loose from the metal part of the drive plate that has the friction plate on it.

tottot said:

The splined bit in the middle comes loose from the metal part of the drive plate that has the friction plate on it.

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Ok gotcha