Strange clutch noise

Hi all, I hope someone can help me work out what's going wrong.

In the summer I replaced my old LT77 with a short R380 from Ashcrofts. At the time I replaced the clutch and reinforced fork. The release bearing was also replaced with the shorter version supplied with the gearbox. All seemed fine at the time.

Jumping forward a few months and I'm getting a strange rubbing or grinding noise when the accelerating. The noise goes if I press the clutch peddle in or when I lift my foot of the accelerator. I've tried to capture the noise in this video.

I've crawled underneath and looked for play in the props but they seem OK. I'm guessing if it was that it would happen whatever I do with the clutch.

Any suggestions welcome as I'd really like to be able to move on from my years of gearbox issues and maybe get started on the tatty bodywork.

Have you checked the oil levels in both gearboxes and diffs for a start? Next might be to drop the oils to see if there is any debris in them

I would say clutch release bearing, try doing a search plenty of write-ups to compare your symptoms to

Kwakerman said:

Have you checked the oil levels in both gearboxes and diffs for a start? Next might be to drop the oils to see if there is any debris in them

Click to expand...

+1 good advice

Marmaduke said:

I would say clutch release bearing, try doing a search plenty of write-ups to compare your symptoms to

Click to expand...

I've searched loads. Clutch Release bearing was my first thought but isn't that normally when you put your foot on the clutch?

Kwakerman said:

Have you checked the oil levels in both gearboxes and diffs for a start? Next might be to drop the oils to see if there is any debris in them

Click to expand...

I think I'd best get a good 'delivery' system to make sure I have it at the right levels.

Kev@kenninghall said:

I've searched loads. Clutch Release bearing was my first thought but isn't that normally when you put your foot on the clutch?

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No it stops when you depress the clutch pedal

Do you get any noise when the vehicle is stationary with the pedal either depressed or not?

Marmaduke said:

Do you get any noise when the vehicle is stationary with the pedal either depressed or not?

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No, only when in gear and foot off.

ah, not the release bearing then. I'd be going with checking for lumpy fluids to start with.

Good luck...

OK, so a bit of investigation has found the probable cause.

I decided rather than just check the fluid levels I'd change the oil. Trouble is, there is none to change in the transfer box All that came out after removing the filler and drain plugs was about a shot glass full of mucky water!

So, oh transmission gurus out there, is there anything I should do before refilling the transfer box to see if I've completely buggered it?

So, replaced the oil in transfer box and took it for a test spin. I think it's broken with a capital 'F'

Still a bit noisy but I guess that's to be expected if I've subjected it to that much wear. This morning I couldn't get it out of high range but have now managed to get it into neutral after a run around. With it in neutral there's no horrible sounds going through the gears so I think the clutch and gearbox are fine.

Now that the transfer box is full it's peeing oil out from all sorts of places, guess I know where that was going then.

Any recommendations for recon transfer boxes?