Gearbox Help and Engine ideas

Hi guys

Recently me series gear box went. it is a series 3 gears box (suffix D) and suddenly there was a big clunk, and now reverse will not work , just a god awful grinding and clunking, however gears 1 - 4 in both high and low range work.

I am considering buying a recon gearbox rather than a rebuild, looking at about £500 for the reconned unit on an exchange basis from David Beaumont in Halifax can any one give any feedback on him or recommend others? I have tried midland transmissions and they are too busy for gear box recons at the moment.

The reason for not rebuilding is time, and all the syncros seems very warn with grinding between gears.couple of garages said it is worth the replacement.

I am hoping the gearbox swap goes okay ill post any problems I have. Whilst it is out should I replace the clutch, I do not know when it was done and it does feel a like it is starting to slip when towing and pulling away with a trailer. Should I replace it whilst the gearbox is out? and should I use the genuine land rover part or is OEM okay (NOT SH** PART) and should the whole system be replaced or just the friction plate.

Just a note , this is on a range rover chassis with a ford transit engine, should a 200tdi engine drop in? as in are the mounts similar from the transit to the 200tdi engine? really looking to do this as the ford transit engine is so slow and very loud. My plan is to buy a disco and remove the body and swap over the engines, make a farm vehicle or something from the disco chassis.



sorry to type so much but any help much appreciated. I am planning on getting photos of the whole ordeal, in-case anyone else is in the same scenario.


on a side note, quotes from garages fromeg from £1700 to £2500 ..... seemed to think 14 hours labor was not enough to get the job done. The seemed a bit embarassed when I told them it was a 3 out of 5 spanner job in the Haynes manual haha!!

cheers. (photos to come!!)

Recon go to AW transmissions Coventry

Yes always replace the clutch when replacing a gearbox or when taking it out because theres no point putting in a new box with an old clutch, replace spigot too

200tdi needs new engine mounts welding onto the chassis, these can be bought from Richards chassis £36 inc postage and VAT or £20 no VAT if you walk in through the door, they're somewhere in yorkshire

£1700-£2500 is a stupid price……

Should take about a working day to complete or less depending on how easy you make it for them. You want to make it easier drop it off and remove the seatbox, floor panels, prop shafts and make a start on the bellhousing bolts leave them finger tight but take out the top one as its a pig

means all they need to do is take out the box and fit the new one in

AW seems a tad expensive. Friends have recommended David Beaumont to me, he is about half the price too , which is also attractive.

I would have no problem doing it myself, just that it had to be brought home on an AA truck, so they took it to local garage.

Interesting about the mounts needing welding. Think I will get someone to do it as I wouldn't trust my welds to much.

My R380 box is AW and I've got no complaints but if you want to use that guy then use him

Tow it home to yours and do it, you'll need a hoist as the box weighs in at about 130kg I think, you can lift it in and out by yourself without a hoist but…. lining it up and holding it in position needs a hoist

Well you need new mounts if you've put in the wrong engine in the first place and weldings the only way to go, put gearbox in, mate it to engine with engine on hoist and then weld the mounts onto the chassis while they're on the engine

Thanks for the advise, think engine swap will be done at a later date once I know gearbox is working fine.


I have an engine hoist and a tractor with a loader so i'll be able to move the box about no problem.

Just my thoughts, Ashcroft transmissions stopped doing series boxes because they deem most to be to far gone now to rebuild to a good standard.
You may end up with a rebuilt box that is not as good as you want at whatever cost.

Would it be would putting a Discovery gear box and engine in it? , I mean it will probably be the same cost if not cheaper.

Is it an 88 or a 109 if its an 88 check my king cab thread because I'd advise against it…….I've got one in mine and unless you want to do a bit of modifications you'd be better fitting a defender short LT77 or short R380 box

Dr_evil said:

Is it an 88 or a 109 if its an 88 check my king cab thread because I'd advise against it…….I've got one in mine and unless you want to do a bit of modifications you'd be better fitting a defender short LT77 or short R380 box

Click to expand...

it is on a cut down 90 inch range rover classic chassis, if that helps?

so its an 88 because if it was a 90 the body wouldn't quite fit in which case check my thread, there is a way round wide angle props by keeping the box lower in the chassis rails but I wanted to raise everything up for a few different reasons

So looks like I need to get the defender LT77 gearbox with the short bell housing the bolt on the series transfer case or the disco one depending on what is best . Hoping this isnt too much of a night mare haha

You can get a short R380 which is better but the LT77 is far cheaper, the adaptor for a series transfer case onto 5 speed box is £360……

UJ's in the front half shafts may give up but they're a standard size so easy to replace rathe than the whole shaft

Have axles from a Disco in anyway so they will handle it. seen a couple of short lt 77 gear boxes , I can sell the disco one to cover part of the cost too.

Cheers for the Advice!!

could always rebuild the disco one as a defender spec one if you wanted to make sure the box was good, new bellhousing, input shaft and selector mechanism

Yeah that is a good point, although unfortunately I am up against it with time, I am off to Australia soon , so I think buying one might be quick due to little experience of gear boxes

You planning on buying recon ? If not don't bother with ashcrofts go to AW transmissions or message Jamesmartin on here, he'll probably have one knocking about

no just buying one straight out of a 90 , can always rebuild at a later date.


looking forward to having some more power now!

Collected the defender gearbox with the short bell housing, will bet it cleaned up change fluids and fit onto the transit engine for now. can always get the 200tdi in at a later date.

Need to modify tunnel too, how are you planning to get round the transfer box issue ? Lt230 or series 5 speed plate ?

Buying a disco of someone from here. the tunnel will just be cut, or maybe I will get one from a defend. It is just a work horse. Got the transit engine out today, wonder if I someone will be silly enough to buy it

using the LT230 from the defender, can always try the disco one, see which has a better ratio.


Need to sort propshafts and mounts for gearbox. plan is to cut them off the off the disco or unbolt them not sure how they set up for the lt77 and 200tdi. the get the engine out the disco and into the frankenstein! I rekon it is 12 hours work yet, just have to go and pick up the disco from the other side of the country.