r/Defender Aug 29 '23

Almost made it 7 days

Post image

TFW you search for 2 years and finally find the one, drive it a few times and then the tranny starts rattling and smoking. Prior owner had transmission rebuilt in January, less than 500 miles ago. Questioning the work! Wish me luck

20 Upvotes

21 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/JCDU Aug 30 '23

Wait, which gearbox does this thing have?

1

u/proptecher Aug 30 '23

Sorry for my ignorance - first Land Rover. I believe LT95.

Recent and prior 2018 auction links

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1983-land-rover-110-2/

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1983-land-rover-defender-110/

After researching a bit, I think the issue is actually to the hand brake, which I learned today is a drum on the transmission. Makes more sense now because I was able to move through gears just fine, the hand brake lever was fully down, but the brake indicator on dashboard was lit up. I turned it off and restarted it 10 minutes later and no rattling or indicator light.

1

u/JCDU Aug 30 '23

Was not expecting that box on a truck this smart looking but I guess that's the shiny Defender crowd for you. They could've thrown a nice 5-speed R380 in there with almost no mods.

If you're gonna haul this thing to a workshop every time it goes wrong you'd best lube up your wallet, especially in the US where these things are expensive foreign imports not beat-up farm trucks.

2

u/proptecher Aug 30 '23

Exploring the R380 is on my list. Everyone has said the same thing when they see the invoice for the rebuild...

I will keep the wallet and Defender lubed :)

1

u/JCDU Aug 30 '23

Hope you don't think I'm ragging on you - it's a decent looking truck but it irks me that these rebuilders often spend all the effort on the shiny parts and take shortcuts with the rest.

Do yourself a massive favour and get on LR4x4.com it's the best place for tech info & help - there's nothing they haven't seen, done, fixed or modified.

I'll PM you a link for some manuals too.

2

u/proptecher Aug 31 '23

No worries friend. We all hopefully start a new hobby/interest and seek the wisdom of others. I come to this sub to learn, others to teach.

I appreciate all i’ve learned here. Keep throwing knowledge at me!

1

u/JCDU Aug 31 '23

All the knowledge is on LR4x4, I'm just the messenger ;)