Defender R380 gearbox driving style

Hi everybody & Greetings from Paris !
I own a defender TD5 year 2003. If I up-shift quickly with high RPM from 1st to 2d, or from 2d to 3d, I feel a crunch/grind in my hand (not so loud to hear it in the vehicle, I can just feel it with my hand).

If I leave the RPM/rev normal, and leave a 1 second pause on Neutral between these gears, all is fine.

No crunch when downshifting. The gearbox runs with new MTF94 oil.

Is this a normal behavior for a R380 ? Are we supposed to UP shift slowly with these gearboxes, losing momentum ?

Losing momentum is not an issue on flat road, but annoying climbing a slope.

I was wondering if this is a characteristic of the R380 gearbox even when it was brand new back in 2003.

Many thanks for your help and feedback !

Julien

Mine does it a little bit every now and again. Don't really find it a problem as I'm a steady driver.

Just go steady mate, it's a fast road tractor

Sounds normal, it's not a hot hatch box. May be worth checking clutch master free play not excessive.

cos we all leave our hand on the gear stick, we apply pressure to the brass selector forks they wear down ......

most common is 1st to 2nd, crunch if you feel the need to do a fast change...... why i cant imagine lol

stuff on you tube about it.....

I find the gearchange takes a bit of getting used to for people accustomed to driving other cars. In Land Rover form it's not a fast shifting box. On my current one I find I need quite a firm push to the left to find first, whereas a gentle push to the left suffices for second. For third, I let go of the lever and allow it to 'float' for a moment and the springs will find the relevant gate of their own accord, whereas if you attempt to push it in straight from second, it won't go in at all. I'm sure everybody's has a little personality of their own. Some people favour the Slickshift conversion and claim it gives them a much more driveable, faster gearchange.

After all, a very similar gearbox was used on the MG V8, and that's supposed to feel sporty. So I think a lot has to do with the design of the selector mechanism rather than the gearbox internals.

Brown said:

I find the gearchange takes a bit of getting used to for people accustomed to driving other cars. In Land Rover form it's not a fast shifting box. On my current one I find I need quite a firm push to the left to find first, whereas a gentle push to the left suffices for second. For third, I let go of the lever and allow it to 'float' for a moment and the springs will find the relevant gate of their own accord, whereas if you attempt to push it in straight from second, it won't go in at all. I'm sure everybody's has a little personality of their own. Some people favour the Slickshift conversion and claim it gives them a much more driveable, faster gearchange.

After all, a very similar gearbox was used on the MG V8, and that's supposed to feel sporty. So I think a lot has to do with the design of the selector mechanism rather than the gearbox internals.

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Bonjour Brown, Thank's for your speedy reply. Did you have a chance to drive an R380 from new ? Does it need a momentary pause on neutral before upshifting to 2d and 3d even from new ? Without high reving on the changes and being gentle on the gas ? Cheers !

The first R380 I had was 36,000 miles old and it took a little getting used to. I drove it until it wore out (or at least got very noisy) and put an Ashcroft reconditioned unit in. The new one is a little more temperamental to shift as it feels like the gates are a bit narrower than on the old one. The old one had spent its first 36,000 miles working for a power station and had been driven rather roughly by a variety of workmen so I think they'd loosened everything up a bit. I have a friend who's had a couple of TD5s with R380 gearboxes. The first one had belonged to a pig farmer beforehand so felt like my old one. The second felt very light and easy to change, even though it just had the standard gear lever. I adjusted the springs and the position of the lever on its splines and it was even easier, so you could change gears pretty fast. I very rarely use first gear. It pulls away quite happily in second, so I just use first as an occasional crawler gear and for steep hill starts. So I don't often go from first to second. I very rarely drive anything other than a Land Rover, except a dumper truck and a JCB digger. On the few occasions I drive a 'normal' car, it feels very weird indeed. So light and flimsy!