Thread: Transmission removal, flexplate repair

Originally Posted by Scouse

Unfortunately, it's alarmingly common.


Make sure the locating dowels are in place before refitting the gearbox. If it's slightly out of alignment, it's not going to help.
Others who have had this problem have mentioned checking the nose on the torque convertor to make sure it engages into the flexplate properly.

Are talking about the two fixed dowels on the two side of the engine side?

Sent you a PM, with the people i've found most helpful.

See this link which should help you out, as i've done exactly the same thing. Probably best to skip straight through to page 3 or 4 as thats when i finally started getting things right.

Engine Balancing? - Broken Flexplate

Depending on how the gearbox is, it might be worth considering doing the TC up as well, as the vibrations might have chewed up the Spigot Aligner and Nose on the TC.

Also, make sure you get a genuine flex plate, plus, remember that the spigot aligner have different spacers between 4.0 and 4.6 engines. I was lucky enough to get mine machined out to match the new TC Spigot by the TC Builder.

Getting the Torque converter out, what's involved with that? Does it just slide out? Or is there a certain procedure?

TC will just slide out. But be careful as the mongrel is heavy!!

- It will be full of oil, so as soon as you can roll it forwards as the oil will pour out the back.
- Try to pull it straight off so as not to damage any seals.

Taken the torque converter out and took it to TCE engineering as recommended by stu ( thanks mate ) to get it reconditioned. Bought a secondhand flywheel, as new ones are next to impossible to get. The flywheel ended up at the Speedwork to give it a check for cracks and balance etc.

Just waiting now for a phone call to let me know it's finished. The TC nose is a bit worn, and will be machined, though I don't know how the crank side will be done without removing the whole crankshaft.

The spigot aligner comes off the back of the crankshaft via the 6 Allen key bolts. Take that down with the TC and get them to match the nose and spigot up. That way you can be 100% that the two match up perfectly.

Originally Posted by 81stubee

The spigot aligner comes off the back of the crankshaft via the 6 Allen key bolts. Take that down with the TC and get them to match the nose and spigot up. That way you can be 100% that the two match up perfectly.

Ok i see that. Now ive tried to take off the flywheel however the starter motor seems to prevent me from doing that. Im trying to take the starter off with the bottom bolt removing easily, though tight it comes off. The top bolt however is a bit of a nightmare and hard to get to, and i don't know what Land Rover were thinking, but why they decided to use Allan key bolts to hold the starter motor is beyond me when just about every other car manufacturer uses proper easy to remove socket bolts. Not to mention the fact that these bolts are unesessarily over tightened causing them to easily round out, a rather silly design.

Question is, is there any other way or trick to removing the flywheel without needing to remove the starter??

The ring gear should just slide off with a bit of wiggling. No need to remove the starter motor. On mine i just pull the motor all in one piece, and sit it on a timber pallet. Then unbolt the old flexplate (keeping note of the spacer arrangement), then slide the ring gear off the spigot aligner, and remove the spigot aligner if necessary.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Flywheel"? Are you referring to the Flexplate?

Order of Components
Crankshaft, Spigot Aligner (held to crankshaft by 6 Allenkey bolts), Ringgear, Spacer, Flexplate, Spacer (all sandwiched to the spigol aligner by x4 bolts).

I would never use a secondhand flex plate, as buying a new one should be easy. Ring gear might be hard to get.