Thread: crash course

Originally Posted by procrastination inc

our fire brigade has 2 4wd isuzus that carry about 1500lts of water + pumps and other gear up some stupidly steep stuff in low range. seems to be adequate reduction

It's certainly heaps for a 4wd truck, but few people would want to use a transfer case with less than half the low reduction they could have with an LT230.
The almost 6:1 first gear in the MSA boxes helps a lot. But combine that with a 4BD1T at idle and LT230 and you'll be far happier.

I'm guessing the NPS 4x4 would have a lower diff ratio than 3.54, coupled with 6:1 1st gear & small 7.50 R16 tyres helps overall with low range gearing.

Originally Posted by clean32

with the MSA boxs, are adapters easy to come across or do you need to make one up? if so how id the drive taken across.

Has anyone done this? Would it be hard / expensive to have made up? What about the gearbox / chassis mounts?

Is there anyone in Sydney that has / can machine this setup that I can talk to / come and see? I'm pretty keen on this, but I don't have metal working / engineering skills.

Cheers,
Declan

Originally Posted by flagg

Has anyone done this? Would it be hard / expensive to have made up? What about the gearbox / chassis mounts?

Is there anyone in Sydney that has / can machine this setup that I can talk to / come and see? I'm pretty keen on this, but I don't have metal working / engineering skills.

Cheers,
Declan

I have one.
The hard part is the cable gear change, because it hasn't been done on these gearboxes in a landy. Bush65 has a bigger box with cable change.

I don't think there's anyone else around who has one besides me. The chassis mounts are 1 from your LT230 and the other from the adapter body. Mine is using part of the LT77 for the adapter body which gives you a second factory mount.

Originally Posted by Dougal

I have one.
The hard part is the cable gear change, because it hasn't been done on these gearboxes in a landy. Bush65 has a bigger box with cable change.

(potentially stupid question I know) Is there a reason you can't use the original gear change? Wouldn't the cable system allow you to mount the stick "anywhere"?

Originally Posted by Dougal

I don't think there's anyone else around who has one besides me. The chassis mounts are 1 from your LT230 and the other from the adapter body. Mine is using part of the LT77 for the adapter body which gives you a second factory mount.

hmm OK. So you need a sacrificial LT77 as well? Do you need to mod / weld the chassis for the adapter mount or no?

Do you think it is a worthwhile / achievable conversion? I'm after something that is going to last a long time behind a 4bd1-t..

Originally Posted by flagg

(potentially stupid question I know) Is there a reason you can't use the original gear change? Wouldn't the cable system allow you to mount the stick "anywhere"?

A cable system potentially lets you put the gear lever anywhere. But you've got to make everything physically fit. Including how the cables leave the shifter mechanism and ensure the levers on the box have sufficient clearance.

It's a job I've been meaning to do for ages, but haven't. The original truck gear lever will need it's cables shortened at a minimum. I haven't been able to buy one to check how well it'll fit. But I haven't looked that hard either.

Originally Posted by flagg

hmm OK. So you need a sacrificial LT77 as well? Do you need to mod / weld the chassis for the adapter mount or no?

Do you think it is a worthwhile / achievable conversion? I'm after something that is going to last a long time behind a 4bd1-t..

No chassis mods besides engine mounting. The original LT230 mounting holes and mounts are used on mine. I have an MSA gearbox in my garage which was in my rangie for approx 200,000km. It's survived fine. I replaced it with another MSA box with slightly different ratios about 2 years ago.



This is my current setup. It has a gearlever grafted into the top which works but doesn't feel good. I plan to replace it with cable change one day.

If you have the wheelbase as in a 110 or 130 compared to 100" for rangie, it would be easier IMHO to divorce mount an LT230 behind an Isuzu gearbox.

Take a spud shaft from a ZF auto box - this fits into the LT230. Drill and tap the rear end of the spud shaft for a retaining bolt and washer. Machine a drive flange to shrink and weld onto the front end of the stub shaft. Then use a short drive shaft between the gearbox output flange and the spud shaft.

This pic shows a divorced LT230, but not with an Isuzu box.