P38A Preparing to swap transmission

Sitting in my garage currently is a reportedly good ZF transmission, ready to swap on to my 1999 2.5 DSE.

Are there any tips from anyone who has done this, or prep I should do up front? I'll be swapping out on the driveway, so will be up on axle stands with some breeze blocks under the chassis rails for backup.

I plan to knock up a cradle of sorts for one of my trolley jacks, but open to the idea of buying a transmission jack for the job... either scissor or trolley type (as I'm not getting any younger, and these things aren't getting any lighter!)

Any tips gratefully received, will probably do the job one weekend soon.

Endeleus said:

Sitting in my garage currently is a reportedly good ZF transmission, ready to swap on to my 1999 2.5 DSE.

Are there any tips from anyone who has done this, or prep I should do up front? I'll be swapping out on the driveway, so will be up on axle stands with some breeze blocks under the chassis rails for backup.

I plan to knock up a cradle of sorts for one of my trolley jacks, but open to the idea of buying a transmission jack for the job... either scissor or trolley type (as I'm not getting any younger, and these things aren't getting any lighter!)

Any tips gratefully received, will probably do the job one weekend soon.

Click to expand...

remove the drain plug and check colour of any remaining oil,dont use breeze blocks thats dangerous use wood blocks, a cut up sleeper makes good blocks,engine crane would be better

Cut up sleeper is a good call.... do you mean using an engine crane to support the transmission? i.e. through the car door and through the hole where the gear selector is? That hadn't crossed my mind until now.

Endeleus said:

Cut up sleeper is a good call.... do you mean using an engine crane to support the transmission? i.e. through the car door and through the hole where the gear selector is? That hadn't crossed my mind until now.

Click to expand...

yes, and you need to wedge/secure torque converter in bell housing till your ready to push up to engine

Remove the transfer box it makes it big and unbalanced.

disconnect the handbrake cable from the lever end and pull cable from underneath car then u dont have to take the drum off.
is the new box a zf22 or zf 24?
if it 24 you may have to change front pump over and bell housing.

Endeleus said:

I plan to knock up a cradle of sorts for one of my trolley jacks, but open to the idea of buying a transmission jack for the job... either scissor or trolley type (as I'm not getting any younger, and these things aren't getting any lighter!)

Click to expand...

I think someone on here (might have been Brian?) used a scissor type motorcycle jack with wood around it to keep it level. That sounded like a good idea to me. I made an adapter to screw in where the cross member went which dropped into the hole on my trolley jack but it was a little wobbly and a PITA to line up to get back in. One of the neighbours sons was in the university rowing club and a big lad and by chance had just come home. Without his help I would have really struggled. Mind you, I did leave the transfer box on.

Yes I used a hydraulic motorcycle lift with a piece of kitchen worktop and a couple of bricks to get support under gearbox end took the weight and just slid box out no lifting required apart from once it was slid out from under the car.

Thanks all - just need a dry weekend to get the job done now.

ovalandrover said:

disconnect the handbrake cable from the lever end and pull cable from underneath car then u dont have to take the drum off.
is the new box a zf22 or zf 24?
if it 24 you may have to change front pump over and bell housing.

Click to expand...

It's a straight swap of a ZF22 for a 22

When you put it back on screw a couple of lengths of threaded rod (or a couple of long bolts with their heads cut off as they will be stronger) into a couple of the holes on the block.
Jack the gearbox up & locate the appropriate bellhousing holes onto these studs. Makes life a lot easier to line things up & slide home.

I took the transfer box off,, and used threaded rods to guide it , not something I hope to do again

Had the box & tb off mine (86 RRC ZF4HP22 & Lt230) a couple of months ago. Studs to refit - no issues but I did make up the LR cradle to connect the gearbox &tb combined to my trolley jack. I'd made it some years ago to deal with a leaking rear crankshaft seal which made itself known not that long after I'd bought it

Had to take the tb off shortly after & made the LR cradle to remove that. Local fabricators cut the steel for me on their press for a small donation to their tea fund & I mig'd it all together.
I used 4 studs (150mm bolts with the heads removed) to remove & replace. LR special tool for the job referred to in the manual is just 3 studs (18G 1425). With the use of both tools refitting was a piece of ****.

The dimensions for the mounting cradles for the Classic are in the LR manual - I have SRR660ENWM which covers those for the ZF4HP22 auto, LT77 manual, LT230T transfer & BW transfer.
The LT230 one is here: http://www.allbrit.de/downloads/BULLETINS/LT230.pdf
I drilled the hole to fit it to my jack in the centre of the baseplate - removed the jack's round cradle & used a big bolt.

I wouldn't fancy taking either off without the proper cradles as they are big heavy unbalanced items. The transmission tunnel on mine & later RRC is welded in so removal with an engine crane isn't really an option.

I've used home-made studs to refit any gearbox I've taken off as they just make life so much easier - and safer - to line input shaft splines up with clutches.