LT230 lifespan

**justinc** · 23rd August 2009, 01:25 PM

Here is a good indication of just how good these are.

Last week I had to replace The R380's 5th gear mainshaft and layshaft brgs in a 1994 3door D1 300 Tdi. The trans has been replaced once quite some time ago due to mainshaft spline wear, but the vehicle has now travelled 520,000km all up from new, one owner. The LT230 hasn't been touched apart from a set of intermediate shaft orings 5 years ago,and the addition of a new input gear when the trans mainshaft was replaced. This time when draining the transfer oil prior to removal , I noticed bronze in the oil. There was also bronze shavings present in the bottom of the casing, suggesting pieces of centre diff thrust washers. I removed the centre diff to discover only half of 1 out of 4 in total left

Now here's the good bit, this vehicle has travelled mostly bitumen work, has had regular oil changes in the trans and diffs,(every 40k or 2 years) and it shows. There was no wear in the centre diff where the pinion gears run against, despite the lack of thrusts, and the wear on high range selector sleeve and gear dogs was negligeable. Due to the regular oil changes(Good quality mineral oils, no synthetics BTW) there was no buildup of gummy deposits or anything. I've looked in 80K old D2 boxes to see more wear and filth

These transfer cases if looked after are a fantastic bit of gear

So change the oils regularly, (Oil is cheap) and use good oils, not necessarily synthetics but obviously they are better in hard environments. This case has only had 80w90 gearoils like Pennzoil and Valvoline.

JC

**PAT303** · 23rd August 2009, 05:34 PM

Sorry JC but I don't believe it.I had a mate who owned an LR and he spent 2K on electrical work and the little Tdi's are overstressed so they blow up and he couldn't buy parts except out off England which took 2 months ZZZZZZZZZZZZ.Modern Motors at Dungog have a 92 3door disco with similar K's that has never been touched either,always had the driveline oil changed once a year and always run ATF in the main gearbox and it's still going strong,it has worn out two cams though. Pat

**justinc** · 23rd August 2009, 07:09 PM

Originally Posted by PAT303

Sorry JC but I don't believe it.I had a mate who owned an LR and he spent 2K on electrical work and the little Tdi's are overstressed so they blow up and he couldn't buy parts except out off England which took 2 months ZZZZZZZZZZZZ.Modern Motors at Dungog have a 92 3door disco with similar K's that has never been touched either,always had the driveline oil changed once a year and always run ATF in the main gearbox and it's still going strong,it has worn out two cams though. Pat

I mentioned this vehicle especially as it is the highest mileage one I work on, and it is one of the neatest too. The owner looks after it but doesn't spare it.

Gets driven hard at times, he has related to me how fast he can take certain parts of the road to the east coast

so it isn't babied

That 92 model, yes the 200Tdi is a beauty of an engine

JC

**Dave1** · 24th August 2009, 06:23 AM

JC I had the the bronze washers go on my box. I was wondering what causes this to happen.? Any thoughts? Thanks.

**justinc** · 24th August 2009, 07:32 AM

Dave,

They are a consummable item, IE they are designed to do much the same as bearings in an engine, they will eventually wear out. With a lack of off road use, they will last much longer.

JC

**d2dave** · 24th August 2009, 03:58 PM

Originally Posted by PAT303

Sorry JC but I don't believe it.I had a mate who owned an LR and he spent 2K on electrical work and the little Tdi's are overstressed so they blow up and he couldn't buy parts except out off England which took 2 months ZZZZZZZZZZZZ.Modern Motors at Dungog have a 92 3door disco with similar K's that has never been touched either,always had the driveline oil changed once a year and always run ATF in the main gearbox and it's still going strong,it has worn out two cams though. Pat

I'm a tad confused. The original post is about how good the LT230 transfer box is. You don't believe this because of an overstressed engine and 2K worth of electrical work
As for the overstressed engine my 300tdi is about to clock up 300,000 km and is running like new.

Dave.

**B92 8NW** · 24th August 2009, 04:06 PM

Originally Posted by Mr Whippy

I'm a tad confused. The original post is about how good the LT230 transfer box is. You don't believe this because of an overstressed engine and 2K worth of electrical work
As for the overstressed engine my 300tdi is about to clock up 300,000 km and is running like new.

Dave.

I think Pat was using sarcasm, owing to the many stories that abound about how "unreliable" Land Rovers are

**d2dave** · 24th August 2009, 04:06 PM

Originally Posted by justinc

Dave,

They are a consummable item, IE they are designed to do much the same as bearings in an engine, they will eventually wear out. With a lack of off road use, they will last much longer.

JC

About 12 years ago I overhauled the transfer in my 83 rangie. The bronze thrust washers in the centre diff were were non existent and the gears had worn into the housing.
I took it to McNamarra's Diffs in Moorabbin where he machines the housing and fits some very thick hardened steel thrust washers. These will last for a lot longer and as he makes them a nice snug fit it then reduced a lot of my driveline slack.

Dave.

**d2dave** · 24th August 2009, 04:10 PM

Originally Posted by B92 8NW

I think Pat was using sarcasm, owing to the many stories that abound about how "unreliable" Land Rovers are

I used to own a gearbox repair shop in Melbourne which I sold in 2000.
It was Landcruisers which kept us in business.

Dave.

Thread: LT230 lifespan

Thread Tools

LT230 lifespan

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions