Warranty about to expire - Clutch rattles, Adapter shaft and door servo

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Originally Posted by karlz

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So I picked it up today, and couldnt believe the difference I felt.
The "clunkiness" is gone, the gears change without any effort, the gear changing feels almost like a "normal" car. Seems I have been driving with a defective feeling clutch since new, but I didnt know it. Glad Landrover Brighton put in the extra effort.

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This is what tipped the balance for me - why I bought my Defender brand new 3yrs ago. Despite the murmers of "unreliability" - I read so many tales like yours (ours) of Land Rover making good if there are any issues. Kudos!

Glad you are happy with your Defender! Same here, 3yrs old, warranty just expired, and after a few fixes (FOC!) its a pleasure to drive still! :)

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Originally Posted by mike_beecham

Hi All,

I was recently speaking a LR mechanic who told me that Defenders built AFTER 2011 had that shaft 'cross-drilled' and therefore they are lubricated by the oil in the transfer...? He was adamant....

Cheers,
Michael

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This isnt correct, the adapter shaft isnt cross drilled on any of them, even if it was it couldnt/doesnt get lubed by the transfer case.

Also I've only seen the very last (say the last 8 months of builds) that are lubed from factory (the tell tale blue grease leak from the bottom of the housing).

Regards
Daz

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Originally Posted by karlz

Got the defender back today after being in the dealers 12 days!

What did they do?

Day 1-2. swapped the rattling clutch but told me there was something "not quite right" after they did that, so they ordered a new Master cylinder, but unfortunately that meant they had the car for the long weekend, it was a friday.
Day 6. Installed the master cylinder, but they said it they weren't happy how the clutch operated. Somehow, despite the new parts, when it was in drive and the clutch depressed, it still had power to the shaft. They ordered a new flywheel, slave cylinder. Gear box has to come out again!
Day 11. Reported to me that the car was ready to be picked up and it drove/operated perfectly.

So I picked it up today, and couldnt believe the difference I felt.
The "clunkiness" is gone, the gears change without any effort, the gear changing feels almost like a "normal" car. Seems I have been driving with a defective feeling clutch since new, but I didnt know it. Glad Landrover Brighton put in the extra effort.

Its probably worth driving another defender at some stage to see how the other one feels compared to your own.

Very happy customer, but in all the excitement I forgot to pick up the photo of the greased adapter shaft, the dealer took the photo for me, said it was already greased when they initially looked at it, they added some more whilst it was out.

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Well this looks like a BIG plus to Brighton Landrover,....they obviously seem to have "gone the extra mile" for you.
I think I've heard before yes, that the Service Manager (Mike, is that his name?) a Pom (like me) is pretty knowledgeable on Defenders.
I've been past the premises a few times, but never inside,...what's the workshop like?
Pickles.

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Originally Posted by Pickles2

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I've been past the premises a few times, but never inside,...what's the workshop like?
Pickles.

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The workshop used to be in an old building in New Street Brighton, but the service centre is now in a brand new building in Cheltenham. Workshop is A1.
Yes, I really believe they went the extra mile. I see no reason to go elsewhere.:)

My my15 defender just had its one year service at lance dixon. I mentioned that the centre dif would sometimes not engage very well when in high range, slipping out now and then. Not something you want happening at the wrong moment. They agreed and the foreman there reckoned he had a fix for it, as I understand it they deepen slightly the groove that the spring-loaded ball sits in to lock the dif (apologies if I've got that bit of futuristic technology wrong).....so anyway they did it and I just picked it up and the lever that operates the dif lock and low/high range now has a much more positive feel. No slip so far. Ok good.

While they had the shaft out they checked the spud/adapter and said it had grease in already and they shoved some more in. (No pics I'm afraid)

So far nice service...no worries. Hope it stays that way. Apart from that little bit of occasional slip with the centre dif (never happened in low range) and the natural clunking of a bitsy drive train, I love it and smooth sailing so far.

Funny that about the hi Lo engagement. My 2011 started doing this, finding it hard to actually select the ratio. I just had the transfer rebuilt and the expert noted that the dog gear was in a crappy state, he said he has seen many of the newer defenders with this issue, seems as though they were not fabricating them 100% or switched to a cheaper parts supplier.

Re engagement of hi/low, and or diff lock in/out...

Later transfer cases as used in the Defender TDCi the retaining screw has a head on it and the depth cant be adjusted, as in the amount of tension on the spring that pushes on the ball which engages into the detent on the selector shaft. Early transfer cases used a grub screw so the amount of tension can be adjusted.

you can replace the "headed" screw with a grub screw and adjust the depth to create more tension on the spring/ball, thus giving a more positive feel.

When shifting from hi/low, diff lock in/out, a good habit is to hold the shifter in place while moving forward slightly until positive engagement is achieved.

When you move the selector for either hi/low or diff lock in/out, you are actually only moving the selector shaft which is spring loaded against the selector fork, once there is some rotational movement and the dog collar (collar with straight cut teeth) teeth align they move into engagement.

Having too much forward (or reverse) movement, as in going to fast while shifting will cause a serve clunk and this is where damage to the "dog gears" (on the collar) occurs.

Driving a Defender (even the TDCi) is like driving an old machine, move, shift, throttle, steer gently and smoothly and expect things not to happen instantly, unlike pressing a "4WD" button on the dash of a Japanese built vehicle.

Regards
Daz