Gearbox bearings and seals

GrumpyGel said:

G'day, welcome to LZ.

I'm sure there will be kits out there, such as this...

https://www.eliseparts.com/shop/gearbox-drivetrain/pg1-gearbox-bearing-and-seal-rebuild-kit/

The gearbox is called a 'PG1', and it used with a couple of Rover engines - eg K Series, T Series (as used in the Rover 220 Coupe) and L Series Diesel (as used in my Freelander).

There are quite a few variants of the PG1 that have different internal components. For example, L and T Series boxes have some 'uprated' components over the K Series boxes - but I'm not sure what these are and which would be included in a rebuild kit. The Elise kit listed above is for a 2WD, so has the diff built into the gearbox, where as our 4WD Freelander boxes have just a final drive which outputs to the IRD - this could very well mean different bearings etc.

That link came from a quick google, you might find more options googling 'pg1 gearbox rebuild kit' - or summat like that.

You will likely find most suppliers are in the UK. This is not a problem. Most (Land Rover at least) parts companies are very familiar with shipping overseas. Make sure you don't pay the VAT part of the price, as you may have to pay import duty here. When I buy stuff, its generally shipped by a courier, such as DHL, and gets here in a week. The courier fees are obviously not cheap, but even after adding the courier costs, parts are usually a lot cheaper than trying to buy them in NZ.

When my IRD imploded on itself, I got an IRD rebuild kit (bearings and seals) shipped over from these people...

https://www.onestopgearboxshop.com/

It was under $300 including shipping and its still running fine 10 years later. I'd be on their website and if they don't list a rebuild kit for the PG1, I'd drop them an email and ask if they do 1 or can put 1 together.

Good luck, hope you can find something. Someone else on here might be able to point to directly at a kit.

If you have any questions about a kit, fitting it or anything to do with your Freelander, just put up a post.

Where abouts are you located in this awesome country? I'm in Chch. There are other LZ members scattered around the country who are regular or irregular visitors to the forum.

Oh, and by the way, your car doesn't really exist unless you post a pic of it. The forum is currently making that difficult to achieve as the pic upload function is broke (it is a Land Rover site, so probably rusted out). You have to load the pic in something, copy it and then paste it into a LZ post.

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Nodge68 said:

If the IRD is coming out, I'd be rebuilding that instead of the gearbox. The PG1 box is very tough, so rebuilds aren't common. The IRD helps here as it reduces the torque the gearbox has to handle, so box life is good. If you have a particular noise or weak synchro you have to sort than strip it down, but if it's fine I'd be leaving it alone.

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nzgrub said:

Thank you for the info, I was just searching "Freelander 1 Gearbox" and was not coming up with anything useful.
I am in Kaeo, Northland so other end of the country.

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GrumpyGel said:

Yeh, can't get much further away from Chch

I work with the lovely people at Kahoe Farms Hostel on the other side of the bay to Kaeo.

With the IRD, if you catch it early it is just the bearings that go. If it is run on failing bearings, then that wears the gears that drive the output pinion to the back axle and that's when you get the big problems.

Dunno if you know much about the transmission on Freelander, and how the IRD and Viscous Coupling Unit work together, but if you are unaware of the importance of matching tyres and a VCU that has not gone to stiff, have a read of this thread...

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/tests-new-freelander-1-owners-should-do-on-their-car.312863/

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