Pulling Away In Second Gear?

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andy vash

Active Member
Posts
106
I have a 2.2 Defender and when l pull away in first gear l get clunking slightly juddering. It doesn’t help that my main car is an automatic and lm forgetting how to drive a manual. However, l can easily and smoothly pull away in second gear with no juddering etc. Will this cause damage to the gear box?
 
Puma’s are jerky. You need to be smooth on the controls and even then it is hard. But it should be possible to use 1st.

As for pulling away in 2nd. Should be fine bar a bit of clutch slippage. That said, the Puma’s I’ve driven do not like pulling away in 2nd very much.
 
First gear is very low, suitable for setting off with a heavy tow I guess. Just a matter of getting the tecnique right when setting off without a tow. When I first got mine it took some getting used to, so in the early days I pulled away in second. Soon learned to set off in first, not too much revs, and almost as soon as the clutch is fully released, slip into second for the perfect getaway.
 
If there's a clunking you've got play somewhere.
Check your rear driveshafts at the outer ends (front ones are usually okay due to oil leaking out to them from the front axle but you can have a look)

Take off the rear wheels you'll see what's called the "drive member" in the centre of the axle, remove the five bolts and you'll most likely find the sliding joint is full of brown powder.

Fit two new drive members and don't forget the paper gasket. The driveshafts are usually okay.

Its surprising how much better a Defender drives when worn drive members are replaced. They are under £25 each. Transform the vehicle for £100

www.famousfour.co.uk

Driving Member for Land Rover 90/110 & Defender (L316)

Famous Four Products are Independent Land Rover Specialists based in Lincolnshire, UK. We provide Genuine and Aftermarket Land Rover Parts and Accessories, Service, Repair and Restoration. Order Online, by email to [email protected] or phone on +44 (0)1507 609444
www.famousfour.co.uk
 
Do the Puma's have 1 piece rear driveshafts?
I had a bit of a clunk on my TD5 and it was drivers side front drive member.
I set off in first but then you immediately have to change into 2nd.
 
lightning said:
If there's a clunking you've got play somewhere.
Check your rear driveshafts at the outer ends (front ones are usually okay due to oil leaking out to them from the front axle but you can have a look)

Take off the rear wheels you'll see what's called the "drive member" in the centre of the axle, remove the five bolts and you'll most likely find the sliding joint is full of brown powder.

Fit two new drive members and don't forget the paper gasket. The driveshafts are usually okay.

Its surprising how much better a Defender drives when worn drive members are replaced. They are under £25 each. Transform the vehicle for £100

www.famousfour.co.uk

Driving Member for Land Rover 90/110 & Defender (L316)

Famous Four Products are Independent Land Rover Specialists based in Lincolnshire, UK. We provide Genuine and Aftermarket Land Rover Parts and Accessories, Service, Repair and Restoration. Order Online, by email to [email protected] or phone on +44 (0)1507 609444
www.famousfour.co.uk
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It may have an issue, although clunks would likely be heard in other gears and just coming on/off the throttle.

The Puma is very jerky to drive and worse in the lower gears and pulling away. It is very easy to make them 'clunk' even when new and all parts 100%.

My Uncle has 2 Puma's as 12 plate and a 65 plate. Both owned from new and both pretty low mileage (about 16k miles on each). Pulling away slowly in 1st is doable smoothly, but there is no way you pull away quickly and do a fast shift into 2nd. Not like you can with a Td5 or earlier Defender. Really hard to explain this in writing, but would be ever so easy to demonstrate in person.
 
andy vash said:
I have a 2.2 Defender and when l pull away in first gear l get clunking slightly juddering. It doesn’t help that my main car is an automatic and lm forgetting how to drive a manual. However, l can easily and smoothly pull away in second gear with no juddering etc. Will this cause damage to the gear box?
Click to expand...
Probably won't cause much damage, but maybe better to use first.

That isn't a particularly torquey engine by Land Rover standards, it was fitted with DMF in Transits, but isn't in Defenders.
Probably a good thing, the DMFs were trouble too.
 
Turboman said:
Probably won't cause much damage, but maybe better to use first.

That isn't a particularly torquey engine by Land Rover standards, it was fitted with DMF in Transits, but isn't in Defenders.
Probably a good thing, the DMFs were trouble too.
Click to expand...
I think the Puma engine has the most torque of any factory engine fitted to the Defender models. Let me check some figures.


EDIT:

A quick Google says 266lb-ft @ 2000rpm for a stock Puma engine. Not as much as I thought. But to give some comparison:

Tdi - 195lb-ft
Td5 - 221lb-ft
3.9 V8 - 231lb-ft

Worth noting that a remapped Puma will be about 360lb-ft of torque.
 
Last edited:
l believe you can remap a Puma and make it smoother to drive, as well as more power.

The Ford engine has something called "throttle hang" which is supposed to
assist but makes smooth gear changes difficult. This l am told can be mapped out.
 
The throttle hang is (I believe) to assist with heavy towing. A job the defender is particularly good at. Smooth gear changes come with a slow shift between gears - about half the shift speed of an ordinary car. Never seen the need for more power in a landy, the Puma has a 90mph speed limiter programmed in, I've tried it at 90 and believe me its fast enough when you've got the aerodynamics if a brick. If I needed "power" I'd have a sports car, what I want and have got is plenty of torque (capacity to do work) and low down tractability.
 
Wimblowdriver said:
The throttle hang is (I believe) to assist with heavy towing. A job the defender is particularly good at. Smooth gear changes come with a slow shift between gears - about half the shift speed of an ordinary car. Never seen the need for more power in a landy, the Puma has a 90mph speed limiter programmed in, I've tried it at 90 and believe me its fast enough when you've got the aerodynamics if a brick. If I needed "power" I'd have a sports car, what I want and have got is plenty of torque (capacity to do work) and low down tractability.
Click to expand...
Good job we aren't all the same. No idea why you think the aero dynamics of a brick have to do with running at 90mph either. Reckon you might need to take a peak outside once in a while, its big diverse place beyond the front gate.
 
300bhp/ton said:
I think the Puma engine has the most torque of any factory engine fitted to the Defender models. Let me check some figures.


EDIT:

A quick Google says 266lb-ft @ 2000rpm for a stock Puma engine. Not as much as I thought. But to give some comparison:

Tdi - 195lb-ft
Td5 - 221lb-ft
3.9 V8 - 231lb-ft

Worth noting that a remapped Puma will be about 360lb-ft of torque.
Click to expand...
Produced at higher revs than older engines, though, and it is a much higher revving engine.
Perkins diesel in my old 109" produced about 150ft lbs, and the torque curve was almost flat.
You didn't need to rev it up to pull away in that! :D
 
Turboman said:
Produced at higher revs than older engines, though, and it is a much higher revving engine.
Perkins diesel in my old 109" produced about 150ft lbs, and the torque curve was almost flat.
You didn't need to rev it up to pull away in that! :D
Click to expand...
lol, but no.

The Td5 Peak Torque is 1950rpm, so only 50rpm lower. Hardly anything a driver could notice.

The Tdi is something like 2200rpm and the V8 3000rpm. And I'm willing to bet the Puma makes the flattest torque curve of the lot as that is how modern engines are designed.
 
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