Thread: Enlighten me

Originally Posted by Traveler

Can someone tell me what were Landrovers reasons for choosing the 4bd1...and what was the first year they done this mighty transformation...also on my ute {83 model} would it have the stronger box??? which is it the lt85 or lt95???or is it something else??'thanks

Cause land rover couldn't build a descent(sp) diesel engine, if its still the factory box, it'll be LT95 4 speed, LT85 is a 5speed

Because of the Army tender. The Army didn't want a prechamber and glow plug engine that needs a period of preheating and warmup before starting up and off. This is a slight disadvantage when someone is shooting at you.

HA!

The LT95 is the stronger box.

The number following LT (Leyland Transmission) is the centre distance between the mainshaft and layshaft in a gearbox, or between the input and output shaft LT230 transfer case.

Larger centre distance accommodates larger (stronger usually) gears.

oh the hell it is...

the number after the transmission model is the number of pieces your foot will fragment into when the box lands on the bridge of your foot when it falls off the transmission stand.

snap

Originally Posted by Traveler

Can someone tell me what were Landrovers reasons for choosing the 4bd1...and what was the first year they done this mighty transformation...also on my ute {83 model} would it have the stronger box??? which is it the lt85 or lt95???or is it something else??'thanks

Just to amplify the responses.

Faced with the Perentie tender for the army, Leyland as it was at the time, needed a diesel engine that provided the performance the army demanded. As they did not produce one that would fit in the Landrover they looked round other manufacturers for one that :-
1. Could be bought in
2. Would fit
3. Met the army requirements.

At the time, the Landrover diesel was the 2.25 NA engine, producing about 65% of the power of the Isuzu, and not having the reputation of being the most durable or reliable engine around.

I do not know whether they looked seriously at any other engine, but most of the "obvious" possibilities did not exist at the time (remember we are looking at the late seventies), wouldn't fit, or were manufactured by a competitor who was not prepared to sell the engine to Leyland under reasonable conditions.

The engine was first fitted to the Series 3 Stage 1, starting about 1980, both giving Landrover a much needed more powerful diesel for the civilian market, and giving Leyland experience in dealing with the engine.

The gearbox was the same as the V8, the LT95, which had been originally developed by Rover to meet the requirements for both the Rangrover and the 101 gun tractor (They could not afford to develop two boxes at the same time, so designed one to meet both requirements). This is generally considered to be more robust than any of the five speed boxes fitted later. (the LT95 was used, with modifications in all perentie Landrovers, although civilian 110s, or at least the 4x4s, went to five speed boxes about 1985-6)

The same engine/gearbox combination was used in all the perentie Landrovers, except that the 6x6s had the turbocharged version of the Isuzu. Following the introduction of the coil sprung Landrovers in 1984, the Isuzu became the only diesel sold in Australia by Landrover until the introduction of the Tdi engine with the Discovery in 1990.

Hope that helps

John

The army advance tendering procedures were in place about 1977. Isuzu trucks were only introduced into and sold in Australia as "Bedford-Isuzu" in 1971-72 financial year and had not then achieved any sort of market dominance or savoury reputation . Like Kubota and others, they were considered cheap Jappy strange at that time. Medium size turbo Perkins were looked at, but Perkins had their own problems and could not supply. Leyland Australia took a big punt on the Isuzu engine as they really had only poor alternatives. Other makes were not available (or in the quantity required), too heavy, too large, insufficiently powerful, too damn strong for the powertrain available, or so on the nose they could not be considered. Oldsmobile's 350 V8 diesel was looked at but potential numbers were insufficient for Olds. The Detroit Diesel four stroke "Fuel Pincher" V8 was then little more than lines on a drawing board and at 8.2 litres too big even though it was physically only the size of a big block Chev. It needed a whole new powertrain to constrain it.