Thread: Transfer Gearbox Clang in Discovery II 1999 Manual V8

Thanks biggin, what a relief! When I am in the D2, I will need to make a habit of stopping to operate the transfer gearbox lever.

Good news: No clunks nor clangs anymore!

In Land Rover's manual for Africa, Working in the Wild, there is a section on the driving procedures for towing when needing to move off in low range and then changing to high range on the move. It is recommended that vehicles fitted with V8s should put the main gearbox into neutral BEFORE changing into high range.

If the engine is at its operating temperature, or warm enough so that the engine revs drop sharply when you take the foot off the throttle, this method works well. The extra clutching does result in a drop of road and engine speed, but I found this was easily overcome if I drove in low range until I was in 4th gear. I would then clutch and shift the main gear box into neutral, then clutch again to shift the range into neutral, then clutch again to shift into high range, and then again clutch to put the main gearbox into 2nd and then up through the gears to fifth as normal. Yes, it is a lot of extra clutching, but it works without the clunk and the awful clang that I was experiencing, and the progression is smooth.

I also changed the oils in the main gearbox and transfer gearbox. I am not sure what oils were in them, but they both had the same multigear oil. It looked and felt like a traditional 85W-140 heavy duty gearbox and rear axle oil. The main gearbox is meant to have a MTF 94 fluid, and the transfer gearbox a 75W/90 differential oil. So I refilled the main manual gearbox with Castrol's equivalent of the recommended MTF 94 specified by Land Rover, which is Castrol's manual transmission fluid Syntrans 75W-85; and I put the recommended 75W-90 differential oil in the transfer gearbox, which is also the same oil that is recommended for the axles. The Castrol equivalent of the recommended oil is Syntrax 75W-90. It is dyed red. It was an expensive exercise, but the superior synchroniser performance is outstanding and well worth it. The gear changes in the main box and between low and high ranges are now silky smooth. The difference is amazing. It's like driving a new vehicle with a sports gearbox. Gone are the clunks and clangs!