Mixed bag of sh1t, or improved?

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Rorie

Active Member
Posts
641
Hi folks,
Just purchased a 1990 90. Galv chassis and in good nick. Serial number shows 'model year 1989'.

The owner before the last one gave the landy a paint job (original colour), changed the engine to a 300tdi, put in a discovery gearbox and a discovery rear axle. Other than that, there have been no mods at all to the car, so i am hoping the mods have been thought through.

My understanding is that it would of had a 2.5l engine, so the 300tdi is an upgrade
Would of had an lt77 gearbox, so the discovery one is better for higher speeds and would have been put in to tie in with the 300tdi
Disco rear axle gives disc breaks, replacing the hubs.

I have a leak in my transfer box so sending it up to guy that only deals with transmissions. While explaining the cars history to him, he's scared me a bit. He suggested that an R380 gearbox (assuming that as reverse is below 5th) has a longer shaft than the LT77, so this could have screwed things up as i believe its an original transfer box. Also, the rear axle could cause all sorts of issues if the tooth count doesnt match up perfectly.

So; I've heard of these 'upgrades' before, but are they well understood? Is there a certain combination/ era of donor car that allows an easy upgrade, or are these upgrades bad news and potentially bodged repairs?

I was told they were done professionally, and as the car hasn't had any other tinkering... at all.... i am hoping this is the case and it was purely a performance upgrade rather than a 'lets see what happens...'

Thanks
 
It's all straight forward stuff and been done hundreds of times. The 380 gearbox is available in short and long versions
Defender has the short, disco has the long shaft.
The short is hopefully what you have cos it makes everything factory as such.
Transfers all fit but the disco one has higher ratios .
You could have either they both fit fine.
Axles are the same, there will be no problem there.
It's all good, stop worrying.
 
Don't believe all doom and gloom ! Chances are if its had a disco gearbox its got a disco transfer box, rear axle should be 24 spline better matched up to a matching front ( yours should be 10) but should not be a problem.
Just drive it and enjoy it !
 
Flossie said:
The 380 gearbox is available in short and long versions
Defender has the short, disco has the long shaft.
Click to expand...

He does say that it has a Disco gearbox..whether this is the case or not , all depends on position and mods done to make it fit, if any.
But then if all is working well I do not see a problem. ( was there not a thread about this recently...LOL )

As for diffs. If it is really a concern, you can always jack it up spin the prop and count wheel revolutions.

But , again , I suspect you are going to be OK.

BTW, we want photos.

Cheers
 
neilly said:
He does say that it has a Disco gearbox..whether this is the case or not , all depends on position and mods done to make it fit, if any.
But then if all is working well I do not see a problem. ( was there not a thread about this recently...LOL )

As for diffs. If it is really a concern, you can always jack it up spin the prop and count wheel revolutions.

But , again , I suspect you are going to be OK.

BTW, we want photos.

Cheers
Click to expand...
Oh yeah! Read the post too quick and didn't spot the disco box bit or the disco axle either!
It may have the disco front axle too so splines will be the same.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I'm pleased to hear reassurance!

So to check my splines, how to i relate the wheel revolutions to the gearing? Foxyred, what do you mean mine should be 10?

Should i expect to have the same number of revolutions on front and back axle?

Going to put the landy up the road tomorrow, but at least i can relax a little now. I'm sure he'll tell me whats what when he has a look.
 
oh, and am i right in my understanding for the reasons for upgrading? Or is it not as simple as i'm making it?
 
The half shafts have the different splines. Look under the dust caps in the centre of each hub.
Wheel rotation is to determine how many teeth are on each diff. Yours is correct but the splines may be different.
 
Rorie said:
Hi folks,
Just purchased a 1990 90. Galv chassis and in good nick. Serial number shows 'model year 1989'.

The owner before the last one gave the landy a paint job (original colour), changed the engine to a 300tdi, put in a discovery gearbox and a discovery rear axle. Other than that, there have been no mods at all to the car, so i am hoping the mods have been thought through.

My understanding is that it would of had a 2.5l engine, so the 300tdi is an upgrade
Would of had an lt77 gearbox, so the discovery one is better for higher speeds and would have been put in to tie in with the 300tdi
Disco rear axle gives disc breaks, replacing the hubs.

I have a leak in my transfer box so sending it up to guy that only deals with transmissions. While explaining the cars history to him, he's scared me a bit. He suggested that an R380 gearbox (assuming that as reverse is below 5th) has a longer shaft than the LT77, so this could have screwed things up as i believe its an original transfer box. Also, the rear axle could cause all sorts of issues if the tooth count doesnt match up perfectly.

So; I've heard of these 'upgrades' before, but are they well understood? Is there a certain combination/ era of donor car that allows an easy upgrade, or are these upgrades bad news and potentially bodged repairs?

I was told they were done professionally, and as the car hasn't had any other tinkering... at all.... i am hoping this is the case and it was purely a performance upgrade rather than a 'lets see what happens...'

Thanks
Click to expand...
Your transmission guy sounds like he doesn't know about these at all!

I won't go into it too much as it's a lot to type but basically speaking the Disco axle you will have is a direct replacement, the ratios were the same, so no issues there. The shaft length issue on the gearbox wouldn't screw anything up, it can just change the positions of things.

There are lots of variations of these upgrades so saying anything for sure would be daft. For example I have a 1990 90 with a 300tdi in the original engine position, mated to a short shaft R380 - this was a military spec as the MOD used them to upgrade the weaker LT77's to the R380 as a direct replacement, so it was made to be the same length with a special bell-housing as the LT77. But on the face of it, people could jump to many conclusions about how my Defender was converted to a 300tdi/R380.
 
We have just covered this in a thread I started, R380 gearbox disco and defender are the same length, bellhousing included. The shaft length difference is the selector shaft, this would mean that the gearstick and diff lock level would come up where the middle seat would normally sit, if your gearstick and diff lever come up infront of the middle seat then it either has a defender selector shaft in it or it has the Ashcroft adapter with a defender top housing, either way it works for you so don't worry.
As other have stated 10 splines were earlier and 24 shafts came later, At the minute I run 10 spline front axles and 24 rear, the ratio is something like 3.54 so don't worry.
 
IamRobbie said:
We have just covered this in a thread I started, R380 gearbox disco and defender are the same length, bellhousing included. The shaft length difference is the selector shaft, this would mean that the gearstick and diff lock level would come up where the middle seat would normally sit, if your gearstick and diff lever come up infront of the middle seat then it either has a defender selector shaft in it or it has the Ashcroft adapter with a defender top housing, either way it works for you so don't worry.
As other have stated 10 splines were earlier and 24 shafts came later, At the minute I run 10 spline front axles and 24 rear, the ratio is something like 3.54 so don't worry.
Click to expand...

Not sure if part of this was in reply to my post or not, but my scenario is not the same. I have the R380 shortshaft (input shaft) gearbox. The wrong terminology is being banded about here, the R380 Disco/Defender variants are commonly called short stick/long stick. If you called Ashcroft asking for an R380 shortshaft you would not get a Disco variant of the R380 - you would get a shortshaft box.

I am just posting this as I cannot be sure if you were generally commenting on the thread or my post - I was adding in another situation that can arise, as most people would incorrectly guess at how I have converted my 1990 90 to a 300tdi R380.
 
discomania said:
Not sure if part of this was in reply to my post or not, but my scenario is not the same. I have the R380 shortshaft (input shaft) gearbox. The wrong terminology is being banded about here, the R380 Disco/Defender variants are commonly called short stick/long stick. If you called Ashcroft asking for an R380 shortshaft you would not get a Disco variant of the R380 - you would get a shortshaft box.

I am just posting this as I cannot be sure if you were generally commenting on the thread or my post - I was adding in another situation that can arise, as most people would incorrectly guess at how I have converted my 1990 90 to a 300tdi R380.
Click to expand...
I was just adding my 10 pence worth mate, not adding to yours. although now speaking about yours how did you go about it? You say in the original position? Did you get a r380 stumpy as I thought they were for 200tdis? I have a 90 ive just brought with lt77 and def 200tdi that I plan to get a galv 300 chassis from RC and drop a short stick (disco box) in it with the Ashcroft adaptor and top housing.
 
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