Thread: 110 tray back questions

Hi Nero,
You have found one of the best. It actually has a 120" wheelbase, and was an Australia-only model, modified by Jaguar-Rover Australia.
The engine is the strongest, most reliable and longest lasting that has been put in a Landy from factory. If its a 4 speed, the gearbox is strong, but costly to rebuild. I've had quotes of $2500 to rebuild mine, whilst a second hand one might go for $400 max. If its the 5 speed, it is a little weaker but can be swapped with a later gearbox (R380) using the same bellhousing.

These vehicles tend to get rust around the rear of the chassis and in the firewall. The firewall being the hardest to contend with i'd say, and a lot of it is hard to access/see.

All in all, it is a horrible vehicle and you should give it to me.

Cheers I've been told 2.5k for an exchange box too as a guide 78series tojo exchange box incl transfer case and fitting 7.5k thanks for coming and thats for the HZ1 NA6. we used to nail a couple a year at work across 8 vehicles.

The gearbox is an LT85 5-speed. They were only used in V8 and ISUZU 110s/120s in AU.

Mine was rebuilt by Mal Story from Maxi-Drive (now retired) at the PO's expense for ~$4k!

If and when mine ever dies I will either be swapping to an R380 (the 5 speed used in defenders, discos, etc, etc) or an isuzu 5 or 6 speed.

C_H_T and one or two others on here have the R380 - you modify the LT85 bellhousing to take the R380.

the_Grubb (?) on here is making adaptors so you can fit an isuzu box straight in.

Ashcroft in the UK was selling some NEW LT85s. JamesJ on here has one in his - installed by the PO.

Some people swap to the LT95 4-speed, but I personally would find it hard to live with one.

1987 should have the five speed box.

Given minimal maintenance, and preventing terminal rust, there is no point at which it should be taken out and shot.

As indicated, this is one of the best workhorses ever built.

John

As stated by others, its a reliable workhorse. Rust is by far the biggest concern, in the chassis, firewall and door bottoms (standard for any 110 / Defender).

Originally Posted by isuzurover

Some people swap to the LT95 4-speed, but I personally would find it hard to live with one.

I can only offer anecdotal evidence, but my 4-speed box does not appear to be a problem noise wise.

Dont get me wrong, the noise inside the cabin is deafening, but most appears to be coming from the engine through the firewall and underfloor. So much so that on a recent 10,000km trip my better half and I both wore earplugs for 99% of the trip. The penalty for not wearing them was several hours of ear ringing at the end of the day (sigalong with temporary shift in hearing threshold).

I suspect this is mainly due to my hastily putting it back together before the trip, and:
a.) not sealing the floor panels before putting them back on, and
b.) virtually no insulation between engine bay and cabin - the floormats etc were all cracked and there was no underlay whatsoever.

Dare I say, once I've finished insulating the cabin, I expect it will be much better. The rust I found in my 120 was centered around the firewall footwells (the bottom of each was eaten through) and the gearbox crossmember was toast. Otherwise mine was a neat car. Link to photos as it was and as it is can be found in the link below:

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/camping-tu...ml#post1316955

Cheers

Bojan

Originally Posted by Offender90

I can only offer anecdotal evidence, but my 4-speed box does not appear to be a problem noise wise.

I was not necessarily meaning noise, just the low gearing and slow shifting (not that an LT85 has a race car shift...)

Even with 1.21:1 transfer gears my 5th gear is still a fair bit higher than LT95 4th.

But each to their own - the LT95 (box) is certainly strong...

Ok so I've talked myself into it it will be a while before I actually get seriously into it and work out what needs to be done. I guess the real question is what to do about the gearbox I'm leaning towards either rebuild the current one get another second hand one that might be ok or exchange it. I'm not planning on sinking 10's of thousands of dollars into this thing actually if the whole deal ends up around 10k I'll be a bit peeved.

Probably the heaviest thing it will every tow is a car on a car trailer and this will only ever be occasionally, I'm bright enough to keep it out of fifth for such jobs. Big wheels turning it into a mud hole beast or even a lot of heavy 4wding is not really on the agenda. So does the LT85 hold up ok under relatively normal use and its only when you start asking really big questions of it it falls short, or was it a bit of a dud from the get go and I'm really better off chucking a current model gearbox at it? I've read a couple threads about the MA5 but by the time I buy the gearbox and conversion kit plus the messing around with custom shafts it will cost well in excess of what I paid for the vehicle in the first place.

Your cheapest option would be to get a good 2nd hand LT85 from a V8 110 or a good 2nd hand R380 from a defender (disco won't fit).

The V8 LT85 should have had an easier life, and will bolt straight on using your bellhousing. The R380 will need some machining of your bellhousing to fit it to the R380.

A 3rd option is to find an LT95 complete.

My rebuilt LT85 is holding up fine. If you keep it full of good oil (e.g. castrol syntrans $30/L ) don't lug it in any gear, and drop it down to 4th regularly on the highway, it should last a long time.