LT95 mainshaft wear

Finally got our year long re build and re certification of our 1983 county 110 finished and back on the road....didnt really know the condition of engine and gearbox pre rebuild as it wasnt on the road when we purchased it so mainly focused on just getting it recertified after all the rusty chassis and firewall repair work carried out, all good but now the leaks and gearbox issues appear

Anyway LT95 box is back out and stripped and after only wanting to change the front and rear output seals and main and layshaft bearings I found the mainshaft as below.......way to expensive new here in New Zealand and hard to find second hand here...

Has anyone put the shaft back into a box in the state shown and had no issues? I realize ideally it should be replaced but my son and I have spent our budget so far! if its a resounding 'no way' the more experienced then I'll keep looking for a second hand one

I have zero experience with gearboxes!

Any thoughts appreciated

I can’t help with the query but your Landy is very smart!

Thanks....its a 1983 county with the original running gear, imported into NZ from the UK 1997 with a touch of rust, then fresh water flood damaged, my son purchased it 2 years ago first time for this sort of project, quite satisfying to get it back on the road but as mentioned we are now trying to sort the leaks out. In hind sight should have stripped the gearbox etc while we were doing the body...oh well!

Can you not buy the individual gear, and get a machine shop to repair the shapt on a lathe and with some welding, or try these people https://www.heritagepartscentre.com/uk/ftc997-4-speed-cluster-gear-lt95-oem.html
£299.95 incl VAT and rather a lot for delivery.
I assume yours is actually a 5 speed box, but since you have the main shaft oot, why not put a new one in.
https://www.onlinegearboxparts.com/product/mainshaft-syncro-assembly-oem/
I hope you find a good solution, I rebuilt the gearbox on my 1974 S3, but thats a much more simple affair than your LT95.
Good luck with your lovely Landy

Wagon Loon said:

Can you not buy the individual gear, and get a machine shop to repair the shapt on a lathe and with some welding, or try these people https://www.heritagepartscentre.com/uk/ftc997-4-speed-cluster-gear-lt95-oem.html
£299.95 incl VAT and rather a lot for delivery.
I assume yours is actually a 5 speed box, but since you have the main shaft oot, why not put a new one in.
https://www.onlinegearboxparts.com/product/mainshaft-syncro-assembly-oem/
I hope you find a good solution, I rebuilt the gearbox on my 1974 S3, but thats a much more simple affair than your LT95.
Good luck with your lovely Landy

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply..it is a 4 speed box, you need to double the price of your pounds to get NZD and delivery from UK is expensive, I guess the intent was just a quick cheap repair but its grown so just looking for cheap alternates and was hoping to get the 'it will be OK just put it back in!' reply but I think I know what the correct answer is unfortunately

I figured delivery would add much to the cost.butyour time and labour has value too.
I fell down the rabbit hole with mine preparing for the MOT. So new floor panels from YRM,new stub axle, half shaft, bearings and discs. Plus original AP calipers which cost £400 alone . I could get chinesium ones at £100 but I'm replacing one of those because the caliper pistons have rusted very badly on one a previous owner fitted. So a false economy.
I know it's all worth it, so long asI do all the work myself.

I am no expert on gearbox's but have done a few gear Series box's and fixed up a number of shafts/bearings on farm implements. Going by the look there is nothing terrible with shaft or gear in pics. If it has no wobble on the shaft and teeth are good I would reuse. Any engineering places about that would have a look at it for you?

If it were mine that would be going back in no worries.

Thanks for the replies guys...my problem is I'm an aircraft engineer so at work its simple...just get a new part! in real life the reality is its not ideal and will probably go for years like this...just not allowed to use the work probably at work! will wait for a few more comments but it looks like it might be a bit more clean up then back in

Wagon Loon said:

I figured delivery would add much to the cost.butyour time and labour has value too.
I fell down the rabbit hole with mine preparing for the MOT. So new floor panels from YRM,new stub axle, half shaft, bearings and discs. Plus original AP calipers which cost £400 alone . I could get chinesium ones at £100 but I'm replacing one of those because the caliper pistons have rusted very badly on one a previous owner fitted. So a false economy.
I know it's all worth it, so long asI do all the work myself.
View attachment 325148View attachment 325149View attachment 325150

Click to expand...

Wagon Loon said:

I figured delivery would add much to the cost.butyour time and labour has value too.
I fell down the rabbit hole with mine preparing for the MOT. So new floor panels from YRM,new stub axle, half shaft, bearings and discs. Plus original AP calipers which cost £400 alone . I could get chinesium ones at £100 but I'm replacing one of those because the caliper pistons have rusted very badly on one a previous owner fitted. So a false economy.
I know it's all worth it, so long asI do all the work myself.
View attachment 325148View attachment 325149View attachment 325150

Click to expand...

Yep always a fine line between false economy and real value!

I have a mate that works on stuff but unless it is 100% perfect it wont do, trouble is he takes forever to get things done and that is if he gets them finished at all. I know in the aircraft world it has to be so, as you can not just pull over and stop if it goes wrong. On the ground good enough is most of the time just that and will keep one working/going.

tottot said:

I have a mate that works on stuff but unless it is 100% perfect it wont do, trouble is he takes forever to get things done and that is if he gets them finished at all. I know in the aircraft world it has to be so, as you can not just pull over and stop if it goes wrong. On the ground good enough is most of the time just that and will keep one working/going.

Click to expand...

Yep that sounds like me! frustrates the hell out of my son....

The splines look really good, as others have said I'd pop it back in no probs!
STUNNING Landy, and best set up imo, v8 and lt95, simple and strong, perfect combo!

Chalky. said:

The splines look really good, as others have said I'd pop it back in no probs!
STUNNING Landy, and best set up imo, v8 and lt95, simple and strong, perfect combo!

Click to expand...

Thanks for reply....it looks like it will be going back in, have replaced mainshaft front roller bearing, all other ball and tapered bearings and seals so hopefully no more noise when foot off clutch and output shaft seals will keep the oil in!

Is it the clutch release bearing that's loud and then goes quiet when the clutch is depressed? Mine is loud on my lt95 and needs replacing!

Chalky. said:

Is it the clutch release bearing that's loud and then goes quiet when the clutch is depressed? Mine is loud on my lt95 and needs replacing!

Click to expand...

I dont think that was the source of the noise, clutch release bearing feels and spins OK and even though the loads are different that bearing spins all the time, when clutch is foot off gearbox input shaft and gearbox layshafts spin, when clutch is pressed gearbox is not spinning, ours was really noisy when clutch foot off and quiet when clutch foot on, the main front input shaft bearing was really loud to spin when gearbox was out and I think that was our main noise but apparently the 2 tapered roller bearings on the layshaft are also a common cause. Even though ours were noisy they didnt look like they were ready to fail anytime soon. Bit of a learning curve for me to replace them but next time a lot easier!

On recent series box fix up [ lost reverse] the grumbling input bearing was the only one I replaced in the box.
Release bearing also replaced, may as well when in there.

At least you've got all year teeth still lol, yes that taper bearing looks very bad, maybe a lack of oil changes in the past or the wrong oil was used. But the chances are, new bearings and seals will have it running just fine. There's a ton of back lash and play in these drive trains anyway. They're not like a modern gearbox that would destroy itself over the smallest thing, their tolerances being considerably finer, and intolerances accordingly. That's why we love the agricultural no nonsense of these old machines

MacStu said:

Finally got our year long re build and re certification of our 1983 county 110 finished and back on the road....didnt really know the condition of engine and gearbox pre rebuild as it wasnt on the road when we purchased it so mainly focused on just getting it recertified after all the rusty chassis and firewall repair work carried out, all good but now the leaks and gearbox issues appear

Anyway LT95 box is back out and stripped and after only wanting to change the front and rear output seals and main and layshaft bearings I found the mainshaft as below.......way to expensive new here in New Zealand and hard to find second hand here...

Has anyone put the shaft back into a box in the state shown and had no issues? I realize ideally it should be replaced but my son and I have spent our budget so far! if its a resounding 'no way' the more experienced then I'll keep looking for a second hand one

I have zero experience with gearboxes!

Any thoughts appreciated


View attachment 325130View attachment 325131View attachment 325133View attachment 325132View attachment 325134

Click to expand...

Unfortunately I cannot help you with the gearbox although my gut reaction is the same as some of the others above that in a land rover it is likely to be fine and well within land rover tolerances!

However I have a favour to ask, especially if your vehicle is as original as it looks on the outside. I am currently in the process of repairing a station wagon body and plan on fitting the rear doors with the sliding ali tops that you have fitted. My question is what the inside of the door looked like from the factory. If you have some photos of yours that would be very much appreciated. I am trying to work out if there was originally a door card similar to the front doors as I am struggling to find any for sale.

Wagon Loon said:

At least you've got all year teeth still lol, yes that taper bearing looks very bad, maybe a lack of oil changes in the past or the wrong oil was used. But the chances are, new bearings and seals will have it running just fine. There's a ton of back lash and play in these drive trains anyway. They're not like a modern gearbox that would destroy itself over the smallest thing, their tolerances being considerably finer, and intolerances accordingly. That's why we love the agricultural no nonsense of these old machines

Click to expand...

Yeah due us buying the vehicle as a fresh water flood insurance claim, and not in a running state when we purchased it, although I suspect the rusted chassis was more the reason for it to be flooded, we had no real history of the engine and box, I think the box probably sat with water in it for a while