Fairey overdrive

[Warb]

I have a Fairey overdrive that is noisy beyond belief -having got my rego sorted out I engaged it for the first time and it sounds like there is a jet engine in the cab! Obviously it is a very sad unit, the previous owners engaged it when fitted and never disengaged it again, probably never checked the oil (it came out black like old engine oil) and used it permanently in all gears behind a Holden 186. It's a wonder it is working at all, but work it does - if you can bear the noise and the excitement of a possible catastrophic failure at any time!

Question: I have no experience with the guts of these units, and do not know what parts are whining or what parts are in matched pairs. But I do have another Fairey in a parts donor vehicle. If I was to swap the "body" of the noisy unit for my spare (i.e. a time-constrained bolt-off/bolt-on swap, not touching the castellated nut or input gear), and assuming the spare unit was not equally worn out, would this be likely to make an improvement? Or is the input gear a matched pair with the rest of the unit and therefore likely to cause more problems/noise?

[JDNSW]

If the spare you have is any good, yes, it should be be an improvement. The only gear you will be using that was used by your old overdrive is the transfer case intermediate gear - which is probably OK.


Be aware, however that one of the things that does wear on the Fairey overdrive is the splines on the drive dog that is on the output shaft of the gearbox - even if it is still working with your existing one, the new one may be worn differntly and still fail to drive. This spline should be well lubricated on assembly.

The bits that wear on the overdrive are these splines - which means a new input shaft, the gear on the lay shaft, and the meshing gear on the secondary shaft, plus, of course the bearings and seals. Synchromesh parts may wear or be damaged, but unless run dry, this is fairly uncommon, as most drivers do not change the overdrive all that often compared to a normal gearbox (I seem to remember that the synchro parts are out of a Rover 2000).

John

[Warb]

Thanks for the information John! The longer term plan is to fit a Roamerdrive, but I don't have the time to do that this week and I had hoped to use the Series 1 to tow my bike to the Gulgong Swap Meet on Sunday. Now it looks like the bike will go on its own, unless I have time to fit the other Fairey and it improves things!

[Dark61]

what dollars are we talking about for a Roamerdrive , does anyone know?


cheers,
D

[whitehillbilly64]

Overdrive manual.

http://www.lrfaq.org/Series/FaireyOverdriveManual.html

whitehillbilly

[whitehillbilly64]

Overhaul info.

Fairey Overdrive Overhaul (http://www.nickslandrover.co.uk/overdrive-overhaul/)

whitehillbilly

[whitehillbilly64]

more.

The Land Rover Writer (http://www.landroverwriter.com/thelandrovers/faireyoverdrives.html)

whitehillbilly

[whitehillbilly64]

In French.
Just use Translate in Google home page.

Et si on parlait d'overdrive... (http://aspati.forumactif.com/t236-et-si-on-parlait-d-overdrive)

whitehillbilly

[whitehillbilly64]

Another Manual.

http://www.lrsoc.com/forum/forum_files/Overdrive%20Repair%20and%20Service%20Manual.pdf

Hope they are of some help, finding tour problems.

whitehillbilly

[Warb]

what dollars are we talking about for a Roamerdrive , does anyone know?


cheers,
D

Somewhere around $2200 including the cover plate. $1995 (eBay) for just the 'box.

[Warb]

Overdrive manual.......

Very useful, thanks!

[dandlandyman]

The normal culprit for the scream in a Fairey is the layshaft and laygear. It's built in virtually the same way as the middle shaft in the standard transfer case and corrugates in the same way. Replacement parts tend to be too expensive to consider though.

[Alistair]

Hi Warb

I have an overdrive on my Series and, although I don't think it is particularly worn, it is a relatively noisy beast. Assuming however that yours is completely knackered, before you shell out a disproportionately large sum of cash for spare parts (even if you can get them), you could consider these offerings from Ashcroft in the UK:

Ashcroft Transmissions (http://www.ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk/the-series-vehicle.html)

The high ratio transfer case or high ratio gear set might well work out significantly cheaper and give a better overall outcome.

Alternatively if you have real cash to drop or original overdrive parts are impossible to source:

Overdrive (Series) - Rocky Mountain Spares (http://rockymountainspares.co.uk/product/overdrive-series/)
Global Roamer Corporation (http://roamerdrive.com/ss_model.html)

As an aside, if you are into rebuilding your current unit, these guys seem to carry spares. No idea about quality (although I have never had any problems with Craddocks):

http://www.johncraddockltd.co.uk/accessories/overdrive-and-parts/

and

shop4autopartsuk | eBay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/m.html?_odkw=&_ssn=shop4autopartsuk&item=260575752995&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2046732.m570.l1313.TR11.TRC1.A0.H0.Xoverd rive.TRS0&_nkw=overdrive&_sacat=0)

[Alistair]

Hi Warb

I have an overdrive on my Series and, although I don't think it is particularly worn, it is a relatively noisy beast. Assuming however that yours is completely knackered, before you shell out a disproportionately large sum of cash for spare parts (even if you can get them), you could consider these offerings from Ashcroft in the UK:

As an aside, you will need to remortgage your house or sell a kidney or something to get something of this weight air freighted to Australia. There are however cost-effective sea freight options for this which should also let you side-step UK VAT. If you think you want to go down this route then let me know and I will pass you the details of a shipping company that I have used successfully in the past.

[Homestar]

Remember if you go for the high ratio transfer case, it's like driving around with an overdrive in all the time. Some engines simply won't have the grunt to pull the car around like that - I picked up a brand new one second hand in Australia because of this very reason, but the engine I'm building for mine will have enough grunt to move it around fine.

If you're patient they do come up for sale from time to time, so you can avoid the shipping costs.

[Warb]

I'm not really keen on the high ratio transfer case, I much prefer to keep the original ratios. The 86" in question (Holden 186) seems to need some revs and "clutch" to pull away at the best of times, possibly due to the large tyres, so raising 1st gear doesn't seem wise!

I could ship the Ashcroft "kit" and then fit it in a spare case, which would avoid much of the shipping costs. I looked at this option for another LR, but Ashcroft are vague about the need for a "custom tool" - they show and talk about it in the instructions, but do not specify whether it is actually included in the kit. Logic would suggest that if it is required but no specifications are given to enable it to be made, then it would be included.... but what has logic got to do with it? I would have emailed them to find out, but by then I'd decided I didn't want to raise the ratios.

For that other project, I decided to lower the low range (combination of various standard gears, can't currently remember which!) and fit a RoamerDrive. As the RoamerDriver is still on the shelf I suspect I'll fit it in the 86" and get another one later....

I have a couple more Faireys in parts vehicles, and a Toro that was (according to it's previous owner) fully overhauled not long before the vehicle was retired. Sooner or later I'll have to sort the wheat from the chaff!

[gromit]

I've just got my Isuzu (C240) powered SIII shorty back on the road and it has a high ratio transfer box fitted.
I was worried about a small normally aspirated diesel being able to cope and in my rebuild thread a doomsayer early on claimed I'd have problems.

It copes very well and will pull away in second on the flat without too much clutch slipping. I've yet to put it to the test on a decent hill though.

Compared to my Series I, where 1st isn't really needed, it gives it 'longer legs' and should improve the fuel consumption.


Colin