Thread: R380, disco to defender conversion!

Talk to Sclarke as he is playing around with a county and has a good amount of info under the projects thread. I dont know if it is what your after but worth a look. Good luck.

You will need a Defender shifter housing and the shift rails etc inside the box are different to a Disco one. You will have to dismantle and reassemble box using the shift rails and forks, shifter housing etc froma Defender type R380.

Easy but time consuming.

JC

Hi Everybody, after 4 attempts i have a reassembled r380 that selects all gears and seems in tolerance.( will know when i put power through it lol)
my main delema was getting 5th and reverse to work,walked away on sunday and had a beer, checked parts manuals at FWD on monday to discover that i had been given an incorrect selector component from a business up the coast. emotionally i am a little ****ed at the part thing but the satisfaction of success is awesome.
Thanks for your help guys!
regards
steve.

After reading the recent thread on which is stronger LT85 or R380 and having discussed the issue with KLR in Penrith, I have decided to use the Disco R380 I already have and convert it to Defender selector for use in a Defender behind 4BD1.

Have also discovered a source of a reasonably new Defender R380 box with a cracked case from external damage.

The question: is it possible to do the conversion from Disco to Defender selector without special tools?

And

Is it recommended, fo someone who has only ever re-built series gearboxes (sucessfully) in the past?

Diana

Hi Diana,

I've just pulled mine apart due to a broken layshaft, and rebuilt it.

It is possible without special tools (I didn't have any of them) however getting the oil seal collar off the back of the main shaft is an absolute pig. You will need to do this if you need to get the fork off (I am not sure as I haven't done a Disco box)

If you have a look through the last few pages on my 90 thread in my signature you will see what I did.

Its not hard I dont think, but is fiddly and at times frustrating.

I also believe there is a mistake in the LR workshop manual with regards to the 5th/synchro hub direction of fitment.

What year are the Disco / Defender boxes?

Originally Posted by Psimpson7

Hi Diana,
<snip>
What year are the Disco / Defender boxes?

Philip

Don't know the year of either of the boxes, however the Disco was a post facelift Disco 1 and not a clue about the Defender one but will ask.

Are there particular suffix boxes I should avoid? (Understanding the Disco box I already have).

I also thought I would try to use the best parts from both boxes so long as they are compatible.

Diana

I'm not sure you need to avoid any as such, but the Suffix K and L are supposedly the strongest. The K was circa 1999, and the L post 2000 or so.

Suffix J were the ones that were more prone to breaking the layshaft I believe.

The K+L have larger bearings on the shafts too.

Im not sure on the earlier suffixes.