Should there be a hole here?

Has this hole been added or is it factory? It looks like it has been added by an ape at some point.
Picture is of bell housing on a TD5 Defender y ear 2000.

I took out the wading plug to check for debris and noticed this hole. Having been wading in a river and being stuck in runny mud has probably done wonders for the clutch.

I have been getting a shudder when accelerating at around 40-60 kmph...could there be some crud on the clutch causing it to be unbalanced? I have replaced front left swivel and hub, replaced steering rod, drag link, steering drop arm, panhard rod bushed...(everything I can think of)...so it can´t be anything steering related.

Cheers

TD5 D2 has the same hole.

Cheers

mikerajjers said:

Has this hole been added or is it factory? It looks like it has been added by an ape at some point.
Picture is of bell housing on a TD5 Defender y ear 2000.

I took out the wading plug to check for debris and noticed this hole. Having been wading in a river and being stuck in runny mud has probably done wonders for the clutch.

I have been getting a shudder when accelerating at around 40-60 kmph...could there be some crud on the clutch causing it to be unbalanced? I have replaced front left swivel and hub, replaced steering rod, drag link, steering drop arm, panhard rod bushed...(everything I can think of)...so it can´t be anything steering related.

CheersView attachment 146053

Click to expand...

It should be there but it looks like someone has had a prybar in it at some point hence the rough edges/out of shape appearance.

Both my old 90 and current 110 have it

Does it need to be plugged in some way before wading?

Does anyone still stick a clean water hose up the hole after they've been wading to wash out all the crap, or is it just us old gimmers wot does that??