Thread: The 85 Classic

...have Isuzu motors...and after market centre diff, axles, cvs, axle diffs, drive flanges etc

Originally Posted by MR LR

Can we all just accept that VM Diesels are crap, and the best Land Rovers ever have Isuzu motors. Done.

Yeah but someones gotta like em

Originally Posted by Dougal

Thanks for the measurements.

I know it's not looking good, but I do intend to beat my head against this wall a little longer. Everytime I drive my 6sp tdi car I'm reminded how much better 6sp is than 5. It truely does have a gear for every occasion.

I do have a plan B. Seeing if enough length is available to move the LT230 rearward for the bulge in the MXA to miss the snout. At present the back of my MSA gear case is 37mm forward of the LT230 snout and it appears the widest part isn't far from here.
My MSA box:


Your MXA box:


Would you be able to measure the length of your MXA for me? From bellhousing lip to the front face of your adapter plate? Also the length of the extension housing to the same adapter plate face.

~500mm from face of bell housing (which the gear case bolts to), to the front of my adapter plate.

~114mm from rear face of gear case to front of my adapter plate.

There is a bearing retainer sandwiched between the rear of the gear case and the 6th gear extension housing. Thickness is ~30mm.

Back approx 30mm from the mounting face of the extension housing, the extension housing steps in and here it is only ~107mm to the centreline of the main shaft, and the casting draw reduces this by a further ~2mm to the rear of the housing.

My problem at the time was I was putting it in my rangie and I didn't want to push the transfer case back enough to get enough clearance for a LT230. In a 110 that wouldn't be such a problem.

Originally Posted by Bush65

~500mm from face of bell housing (which the gear case bolts to), to the front of my adapter plate.

I have ~526mm total between the same front measurement and the face of my LT230.
Meaning if I could make the side clearance problem disappear It would leave 26mm for an adaptor plate and somehow fit an adapter shaft in.

I too would much prefer to keep the LT230 where it is. But it's not looking good.

Originally Posted by Bush65

~114mm from rear face of gear case to front of my adapter plate.

There is a bearing retainer sandwiched between the rear of the gear case and the 6th gear extension housing. Thickness is ~30mm.

Back approx 30mm from the mounting face of the extension housing, the extension housing steps in and here it is only ~107mm to the centreline of the main shaft, and the casting draw reduces this by a further ~2mm to the rear of the housing.

The LT230 snout is ~162mm from mounting face to front corner. Give that 26mm adapter and we are at 136mm overlap.
The fattest part of the MXA being 114mm less the thickness of the bolting flange (~15mm?) means we could possibly overlap the snout of the LT230 and the back of the (shaved) MXA by ~100mm?

If possible that would equate to a length increase of (162-100-26) = 36mm over what I have now? (someone please check that, my brain is mush right now).

Originally Posted by Bush65

My problem at the time was I was putting it in my rangie and I didn't want to push the transfer case back enough to get enough clearance for a LT230. In a 110 that wouldn't be such a problem.

That's my problem too. Was this in your Bushie with your engine already further rearward than mine? Even though I don't want to, I might have more room to play with than you.
Anyone heard from Chief lately and how his is going?

Originally Posted by Dougal

... Was this in your Bushie with your engine already further rearward than mine? Even though I don't want to, I might have more room to play with than you.
Anyone heard from Chief lately and how his is going?

Not in the bushie. When I fitted the Volvo portals to the bushie (front Volvo in bushie can be seen in the background of the following pic), I pulled the 4BD1T out and used it to replace the 300Tdi in it. The Volvos are 6:1 overall ratio (3:1 diff and 2:1 portals), and would have made the 4BD1T rev uncomfortably high at 100/110 kph.



When the 4BD1T and MXA-6R were in the bushie, I had a different adapter for the Atlas transfer case. I had other reasons for using the Atlas.

With the Isuzu swap to the rangie, I wanted to keep the Atlas in the bushie and use the existing LT230 in the rangie. This LT230 had Maxi-Drive low range gears (not as low as the Atlas) and a hydraulic pump on the PTO for a hydraulic winch. This PTO pump was one reason why I couldn't move the LT230 back - it already required modification to the structural seat and seat belt member in the floor of the rangie.

Now that I have hijacked your thread, ...

I replaced the Volvo portals in the bushie with some others that have a better overall ratio, but I can't get it registered in QLD, so as soon as I finish my carport I intend to merge the 120 and bushie, sans portals.

Put the dif lock housing to the rear drive shaft side of the LT230...you said you wanted to bang your head a bit more

Practically speaking is there any reason why the difflock and housing has to output to the front drive instead of rear?

Ditto seatbelt issue when I fitted the hydaulic pump to my disco. My Runva winch specifies 9mm steel plate cradle but all the ebay stuff seems to be about 3mm so project is currently stalled.

Originally Posted by workingonit

Put the dif lock housing to the rear drive shaft side of the LT230...you said you wanted to bang your head a bit more

Practically speaking is there any reason why the difflock and housing has to output to the front drive instead of rear?

Ditto seatbelt issue when I fitted the hydaulic pump to my disco. My Runva winch specifies 9mm steel plate cradle but all the ebay stuff seems to be about 3mm so project is currently stalled.

Completely re-engineer a transfer-case. No thanks.
I've already got too many years of projects stacked up in front of me.

I had a productive evening, went from TC on the bench and hand-brake setup around 6pm to tightening the last prop-shaft nut at 11.50pm.
Pumped the soft tyre, fitted 2 litres more water into the radiator (head gasket is next) and went for a test run.

It does still have the rumble, but it appears better. I don't know how much better yet because the speedo isn't accurate (needle sticks when it's been sitting for a long time) and I forgot to bring the GPS.

But the handbrake rattle is completely gone and hopefully all the oil will stay in now.
I will pull the LT230 cover back off and check the torque on the tension bolt after it's had a few runs. Just in case things move a little.

So flywheel inertia ring is still on the cards to help smooth out the low rpm rumble and I'm wondering if the intermediate shaft in the LT230R is also a contributor. It isn't tight between the thrust washers (obviously) where an LT230T is fully captured.

I remember in 2006-7 pulling one particular hill in 5th gear at around 1500rpm with no rumble problems. But I cannot remember exactly which combination of gearbox and transfer I had. My best guess is the old 5P gearbox and 1.2:1 LT230T transfer.
I still have both those, the 1.2:1 LT230T I would refit if I can make the MXA-6 work.
Right now it's too uncertain to spend time or money on transfer cases.