Thread: Pull out the motor or the transmission?

scott the engine oil will be blackish and the clutch fluid will/should be alot clearer and smells very different.

I have had the engine out once and the gearbox/transfer out twice recently. Once with no engine in place and second time around with engine in place and on replacement having to align input shaft up with spigot at an angle (oh the true joy of bell housing meeting engine that day... )

Engine crane for both and in through the passenger door for the gearbox.

In saying that, if you know it is engine oil, take the engine out.

[Only relevant if dropping gearboxes].

If dropping the gearboxes is still required, make a lifting 'eye' from flat bar steel and unbolt a pto cover bolt and put the lifting eye off that and then sling the gearbox so you have a three point harness for boxes. Quite stable and with a sling, no real chance of it twisting.

Mark the contact points and all relevant hook points on the sling/chain or whatever once swinging freely for reference when relifting back in.

If a third party is helping with the crane ups and downs make certain [s]he is adept at the fine on/off required for delicate work. My crane is hydraulic and very touchy as far as 'down' goes

I had a concrete floor to work on. A few tips. When ready, drop the boxes out on a sheet of plywood or strategically placed timber planks with small grit or pebbles on the concrete. Gearboxes weight on the ply/timber is hard to move without the grit to break the friction and roll it out. With the right size of small pebbles or grit it rolls out nicely from under. Doesn't make for good working on your back if you need to crawl under while dropping, but it means you can slide the boxes out easy like.

You'll need to jack the defender up and put it on axle stands as high as it is required to roll the bell housing out from under the chassis. Getting it back in is harder and the second time I did it I scribed marks around the gearbox mounts so it all went back in and aligned sweetly ready for engine install. Depending on how tall you are will dictate whether the jack-up is before or after you are ready to drop the box. I am tall and therefore jacked it up early on and viola, everything is a good worknig height.

I did this both times by myself using a trolley jack and engine crane and perseverence. Second time when I had the engine in place it was two days work to remove off then on and back driving again, new from spigot bush to clutch. It can be done but it can also be fraught with expletive inducing bloodying moments... literally. Otherwise, no worries mate!

One of the simplest vehicles I have ever worked on, loads of room, big nuts and bolts and all designed using a seemingly simple agricultural logic.

Good luck with what ever you do.