Hi All , so there I was , driving along the motorway in my Defender 300tdi at a handy 60mph when I heard a sort of rubbing sound and some vibration .. I pulled over to take a look round the car but all seemed fine .. til I tried to set off again only to find a total loss of drive . All gears engage and the clutch pedal feels normal . The gears engage even without the clutch pedal being depressed and it can be started in gear without using the clutch . Putting it into diff lock has no effect and no prop shaft turns . I've also tried it in high and low range . When I start it up there's a kind of irregular rubbing squeking sound coming from underneath . All advice gratefully received ! Thanks .
Hicap phill
Well-Known Member
Just remember which way round it is when you remove it.
As You can put these back on the wrong way and only have 2 gears
Does the intermediate gear just slide out ?
Sounds very similar to what happened to me when my clutch failed. The splined boss in the middle of the friction plate had come loose, so it made a scratchy, scrapy, rattly sound but transmitted no motion. Interestingly, the boss just appeared to have been peened or staked into the friction plate. Since then I've favoured clutch plates which are made in one solid piece, so this can't happen. Mine's got a dual mass flywheel, so there aren't any springs in the friction plate itself.
dag019
Well-Known Member
but it gives you the opportunity to replace everything and cover it in grease and wax on reassembly so next time the clutch goes it will be a 5min job to remove everything required with no making bolts liquid to remove them required.
Just an update on this issue . I pulled the gearbox and removed the clutch . The clutch plate looks like new , and everything else looks good , except for wear on the pressure plate . I also removed the pto cover and withdrew the gears and the splines look excellent . What am I missing ?
tottot
Well-Known Member
Next test, put box in gear and turn input by hand, hold output and feel if movement is normal.
Hate to say this one
given your removal of everything but I once had no drive caused by internal fail of the flexi pipe to clutch slave that allowed fluid to press slave in but did not allow fluid to return, result no drive. Spring did pull clutch pedal back up but it felt different.
Hate to say this one
given your removal of everything but I once had no drive caused by internal fail of the flexi pipe to clutch slave that allowed fluid to press slave in but did not allow fluid to return, result no drive. Spring did pull clutch pedal back up but it felt different.
Hicap phill
Well-Known Member
Checked the clutch fork?
Thanks Tottot , I'll try that tomorrow . There is something that may be connected to this . A couple of weeks before this happened I tried to change up from fourth to fifth but couldn't move the lever . I pulled over with my foot on the clutch and managed to free it with some effort . It didn't happen again so I forgot about it . Also , when I broke down on the motorway I didn't lose drive when I was driving . It was only after I had pulled over and put in neutral and then tried to take off again that it wouldn't drive . Could it simply be something to do with the gear linkages ?
v8250
Well-Known Member
Yes, go check linkages and alignment...this should have been your first port of call. Take a look on Mike @ Britannica Restorations YT page, he has a very good video for linkage refurb and set up.
So I had a look at the gear linkages today . First off , the gear lever seems to be selecting all the gears . I could hear clunks and rattles of stuff moving about in the box . The difflock engages well and locks the input and output flanges together . The low range engages and turns both flanges but if I hold on to the output I can stop it turning and the input will turn with a fair bit of resistance . In the neutral position it will turn the output but it takes no effort to hold the output . Now here's the clue . When I engage the high range it feels just like neutral . Also the lever doesn't move back a lot and it doesn't take much to knock it back to neutral . I suspect it isn't actually engaging the high range . I had the linkages undone to remove some wiring . I believe I reattached them as shown on the Britanicca YouTube videos but I will recheck tomorrow .
Just wondering , If the high range wasn't actually engaging and it was still in neutral would that allow me to change gears without using the clutch ?
v8250
Well-Known Member
Here link to Mike's excellent videos on gear linkage and Hi/Lo linkage setting up
Thanks for that V8 , I've been watching those . In so far as I can tell the Hi-Lo range selector is now working . There's noticeable resistance between the front and rear flanges in the low position but the difference between neutral and high is more subtle . Would that be normal ? Also getting the lever to engage properly can be a bit hit and miss and usually requires some turning around of the flanges . My final question is this . If the clutch , mainshaft splines and range selector are all good is there anything else that could be the problem ?
The conclusion to this seems to be a knackered layshaft . It actually has drive to the flanges in fourth gear , not second as I thought . So the question now is do I attempt to rebuild it myself , send it off to be rebuilt , buy a reconditioned box , or look for a good used one ? 
