Gearbox gone BANG

[SpammyG]

G'day all.

Was coming home from work on Friday night ready for a weekend of camping with mates when the gearbox in my '96 130 let go on me. Not a pleasant experience. Was pulling uphill hard in 3rd, changed to 4th no issues but as i brought the throttle up in 4th it revved hard like it was in neutral and made a clunking noise.

Was in peak hour traffic with nowhere to pull over, managed to get it in 1st and idle up the rest of the hill (much to the joy of those behind) and then roll downhill in neutral to a spot where i could stop.

Called RAA who had someone with me in 30mins. We did some diagnostic driving which led to a whole bunch more clunking and a complete loss of all drive in any gear. When I lift off the clutch in gear, i hear a nasty grinding noise and get no drive at all. Possibly the input shaft?

Anyway, I am moving from Adelaide to Port Macquarie on Monday and work are meant to be trucking the Defender over there for me with pick up on Friday. Will need a car pretty soon after arriving there so thinking of leaving the Defender here with family to either sell or fix and buying something else over there.

Any advice on possible diagnoses and the cost to repair or just general advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Sam

[JDNSW]

Depending which checks were done, it could just be a drive flange on a back hub (quick and easy fix), but the other likely cause is the output gear on the back of the gearbox worn out the splines onto its shaft (much bigger job). There are other possibilities, but these are the most likely.

John

[Drover]

managed to get it in 1st and idle up the rest of the hill


Sam

Doesn't sound like a drive flange ?

[roverrescue]

Assuming it is as suggested above the "output gear" actually is the transfer case input gear wearing on the gearbox output mainshaft - this is easy to check on a 96 defender

1/ remove PTO cover at back of transfer case.
2/Pry off the rear input gear race housing.
3/You will no be able to slide the input gear out and quite likely from your story you will have stripped out the splines of the R380 gear box mainshaft output.

Now the good news, assuming your 96 has not been altered (as in it is factory) you have a quick easy and relatively reliable short term fix. Source a new cross drilled input gear of the correct type.

The newer cross drilled gear engage on the entire mainshaft spline and with some cleaning of the main shaft you should be able to slide a new cross drilled input gear onto the shaft and bolt it all up.

Assuming this is your problem this will get you mobile again very quickly and cheaply.
The proper fix is to rebuild the R380 gearbox or source a newer one.

I drove around for about 40,000km all over the Cape on just such a temporary mod up until last weekend when I finally got around to changing out the gear bag and t-case ;)

Steve

[SSmith]

Did you engage centre diff lock and try drive as part of your diagnostic driving?

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[Trundle]

I had a similar problem about nine months back on another 96 130, left me stranded with no drive available at all. Ended up being an expensive exercise in my case with the main shaft snapped.
Fingers crossed yours is an easier fix.

Cheers

[SpammyG]

Thanks for the responses guys. Will have to try and get someone who knows what they're doing to have a look at it.


Did you engage centre diff lock and try drive as part of your diagnostic driving?

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Nope, didn't try this. Didn't think it would matter if its a gearbox issue. Would this be to check if its a drive flange issue?

[wrinklearthur]

Sounds like you have torn the centre out of the clutch plate to me.


------ managed to get it in 1st and idle up the rest of the hill ------ We did some diagnostic driving which led to a whole bunch more clunking and a complete loss of all drive in any gear. When I lift off the clutch in gear, i hear a nasty grinding noise and get no drive at all. Possibly the input shaft?
.

[SpammyG]

Sounds like you have torn the centre out of the clutch plate to me.


.

If that was the case would I still be able to get some drive if I could get it in gear and start it off the starter motor?

Anyone able to let me know what the approximate cost of a gearbox replacement or rebuild is?

[Ancient Mariner]

If that was the case would I still be able to get some drive if I could get it in gear and start it off the starter motor?

Anyone able to let me know what the approximate cost of a gearbox replacement or rebuild is?
No Do as Roverrescue suggested before stressing to much

AM

[SSmith]

Thanks for the responses guys. Will have to try and get someone who knows what they're doing to have a look at it.



Nope, didn't try this. Didn't think it would matter if its a gearbox issue. Would this be to check if its a drive flange issue?

If it drives in diff lock but not with diff unlocked your problem is between tcase and hubs

If still no drive with diff locked the problem is somewhere between tcase output and engine.

Could go either way. Others have had similar loss of drive and noises and its been gearbox/clutch. Ive had same symptoms and its been axle once and diff another time.

Just another diagnostic that takes very little time and narrows the possibilities quite a bit.

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[SpammyG]

On a related note, does anyone in Adelaide want to buy a Defender with a blown gearbox? I'm moving to NSW on Monday so the timing is just great :confused:. I need a reliable car to take me across the country and just don't have the time to deal with the 'quirks' of the Defender. It's a shame because I love the car.

[digger]

Hang in there, its as mobile as mine and mines newer!! :)

Maybe someone here can have a poke around it for you if you are unsure
then it may help narrow it down.

TRS have the biggest spares etc about - so good to know here rather than elsewhere where theyd have to send you the parts.


http://www.aulro.com/afvb/driveline-parts-sale/205254-defender-r380-gearbox.html

this is in tas but someone may be able to arrange freight from vic to here if you ask on aulro courier - even as a temp fix ??

[Trundle]

It was cheaper for me to get one from Ashcrofts, freighted to my door, than to get a recon one in Australia. Scary as that sounds, but I also changed the transfer box, clutch and a few other bits while I was at it.
Cheers

[SSmith]

Worst timing possible. Probably a bit overwhelming.

If it is possible, leave it with family etc till the move is over and you can look at it with a clearer mind.

Try to forget about all the possible problems, its enough to drive you to drink. The checks roverrescue and I have mentioned will take about a half hour give or take depending on confidence and equipment.

Then we can talk about costs etc.

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