Series 3 Vibrations.. but improved with handbrake on.

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FRAJ

FRAJ

Member
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42
Location
UK
After having some work done, I am getting vibrations that weren't as bad before, but they reduce significantly when I pull the handbrake on. Does anyone know why the handbrake on could reduce vibration? (In neutral, parked up). I'll try to add a link to a video later.
The long bit:
I've had a nightmare few months ownership, as I've just collected it from having a re-con gearbox fitted at great expense. Having that done we realised that although it is an early series 3 it has a 2A 'box in it ( I thought it was a 3 box with knackered synchro!). The new box is also a 2A (3 wouldn't have fitted). To fit it they have cut out one of the cross members and re-welded, so I am thinking that it could have gone back in a slightly different position and if you see the pic, the rubber mount is very strained and the bracket must be touching the cross member which won't help. To be fair, the mount looked like that before the work. I can't explain why the handbrake affects the vibration though.
Oh, and it has a Perkins 4.203.
 

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You have metal to metal contact between the engine gearbox unit and the cross member. When you pull on the handbrake you move the whole engine gearbox unit forward, this may break the metal to metal contact. New gearbox mounts at the very least.
 
Series 2a and series 3 gear box's are interchangeable, it is only the feed to the clutch slave which is in a different place and needs to be changed.
Some garage you have cutting off the crossmember to change the box. At least they could have put it back as a removable one. New gearbox rubber mounts [ should have been done at the time] may sort it. If not chop it off again and fit a demountable one in the right place.
 
You have my sympathy, it's a bugger when you buy a series with the expectation that it will be good for a while. I had similar when I bought mine, it causes you to regret ever buying it. Don't despair though, after a while they reward you by pizzing oil all over your drive and refusing to start, then, when they do start, they break down in the worst possible location. It takes a person of good mental strength to own a series landy, well, any landy actually. After the first or second passing stranger says "nice landy mate" it will all seem worthwhile.

Col
 
I have ordered some mounts and I'll go from there. I am only worried that there is some misalignment and I might find it hard to fit the new one. Thanks for all the comments, it helps ease the pain as well as pointing me in the right direction. I am a bit surprised they didn't change the mounts at the time, they did plenty of other stuff....
 
What are the engine mounts like, really bad ones can have all sorts of consequences for the lining up of the transmission.

Col
 
Also worth while fitting the gearbox tie bar, military style. It reduces the front-back lurch.

But second the prop shaft UJs, most likely culprit.

And, is the output flange on tight?
 
So it is! I didn't open the photo. Slow connection, earlier.
It's very lazy to cut the chassis, they should have checked with the owner first, and offered to military style the crossmember, so it can be removed again.
 
Right, as a test I have added some "precision shims" under the dodgy 'box mount and it has made the world of difference (relatively) and feels less violent when it shutsdown. So it looks like the handbrake tension was just enough to put a little bit of clearance between the two parts as Citizen Kane mentioned. I have new mounts on their way next week. I wish the mechanic had just swapped it out there and then and added it to the long list.
Now my wife has just come back from a dog walk with an oily bolt in her hands that she picked up off the road outside "is this off your land rover?" Jesus...
 
I think this is also a warning to those who use "mechanics" to fix a series. There are experts who take care and the engine and gearbox specialists are probably in that group, but there are a lot of stories on here of series coming back from garages with some very poor work. Whether its because they are seen as old and it "it doesn't matter" or they take the view that a series owner who gets jobs done at a garage is easy to exploit, who knows. That engine mount and set up should never have left the workshop. The only way to be sure is to learn and do what you can yourself. Buy specialist skills ; welding, tune up, but for most jobs anyone capable of driving a series is almost certainly capable of fixing it. If you really can't fix a series then build a relastionship with a local home mechanic who will get your repeat buisess and get them to show you what they do. I use a home mech for heavy jobs (engine or gearbox swaps) and work as his assistant. I suspect it costs me more because we take longer than if he was on his own (he's too polite to say) but we both enjoy it.
 
I often use a garage to do work I can't be arsed with but when I take the car in, I make a point of explaining the fault and discussing the various options. That way, they know that I know what's what and are less likely to try to rip me off. It only takes a few minutes with Google or YouTube to learn a lot about the problem and how others have tackled it.

Col
 
I'll try most stuff, but gearboxes are more than I want to get into. I won't mention the name of the garage here, as I bet some members will be very familiar with them. They are a many decades established land rover specialist, and only do series and defender land rovers. I will ask them about the mount, and the oily bolt my wife found. I knew that must be off the landie as no one else on my road has the sort of car that bits fall off. It turns out it is one of the studs that secures the bell housing. Jeeesus.
 
Bolt makes sense if the box has been hitting the chassis its put an extra load on the bell housing bolts. Fingers crossed its undone not pulled out.
 
Thank guys. I took it back in to the garage out of principle and it turns out the one that fell out was stripped - it is onto a a conversion plate (perkins) which is aluminium. Don't think it is to do with hitting the chassis, as that would strain the bolts at the bottom and this was at the top. It could well have been damaged before , and there was a mix of threads being used and forced together apparently. It is even more of a bitsa landie than I ever thought when I bought it. Hey ho
 
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