TD4 Clutch

Morning fine Landy Folk,

The clutch pedal on my 2002 TD4 FL1 is really high leading me to think it needs a new clutch. Its done 129,000 miles without one so I'd assume its a reasonable thought.

How hard are they to change on the drive or how much as garage roughly charge? I'm and aircraft mechanic by trade so know my way around a spanner and a hammer but never changed a clutch before.

Cheers in advance

Adwilko88 said:

The clutch pedal on my 2002 TD4 FL1 is really high leading me to think it needs a new clutch. Its done 129,000 miles without one so I'd assume its a reasonable thought.

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Sounds like a worn clutch to me.

Adwilko88 said:

How hard are they to change on the drive or how much as garage roughly charge?

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It's a good 10-15 hours work, on your back, on the drive, so leave a weekend to do the job.

There's a lot to remove, and the box is pretty heavy and unwieldy to get back into place single handed. I use an engine hoist to take the pressure off the old body, when maneuvering the box off and on.

Nodge68 said:

Sounds like a worn clutch to me.

It's a good 10-15 hours work, on your back, on the drive, so leave a weekend to do the job.

There's a lot to remove, and the box is pretty heavy and unwieldy to get back into place single handed. I use an engine hoist to take the pressure off the old body, when maneuvering the box off and on.

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Thats a lot bigger job than I was expecting as a DIY job... And im assuming that's by someone who knows what there doing ive seen a clutch kit for about £120 just wondered what a garage my charge.

I dont have and engine hoist so would literally be a case of man handling and brute force on my own armed with a jack

Adwilko88 said:

Thats a lot bigger job than I was expecting as a DIY job...

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It is DIY doable, but it is a physically demanding job, as everything you need to remove is heavy.

Adwilko88 said:

And im assuming that's by someone who knows what there doing

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I've done it on a 2 poster lift and on the driveway too, the latter wasn't so easy, but needed a lot less specialist equipment like transmission jacks. Neither way is quick, so unfortunately it's expensive to have done.

Adwilko88 said:

ive seen a clutch kit for about £120

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That's not a bad price, as long as it's a reputable make, like LUK or Borg&Beck.

Adwilko88 said:

just wondered what a garage my charge.

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You'll be looking at £500-£600 labour, if you choose somewhere good.

Adwilko88 said:

I dont have and engine hoist so would literally be a case of man handling and brute force on my own armed with a jack

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The box weighs about 35Kg, and getting to line up with the clutch splines is awkward. In the past, I made up a cradle for my trolley jack, which is the way forward, if you're limited to the amount lifting equipment to hand. I now use a hoist, simply because it's easier to guide the box into place.

The hardest part is getting the splines to line up, the rest is just bolting things on. The next hardest part is the IRD, which again is heavy, but can be balanced on the sub-frame, once removed from the box. This saves lifting it back into place from ground, which isn't easy to do if space under the car is limited.

Make sure you can secure the vehicle really high off the ground, as you'll need lots of space under the car. I use wooden blocks, which I can stack to about 18" high under the suspension rear mounting blocks.

There's actually a video on YouTube, where a mobile mechanic does this very job, while filming it, in the rain to IIRC.

Nodge68 said:

It is DIY doable, but it is a physically demanding job, as everything you need to remove is heavy.

I've done it on a 2 poster lift and on the driveway too, the latter wasn't so easy, but needed a lot less specialist equipment like transmission jacks. Neither way is quick, so unfortunately it's expensive to have done.

That's not a bad price, as long as it's a reputable make, like LUK or Borg&Beck.

You'll be looking at £500-£600 labour, if you choose somewhere good.

The box weighs about 35Kg, and getting to line up with the clutch splines is awkward. In the past, I made up a cradle for my trolley jack, which is the way forward, if you're limited to the amount lifting equipment to hand. I now use a hoist, simply because it's easier to guide the box into place.

The hardest part is getting the splines to line up, the rest is just bolting things on. The next hardest part is the IRD, which again is heavy, but can be balanced on the sub-frame, once removed from the box. This saves lifting it back into place from ground, which isn't easy to do if space under the car is limited.

Make sure you can secure the vehicle really high off the ground, as you'll need lots of space under the car. I use wooden blocks, which I can stack to about 18" high under the suspension rear mounting blocks.

There's actually a video on YouTube, where a mobile mechanic does this very job, while filming it, in the rain to IIRC.

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Brilliant ill have a look for that video mate... Ive another car I can use to drive if sits on stands for a while and at the price of labour I think ill try it myself yeah i was thinking of welding some form or cradle up that will fit on the jack as in not the biggest of blokes and I think over 30kg lift will get tiring quickly thanks for your advice mate... Ill make sure its a decent make as only doing it once by the looks of it haha

This mobile mechanic has a few videos on the job:

Dangerous dropping the subframe like that lying directly underneath it, cut shins, fractured ankle, those axle stands don't look to be the best around either, fair play to the guy he seems to know what he is doing albeit a struggle from start to finish, again you should not be lowering the gearbox/ird onto yourself like that, i would let a garage do the job with the safety of a lift, £600 -£700 as got to be worth any injury to your self ?

Also the drive shafts need to be removed out straight otherwise damage to the seals can happen & do, alignment must also be correct when refitting the gearbox again if not damage will occur. It seems that was filmed over a 30 minute period of time if the video as not been cut down, therefore it should take a garage no more than a couple of hours to do the job. the price above should include parts as well. I bet he was aching after that for a few days.

You got to give it this guy he is a very hard grafter, just wish he would take more safety use an hoist or something to lower the gearbox as sods law says you will not get away without injury for ever.

This is the same guy doing another clutch almost a hour this time round.

Arctic2 said:

Dangerous dropping the subframe like that lying directly underneath it, cut shins, fractured ankle, those axle stands don't look to be the best around either, fair play to the guy he seems to know what he is doing albeit a struggle from start to finish, again you should not be lowering the gearbox/ird onto yourself like that, i would let a garage do the job with the safety of a lift, £600 -£700 as got to be worth any injury to your self ?

Also the drive shafts need to be removed out straight otherwise damage to the seals can happen & do, alignment must also be correct when refitting the gearbox again if not damage will occur. It seems that was filmed over a 30 minute period of time if the video as not been cut down, therefore it should take a garage no more than a couple of hours to do the job. the price above should include parts as well. I bet he was aching after that for a few days.

You got to give it this guy he is a very hard grafter, just wish he would take more safety use an hoist or something to lower the gearbox as sods law says you will not get away without injury for ever.

This is the same guy doing another clutch almost a hour this time round.

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Lowering and lifting the box into place not only risks personal injury, but will inevitably damage the clutch driven plate, as the box needs to be held in perfect alignment for the whole assembly.

I'd try to avoid changing clutches at home, if lifting equipment is limited, as it's a lot of physical work, and I'd ache for days afterwards. Luckily I have a decent engine crane, and a couple of floor jacks, so I can do it without a huge amount of physical labour.

I also get the vehicle nice and high, and use wooden blocks for support, as they're much less likely to topple over.

Thanks for the replies... Sorry ive only just got back to you I've been sleeping off a night shift..As it stands the vehicle became a Category S write off the beginning of June and became my greenlaning toy. That being said I got £600 for the car so spending that again on garage fees seems a bit excessive but I also see your point when comes to safety. I have another daily i can use so would it possibly be worth making some form of cradle to lower the IRD and Gearbox? If I cant do it myself i think it may result in scrapping the vehicle

Is it totally a stupid idea to consider changing for an auto box if taking the gearbox out anyway or is a conversion in the realms of fantasy?

Cheers everyone

Adwilko88 said:

Thanks for the replies... Sorry ive only just got back to you I've been sleeping off a night shift..As it stands the vehicle became a Category S write off the beginning of June and became my greenlaning toy. That being said I got £600 for the car so spending that again on garage fees seems a bit excessive but I also see your point when comes to safety. I have another daily i can use so would it possibly be worth making some form of cradle to lower the IRD and Gearbox? If I cant do it myself i think it may result in scrapping the vehicle

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If you have time, and another vehicle, then give it a go. There's nothing worse than pushing yourself to get a job done, in a limited time frame.

I'm working my way through my recently acquired FL2 engine problems in the same way.

Adwilko88 said:

Is it totally a stupid idea to consider changing for an auto box if taking the gearbox out anyway or is a conversion in the realms of fantasy?

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It's a lot of work, and the auto isn't without its problems either, as my own is proving.

I did the job over a weekend Here is a write up of it.
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/clutch-change-in-a-td4-list-of-jobs-to-do.315242/

I watched the 2nd video and noticed he didn't drop the IRD but just tied it up. Then later I realised he didn't disconnect the cooling pipes from it.
That one difference to what I did probably saved him a over an hour.
I edited my How To thread to mention this.