Gearbox. Anything worth saving.

I'm in the process of striping a gearbox I brought some time ago. Its a series 3 suffix D box with no known history. So it could be from,

1- A Land Rover that was parked up 30 years ago in perfect working order, only 30K miles on the clock, the owner lost the keys and just left it around the back forgotten and unloved until the chassis and bulkhead rotted away leaving a gearbox in need of a quick oil change and pressure wash.

2- A Land Rover with a slightly rumble from the box and the occasional sticky change into 2nd gear that simply needs new bearings and syncro rings.

3- A Land Rover that spent its final years being driven hard off road picking up all sorts of nasty gearbox problems until finally giving up completely.

I leave it to you to decide what I have purchased but its not number 1


1st / 2nd synchro hub. Quite a bit of damage on the leading edges.




3rd / 4th synchro hub. Wear on the baulk rings. Dogs not brilliant.



Ist gear. A few chips in the dogs.



2nd gear. Missing dogs.



Reverse on lay shaft pitted.

So, is it worth rebuilding. The synchro hubs are the expensive bits, could I get away with these and replace most of the gears.

you need a layshaft 1st and 2nd gear 2x new baulk rings,did you mark synchro hub before separating the 2 halfs

Didn't mark the rotational position of the hub before separating, is that important?

Can I replace the baulk rings on the 3rd / 4th gear hub, thought it only came a one unit.

So far the only part I think I could get away with keeping it 3rd gear.

Citizen Kane said:

Didn't mark the rotational position of the hub before separating, is that important?

Can I replace the baulk rings on the 3rd / 4th gear hub, thought it only came a one unit.

So far the only part I think I could get away with keeping it 3rd gear.

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it can be the 2 pieces are matched together
no its just comes as a unit,

James, if it was yours would quietly park it in a hedge and look for a better box as a base for a rebuild, a quick look would suggest I could get a recon for not a lot more than the cost of the parts required.

Citizen Kane said:

James, if it was yours would quietly park it in a hedge and look for a better box as a base for a rebuild, a quick look would suggest I could get a recon for not a lot more than the cost of the parts required.

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no id buy the parts and bearings and rebuild it they are nearly all the same whether working well or not, parts shouldnt be that dear

One day I am going to buy a gearbox. just to see if I can get my head around it. I may need a warlock behind me like Mr Martin with a pointy stick to prod me in the right direction.

jamesmartin said:

you need a layshaft 1st and 2nd gear 2x new baulk rings,did you mark synchro hub before separating the 2 halfs

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I'm not sure about 1st.... it's probably just my knackered eyesight - but 2nd isn't very well at all ( as in .... its toast ).

jamesmartin said:

no id buy the parts and bearings and rebuild it they are nearly all the same whether working well or not, parts shouldnt be that dear

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As above, I think if you wait for a "better" box to come along, you might wait a while.... possibly quite a while

What about the mainshaft.


Noticeable wear on the splines and witness marks from the 1st gear bush, I'm guessing that this has been run with a loose mainshaft nut, salvageable?

When it come to purchasing gears, synchro hubs and shafts I'm guessing they all come out of the same factory, cant be many people making Series gearbox parts. shop4autoparts.net seem to have most of what I require at sensible prices, anyone any experience with the quality of the parts they suppy.

I'm leaning towards replacing everything that turns, parts just for the main box will be close to £500.

Citizen Kane said:

shop4autoparts.net seem to have most of what I require at sensible prices, anyone any experience with the quality of the parts they supply.

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They've supplied everything for my project and have been extremely good on all counts.

I've decided to go ahead and rebuild this suffix D box with all new internals. Could I bolt this suffix D gearbox up to my existing suffix B transfer box. I notice in the parts book that there are two different transfer case castings with the change over happening from gearbox number 36117572D, my suffix D box has the number 36100150D.