Thread: D2 Half life refit

I couple of months ago I was asking questions about my auto transmission and received very good advice. I got Les Richmond in Thomastown to have a look at it before making a decision about whether to invest some $ in the 200,000 km car or trade it in.

Even before he gave me the assessment I was leaning toward keeping the car as it has been a fantastic tourer and I have great memories of many excellent trips.

The word on the auto was that it was moribund - lots of loose metal and unlikely to last much longer. The options were a $4000 ZF rebuild, or drop in a low km second hand unit. I chose the latter. We found one for $1700. With new suspension, all links etc replaced, many oil leaks and coolant leaks fixed, and the chassis above the rear axle re-inforced, I headed off on a major Easter trip to the Pilbara.

This trip with two passengers involved towing the trailer (extra fuel and water, camping gear, spare wheels), some seriously remote travel (no tracks on any maps), and some pretty rough stuff in the Rudall River National Park. The route was Echuca to Alice, then Yuendumu, Nyrrippi, Kiwirrkurra, Telfer, Rudall River, Newman, Kalgoorlie, Trans Track, and home. After some 8000km the only issue I had was a leak from the L front axle seal which meant I had to top up the diff a few times. Otherwise not even a puncture.

The car was a delight to drive. Although the $7000 I spent would have covered a year's payments on a new car, I believe I made the right decision to stick with the Land Rover. As a special treat for the car I have installed a set of train horns (Nathan Airchime K3HA Train Horn in Flat Black Powder Coating | eBay), although too late to respond in kind to the driver of the Ghan who tooted us as we drove along side him into Alice Springs. Click the link to hear the horns.

Hi Captain, I replaced my transfer case recently (at 280K) only because it was leaking like a sieve. Bought another 2nd hand from Linnrover Perth for 600 clams, couldn't be happier, looked like it had been recond not too long ago, no leaks, fitted my old extra capacity sump, and like mine it had diff lock to boot!
The old one is now a spare and will need recond, "one day - one fine day."

At the moment, my mindset is to stick with my 2000 td5 autu with ace and sls, even though rust is encroaching (fixed today.)

Waz