NickMc Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 What exactly is involved in changing them across to the defender shifter? I've lots of R380 300 Tdi Discovery boxes and LT77 Disco and Defender about, but no Defender R380s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GU110 Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 Hi Nick Mc I had a disco box changed to defender by Ashcroft a couple of years ago. the defender shifter and top housing bolt right on but the internal selector rods also need to be changed. I believe because the different levers have a different throw. On enquiring with Dave it became apparent that this involved at least the rear portion of the case to be removed. Cost £180 all in but the box I aquired with a disco had only 2000 miles on it, so worth doing in my case. Cheers Nick Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickMc Posted October 4, 2012 Author Share Posted October 4, 2012 Thanks Nick I don't mind splitting the box, just wondering if anyone had experience and knew what bits you need etc? Someone told me you could even use the LT77 shifter as well, don't know how true that is though.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneandtwo Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 I have done this a couple of times. A disco box can be swapped to a defender spec box in under half an hour with minimal dismantling and a but of ingenuity Shifter housing removed, the only difference between the two boxes is the length of the main shifter rail and the shifter yolk on the end of it. I am in a rush today but if I get time later I will write up how to do the swap. Yes you can use bits of a LT77 combined with an new shifter rail to convert a disco box to defender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickMc Posted October 5, 2012 Author Share Posted October 5, 2012 That would be great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potato head Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 I too would be very interested in this as I also would like to fit a R380, if I can get hold of one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickMc Posted October 7, 2012 Author Share Posted October 7, 2012 I've found a thread on another forum with an adapter that someone has turned up in the lathe. I might go down this route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orgasmic Farmer Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 Is this thread destined to become one of the many I have trawled in the past looking for answers to this question, where a few people say how easy it is to do, a few others state it is a pig of a job, someone gives a few vague references on what is involved. and in the end no-one actually sets out just how to do it? I gave up trying to get a definitive answer in the end and just fitted a disco box to my 110. My thinking was that they are cheap and plentiful compared to defender R380s, my seat box was FUBARed, and I wanted to fit a flat floor in the cab anyway so a reworking of the tunnel wasn't really an issue. I am more than happy with the results though it was a fair bit of work to get it looking halfways decent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 Mr Farmer, how does it look? Can you post some pics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orgasmic Farmer Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 There you go mate... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 That looks really good, I expected it to be much further back. Thanks for the pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickMc Posted October 7, 2012 Author Share Posted October 7, 2012 I priced the parts to change it and they're around £110 before you even get the shifter. I'm going to try and turn up the adaptor and use the LT77 top housing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickMc Posted October 7, 2012 Author Share Posted October 7, 2012 Here's the adaptor i found: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Any chance of listing the parts Nick? I currently have a Defender R380 in mine that is getting a bit long in the tooth and I'm wondering if any of the parts that get swapped over are likely to be knackered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickMc Posted October 8, 2012 Author Share Posted October 8, 2012 From what little i can gather: FTC5120 Selector Quadrant £45.84+vat FTC4588 Selector shaft £50.88+vat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneandtwo Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 I have been away for a while. Last few ones I have done have been converting good disco boxes to defender spec using worn out / water damaged defender boxes as spares donors. To do this swap everyone will tell you the box needs to be stripped down totally to swap FTC4588 involving hunreds of pounds of labour. It can however be done in about 30 mins from start to finish. Drain the box, remove the bellhousing (six bolts), and top shifter mechanism. Remove the bolts holding the alloy rear housing and cast iron front housing to the mid plate and remove both housings. You are now left with all the gears and shifter forks held in one large cluster around the centre plate. To remove the shifter rail locate the shift pins and measure the depth of protrusion through the shift rail using a vernier. Invert the gear clusters, position the shiftrail so that the shifter pins can be drifted out individually - they are an interference fit and the shift rail will need to be supported, easier with a helper to position the cluster while you drift the pins out; I support the rail around the pin using an old socket. Once the pins have been remove the old shift rail can be pushed through the forks and the new defender one fitted, making sure the detent doesnt fall out. Refit the shifter pins to the correct protrusion measured earlier. Reassemble box fitting defender shift quadrant instead of disco one and defender shifter mechanism. I have seen disco boxes with the end of an LT77 shift rod with quadrant welded to the disco shift in situ and using the lt77 shift mech. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Cheers for the info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Added to our Tech Archive gearbox section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangerous doug Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 I have just bought this from Ashcroft http://www.ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=375 Will be fitting it next week so I'll let you know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terryjm1 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 (edited) On 10/9/2012 at 4:29 PM, oneandtwo said: I have been away for a while. Last few ones I have done have been converting good disco boxes to defender spec using worn out / water damaged defender boxes as spares donors. To do this swap everyone will tell you the box needs to be stripped down totally to swap FTC4588 involving hunreds of pounds of labour. It can however be done in about 30 mins from start to finish. Drain the box, remove the bellhousing (six bolts), and top shifter mechanism. Remove the bolts holding the alloy rear housing and cast iron front housing to the mid plate and remove both housings. You are now left with all the gears and shifter forks held in one large cluster around the centre plate. To remove the shifter rail locate the shift pins and measure the depth of protrusion through the shift rail using a vernier. Invert the gear clusters, position the shiftrail so that the shifter pins can be drifted out individually - they are an interference fit and the shift rail will need to be supported, easier with a helper to position the cluster while you drift the pins out; I support the rail around the pin using an old socket. Once the pins have been remove the old shift rail can be pushed through the forks and the new defender one fitted, making sure the detent doesnt fall out. Refit the shifter pins to the correct protrusion measured earlier. Reassemble box fitting defender shift quadrant instead of disco one and defender shifter mechanism. I have seen disco boxes with the end of an LT77 shift rod with quadrant welded to the disco shift in situ and using the lt77 shift mech. Thank you for this post. I have searched the internet and this is the only post that described this process. I am going the other direction, changing a Defender box to Discovery. Here in the US LS swaps have become popular and Defender boxes are much more plentiful than Discovery. Regards, Terry Edited January 4, 2020 by terryjm1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 I can't imagine the LT77 lasting long behind any flavour of LS.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneandtwo Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 5 hours ago, terryjm1 said: Thank you for this post. I have searched the internet and this is the only post that described this process. I am going the other direction, changing a Defender box to Discovery. Here in the US LS swaps have become popular and Defender boxes are much more plentiful than Discovery. Regards, Terry I swapped a disco spec one to defender last year, I hadn’t done one for six years, wish I’d remembered I’d posted how to do it on here as I had to work out how to do it again! Hope it helps you out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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