Freelander 1 6speed manual gearbox anyone??

Had anyone found a 6spd box that would drop in a 2003/2004 TD4??
Beamer Rover 75 or something else??

What's wrong with a 5 speed?

Every car I own and drive has 6spd... I was asking because the ratios of six speed boxes are closer, can it many circumstances lead to being smoother and hopefully would provide a slightly faster top end without screaming the nuts off the engine. .. although.... the first gear / downhill decent switch could be interesting as could the internal and external spline shaft on the osf drive shaft output.

xpuser8334 said:

Every car I own and drive has 6spd... I was asking because the ratios of six speed boxes are closer, can it many circumstances lead to being smoother and hopefully would provide a slightly faster top end without screaming the nuts off the engine. .. although.... the first gear / downhill decent switch could be interesting as could the internal and external spline shaft on the osf drive shaft output.

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not being rude in any way but, must admit wouldn't like a higher top end , due to its height and would only need a gust of wind , tyre to blow , if u was doing 100mph top end , mine will happily sit at 75 -80 mph on just above 2000 revs and is quite and very smooth

but tend to put the cruise control set at 70mph

have never experianced the engine screaming it's nuts off to be honest , but like everything depends in what ur comparing it too and after all isn't designed really for a top end of doing a ton

Fair point. But the closer ranges and the ratio difference a 6th gear would make would also add to the economy
. (Maybe by 2 or 3 mpg. .. who knows... maybe more)
I haven't thrashed this one and if you read my profile, you will see why...
Actually I haven't got the engine in it yet... but hoped there was something worth trying while the engine and gearbox are out.

xpuser8334 said:

Fair point. But the closer ranges and the ratio difference a 6th ear would make would also add to the economy
. (Maybe by 2 or 3 mpg. .. who knows... maybe more)
I haven't thrashed this one and if you read my profile, you will see why...
Actually I haven't got the engine in it yet... but hoped there was something worth trying while the engine and gearbox are out.

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no probs and hope my post didn't come across as rude, see ur point with regards to an overdrive gear /6th

lol, see ur dilema now , ref the engine etc, sorry didn't see that , don't know how the rover 75 engine and gearbox compare with regards to ratios etc

wonder though if it would upset the torque etc , but I assume it would only be the addition of an overdrive gear that u were originally talking about without altering the other 5

I've got an auto so don't know how they compare between the auto and manuals

6 gears won't automatically give you more everywhere. Depends on a lot of things.

Traditionally a 4 speed manual had 4th gear as 1:1 ratio. When 5 speeds came along they gave you an Overdrive gear, i.e. 5th was less than 1 such as 0.87:1

Most 6 speed boxes (but not all of them) are a double overdrive, so 4th gear is still 1:1

This means to make the most of the 6 speed box you'll also need to change the final drive ratio (i.e. the diff gears). Simply adding an extra ratio possible wouldn't be of any use otherwise as it'd just be too tall a gear to be of much use.

In terms of finding a box, well I'm sure it is possible, but doubt anything will be a simple bolt in. The Td4 is a BMW engine using iirc a Getrag gearbox. But in the Freelander this is a transversely mounted setup. No BMW's are, they are all longitudinal. If you can find the specific box the Freelander uses and cross reference it with other cars, then you may find a transverse 6 speed box with the correct mounting for a Td4. But you'd have to be very lucky for the rest of it to match up dimensionally.

Lots of work for little gain imho. If you want a higher final drive then fit the IRD from the V6 Freelander. This will make all the gears slightly taller.

ok.... it was a thought as the box is on the ground at the moment. thanks for the opinions guys. Appreciated.

300bhp/ton said:

No BMW's are, they are all longitudinal.

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Their new people carrier thingy is front wheel drive on the bottom range and 4x4 higher up the range but one of those gear boxes is probably worth more than any FL1!

probably be cheaper to upgrade to a FL2 if u want 6 speeds

Nodge68 said:

Lots of work for little gain imho. If you want a higher final drive then fit the IRD from the V6 Freelander. This will make all the gears slightly taller.

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Nodge, I guess the speedo will be out if I fitted a V6 IRD?

xpuser8334 said:

Nodge, I guess the speedo will be out if I fitted a V6 IRD?

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Nope. The speed signal is taken from, depending on year, either from the OSR wheel IIRC or from an average of all 4 wheels via the ABS ECU. So altering the final drive makes no difference to the displayed speed. Just its relationship with the rev counter. So if the gearing if altered to a higher ratio, the speedo will show high speed than it did for the same revs.

hmmm..... well it is a late 2003 Freebie 1 TD4... worth considering.... I'm heading to Hull on thursday to Rover Breakers; I could always see what they have.

Lot of faff an expense for minimal differences IMO.
If you want to be a winner - find a 6 speed cluster with an ultra-low 1st gear ratio so that 2 - 6 work as the original 1 - 5 and you have the new low 1st as a crawler gear, finally giving the Freelander the lo-ratio it needs.
Some light trucks run a setup like this but you would need to either build a complete custom box or at least do a hell of a lot of machining to get the new cluster to fit the Getrag casing. The aim of the game would be to have the standard output from the gearbox so the standard IRD will fit and the rest of the transmission remains stock.
Its one of those pie-in-the-sky mental exercises I think about every now and then.