LT95 oil cooler

[Mister_white_keys]

Greetings brains trust.

I'm halfway through an LT95 gearbox changeover (along with replacing a 3.5 with a 4.4) and I've noticed the replacement gearbox I've got ready to go in has a bit of hose running around the back of it.
My assumption is that this unit was once upon a time running an oil cooler of some sort, the question is, is this needed? I've been driving around with the old LT95 for a couple of years without noticing any heat problems, am I better off just removing this hose and blocking up the ports?

If an oil cooler isn't necessary I'd rather not have a vulnerable piece of hose there in case a sharp rock decides it would be a nice place to empty all my gearbox oil.

Here's the original gearbox out of the car (nicely covered in 40 years of crud)
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/03/622.jpg (http://s241.photobucket.com/user/mister_white_keys/media/DSC_0790.jpg.html)

And here's the replacement unit I'm planning on putting in with the hose around the back.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/03/623.jpg (http://s241.photobucket.com/user/mister_white_keys/media/DSC_0789.jpg.html)


What are your thoughts? keep the hose or block it off?

[101 Ron]

The hose is nothing to do with a oil cooler.
It is a booge fix for a leaking gearbox/transfercase oil seal.
The hose equalises oil levels between the two cases.
Replace the oil seal before fitting and remove the hoses.

[Mister_white_keys]

Thanks for the quick response. Next question, how hard is it to replace this seal? I was hoping to drop this unit in and see how it goes. If it's a matter of a strip down and replace, I'll keep the old unit in there and run with it.

The old gearbox was working but the detent springs aren't well and the synchro on 2nd is worn out. I can keep running it if need be but figured I'd give this box a try and see if it was any better.

If it's a fair job to replace the oil seal, I might as well save up and do a proper rebuild on it.

[350RRC]

Thanks for the quick response. Next question, how hard is it to replace this seal? I was hoping to drop this unit in and see how it goes........................

That's why you leave the hose there and have a nice life.

Rebuild the crusty one at your leisure, time and money wise.

DL

[Mister_white_keys]

If it's not a huge problem, I'll replace the hose with something that's not crumbling apart and run it then.

Excuse my ignorance but given that the gearbox and transfer case share oil, why is there a seal there? Is it leftover from when the units were separate?

Cheers,
Steve

[350RRC]

The gearbox is lubricated with oil under pressure from a pump.

In the TC the oil just splashes around.

cheers, DL

[Mick_Marsh]

What he said.

That's why you leave the hose there and have a nice life.

Rebuild the crusty one at your leisure, time and money wise.

DL
I have that modification on my LT95.

What happens is the oil gradually migrates from the transfer case to the gearbox resulting in an overfull gearbox and an underfull transfer case. The tube/pipe allows the oil to drain back.
Leave it in place. Rebuild the other box.

[dungarover]

You can remove the hose without any issues, you'll just have to check the gearbox/transfer fluid levels more regularly. I was told once that if you can still touch the transfer case leaver when operating it still is okay but if the leaver gets really hot then it needs to be refilled as the oil has pumped itself into the main gearbox :eek:

Still you can leave the hose and not worry about it :)

Trav

[rangieman]

There is a lot more lt95`s with this mod still running around than you would think ;) Id leave it ;)

[PhilipA]

The only thing I did extra on my 77RRC was to solder the connector shut then drill a small (maybe 0.5MM)hole in the solder so that all the oil did not migrate to the transfer on a long steep hill and vice versa.

There was plenty of room for the oil to drip slowly either way.
Regards Philip A