Transfer Box problem

Hello all,

I am brand new here but have a question that hope you experts can advise me.

I have a 1991 Landy Disco. It's Turbo Diesel 5 speed manual.

I bought it well over a year ago and the chap I bought it from warned me that when I put it in reverse it would "clunk a bit".

He said that this was due to the handbrake catching in reverse.

I soon learnt that if I keep the revs up then it wasn't a problem and if I could let the clutch out completely it doesn't judder at all.

I don't have the slightest problem in forward gears even if I use first and play the clutch and the situation in reverse isn't really a problem.

However, a mechanic friend who did some work for me recently said I would need to replace the transfer box by the end of the summer as he said it would go.

So I called a local salvage yard and the guy there seem surprised that I would want the transfer box withouout a gearbox and questioned whether my mechanic friend knew what he was talking about.

I followed this up by visiting Dingocroft in High Wycombe (as they are local) and I spoke to their top guy.

Firstly he agreed that the problem was more than likely to be a handbrake grab but he also asked how anyone could predict a transfer box failure in advance given that there aren't any noises or smells from the box itself. Bare in mind that he could have sold me the transfer box and taken my money and ran - but didn't which makes me think he knew what he was taking about.

The motor runs beautifully and has been 100% reliable since I bought her apart from this glitch in reverse which really isn't a problem.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Hi Daftoldhippy,

Alomost certainly the judder will be down to the handrake, which employs a leading and trailing shoe design, chances are wear or adjustment or slack return spring are causing the drag/judder on just the shoe that is effectively 'leading' in reverse.

My 200 Tdi defender does it in foward on a damp day at low 1st gear speeds, just havent gotten around to sorting it yet.

It is possible however that the problem could be caused by excessive lash in the transfer box and the jerkiness is 'snatch' between front and rear diff drive pick-up, meaning that 1 axle starts to drive first, then the other 'catches' up, the imbalance causing the jerk. If you can get all four wheels off the ground, turn 1 diff and see how much slop there is before the 2nd starts to turn, this will give an indication of lash in transfer box, but would usually lead to more noticeable jerkiness in accelerate/decelrate situations in all gears in both directions at lower speeds.

Hope this helps,

L3on..

Thanks L3on.

I am between a rock and a hard place knowing whether to spend a lot of money on something that might or might not ne a problem.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time trouble to answer.

If anyone else has any opinions I would be interested to read them.

Thanks again L3on

To my mind the obvious solution would be to get the handbrake shoes replaced.

Whoever did this would see if anything else was amiss with the handbrake and fix it at the same time or let you know(eg. damaged drum, faulty return spring etc).

Parts and labour shouldnt be too much to do a minor job like this and if the problem was still there then you would have ruled the handbrake(most likely cause).

If I were a betting man I would give odds of 5:1 on, that this would sort your problem completely.

That makes sense to me.

Once again my thanks to you.