Thread: Zeus timing gears 300tdi

There is lot`s inter web BS about them
There was a member on here deano had a Tdi for about 6 years with the Zeuss gears and he had heard and read the BS ,
I did many a trip with him and he would say if they went he would worry about it then which nothing happened
He on sold the the car last year i think and the new owner joined (?) here but i have not seen or heard of him for a while now.
I think they copped some bad press from the word go but it did die down.

ta

i heard they were a little noisier than the belt setup but not having to do timing belts negates that imho

I have read about some catastrophic failures, but I have also read that they may have been the result of incorrect, improper or imprecise installation.
When I did some research on them (just for academic reasons), I found a lot of opinions and a lot of first hand experiences, both good and bad.

Did some reading on it many years ago when I purchased my first Disco 1 1994 model, early type subject to throwing timing belt - clam cover had a long wear mark showing the belt had run up against it and receipt in glove box of expensive tow job from remote area, for previous owner - hence concern and investigation of alternatives.

If I remember correctly the extra gear(s) (single helix? side thrust issue?) are mounted to the rear aluminium half of the timing case clam, and in one case of complaint a gear snapped off taking the alloy with it. A complainant obtained an engineers(?) report which concluded the gears were poorly cut. But then there are some who have had no issues, and time having passed you would expect improvements to have taken place where required.

Myself, I did not like the idea of retro-engineering something into the alloy timing case, with the extra gears seemingly only supported on one side. I thought it would be better to ditch the alloy timing case clam altogether, replace it with a steel clam, with double helix gears (even forces) supported both sides of clam, and extend the gear system to drive some of the ancillaries (like the 4bd1 does).

If the noise was no worse than a 4bd1 then unlikely to have bothered me, and if I could get rid of the serpentine belt then a bonus.

Post by Oz importer(?) Zeus Timing Gears-50,000 km Review. and YiCaN site (still in business?) YiCaN supply Zeus Timing Gears-eliminates timing belt problems in Land Rover Discovery and Defender. Website:www.yican.com.au
See Will Warne half down Zeus timing gears - International Forum - LR4x4 - The Land Rover Forum

I have fityed a couple of sets many years back. Great idea however IF, and that is a big IF as the 2 i did went on to travel some big km, there is a failure of lube or needle rollrr brg eyc it WILL be irrepairable by the roadside. You would be retrofitting the cambelt system etc and that in itself is a huge and involved task to reblock the oil supply etc etc.
The timing accuracy was noticeably better and both vehicles felt more spritely.

Jc

Originally Posted by justinc

I have fityed a couple of sets many years back. Great idea however IF, and that is a big IF as the 2 i did went on to travel some big km, there is a failure of lube or needle rollrr brg eyc it WILL be irrepairable by the roadside. You would be retrofitting the cambelt system etc and that in itself is a huge and involved task to reblock the oil supply etc etc.
The timing accuracy was noticeably better and both vehicles felt more spritely.

yeah, thats the thought that occurred to me..

am glad to hear the ones you fitted did some big kms..

i remember reading years ago they had some problems with the gears wearing....

vehicle that provoked this thread has 60000+ klms on them so one would think most if any issues would have occurred by now... maybe