Peaklander

Well you’d better come and show me how then. I’m sure you are right about the Roamerdrive lever, I haven’t tried but the tunnel is thick, inflexible along its length and gets stuck under the relay bases.

It would be unlikely to be the cup so yes, a different Timken cone is what I am planning to put in the kit. Probably ready-mounted on the input gear. Then it really would be an easy field swap.

It's at the front, against the gearbox. I can't imagine how it could be removed. You can see it there in the picture. That's the view when either the input gear or the OD has been removed. Edit: maybe there is a cunning method and I would love to know how...

The floor plates stay down and in theory the tunnel lifts up and away. This isn't too much of a problem if you remove the R380 stick and LT230 stick because then it can be moved back to clear the fusebox relays. However the Roamerdrive lever pokes up a long way and this, I think, can't be unscrewed from the pivot arm on the side of the R380. That means it prevents the tunnel from moving back. Maybe I should have tried to remove it and saved myself some trouble!

It's very very wet today and I have postponed my first drive. I don't want to be lying in a pool of water when checking for leaks. So it will have to wait. Meanwhile I have been thinking about the now 'spare' input gear to the LT230. This no longer has the front bearing cone on it as it has been transferred to the OD input shaft. I think I will make-up a retro-fit kit that I can have ready for if I ever have a catastrophic failure of the Roamerdrive. With all my recent efforts I hope I never will. It could be boxed and ready to ship to me wherever I happen to be. That would be the rear carrier and (PTO) cover, plus the bolts and sealant. Also the input gear itself - but it would be no good without the front bearing. So I have bought another, having just destroyed the old one that was on the OD input shaft and which had been made redundant due to the LT230 overhaul / upgrade whilst the OD was off the vehicle! That would have done as a get-me-home. The part number is FRC5564 I believe, which is a 18790 (cone) and 18720 (cup) and Ashcroft use Timken, so that's what I have bought for £22.68 delivered. This is the now redundant LT230 input gear (no rust, just shiny oil and dust), which has the same bearing at both ends. Also what would be the complete 'kit' of parts, to which I will add the new bearing and sealant.

That is a significant difference. As I mentioned, that bearing on my model can be dropped into place between the planet gears after the front casing is fully assembled. What a pain it must have been to have to disassemble in order to fit it. I got surfaces cleaned up prior to applying the sealant. I used Dirko again (which must be nearly empty by now). Every time I use it, I need to prise out the solidified stuff but it always flows again. I fitted a hydraulic sight glass (thanks for the tip @FridgeFreezer) and discovered that 3/4" BSP thread has a diameter of 1" and a 32mm socket fits it. In fact the viscous fan spanner was perfect for reaching to nip it up. Also I made sure that I used the correct amount of addition oil-fill, direct into the overdrive and so it's in but I again (like the first time I installed it) needed to release the handbrake cable at the cab, to allow the OD to line up prior to pushing it home. I could not press the cable out of the way as I needed both hands to hold-up the OD. Temperature sticker on and plenty of oil for the first run. Then I re-fitted the rod from the operating lever, back to the rear of the OD. I had left the lever in place at the side of the turret but still needed to lift the tunnel to bolt-up the rose at the end of the rod to it. My tunnel is a pain to lift up as I have extra relays under the fuses but it is finally re-connected and there's just the tunnel to refit now and then I can try.

First job this morning was to remove the old bearing that's been on the input gear since I bought the overdrive. So it was never 'paired' with the outer race that was in the LT230. It was a little bit troublesome and I pulled the roller cage off so I could see better but it finally drifted off without any damage to the gear. Then I went underneath to open-up the PTO but this was a struggle as the re-builder at Ashcroft hadn't skimped with the sealant. There's the cover to prise off and then the rear bearing carrier / plate. WIthout damage the cover came off, finally... and then the carrier, to leave the face of the transfer box then the gear can be lifted out with a careful twist to disengage it The bearing on the left is the one that needs to be transferred to the OD gear and it punched off reasonably easily Meanwhile the OD gear had been in the freezer and it was there for about 1.5 hrs so nice and cold and the bearing pressed on quite easily using the vice and the old race. It has a new crush washer, with the pointed part oriented towards the OD. I found a different gasket in my Roamerdrive bits and bobs and there is no doubt that this has the hole for the oil passage (see earlier posts) and now I am ready to lift the unit.

You have to laugh because I was stuck, thinking that (impossibly) the unit couldn't be in overdrive, as the output and input shafts were turning together. All thanks to @Snagger who wisely suggested that I mark them both to check. As I was reading his words, I knew what I would see. Numbers don't lie and as the overdrive ratio is 28%, a small movement of either shaft wouldn't be obvious. The example he gave was a 10 degree movement on the input would multiply up to 12.8 on the output. In other words, hard to see! So I marked them and this is what happens... IMG_8211.MOV So that's all good (but I feel as though I've been a bit of a muppet) and I can confidently refit the overdrive to the LT230. The only remaining task before that is to remove the drive gear from inside the PTO space and carefully drive the inner race off, so it can be pressed onto the overdrive's output gear. That is a new bearing due to the LT230 overhaul a few months ago.

I have just read to this point, after thinking that you must be back by now. It's a very interesting read with some early challenges but that 'live' photo of the meal is spooky!

It's a bit pricey...😱 maybe it's a 'forever' purchase.

Before closing the two parts to make one, the caged bearing for the front end of the sunshaft needs to be located into the front case. This would be a simple drop-in but I found it better to leave the rear part on the bench, with the sun shaft pointing up (and the synchro all ready in neutral) and popped the bearing on there. Also the front baulk ring needs to sit in the synchro hub. It would be frustrating to find these on the bench after it's been closed-up but not a show stopper. As it turned out, I have closed and opened several times, not due to forgetfulness but in trying to confirm operation. ... caged bearing shown on the sun shaft and baulk ring in place I got an email back from Ray at Global Roamer, after I had alerted him to finally getting back on this and making progress. I had again sent a link to this forum thread. The reply was full of praise in his succinct style but also he also threw a 'curved ball' in. Out of the blue he told me... "that type of shifting plate and spring shown... are standard Land Rover parts (UKC3530L &UKC31L). In recent years after noticing a number of the plates bending and jamming (as they are made of thin bent steel plate) we made an improvement, making our plate out of a solid block of steel and making a slightly longer spring that embraces past the block. This is a great improvement on the original system that dates back to a 1960s Fiat. It retrofits to the LR provided synchro hub." This was a surprise and so I immediately emailed back asking him to confirm that I have the original type, although I knew really... I didn't receive a further reply until very late on Friday and it was Saturday morning before I saw it. It explained that he wasn't aware that my unit has OEM shifter plates and offering to send a set out. I really want to get this unit back on the truck as I have a trip down south very soon, with a couple of motorway hours, so I am intending to 'risk it' with the original design. So to closing up. Synchro / selector in neutral and front inverted and placed onto the rear, with the large O-ring in place. held with lots of vaseline as it kept springing out. This has to be better than inverting the rear part and risking the shifter plates dropping. Now it was closed, located with three roll pins, I operated the selector but had to remove the detent (ball) to make it easier. There are two detent positions, engaged (selector 'back') and not engaged (selector forward) but there is a neutral position too without a groove for the ball in the selector rod Now I have a dilemma, I cannot replicate 'engaged', meaning that I can't see the output shaft rotating 28% faster than the input. The method is that when disengaged, the sunshaft is free to rotate and in Global Roamer's own words from their website, ...when the overdrive is not in use, a clutch locks sun gear to the three planet gears (H) and as a result the annulus gear (L) is forced to rotate at the same speed as planet carrier (E) and there is no overdrive effect. Note that in this mode none of the gears is actually working - all the components are rotating at the same speed about the center. This is fine - I can move the input and the output shaft moves too at the same speed. Now move the selector to the rear and this clamps the sun shaft / gear... When the overdrive is in use a clutch locks the sun gear (J) to housing (U) and the sun gear can no longer rotate. As planet carrier (E) rotates about sun gear (J), planet gears (H) are forced to rotate about shafts (G) and the effect is to cause annulus gear (L) to rotate 28% faster than planet carrier (E) thus giving an overdrive effect. However, I cannot see the difference in rotational speed. If I turn the input shaft, the output turns with it and no matter how much effort I put into holding one and turning the other, they appear to be operating at the same speed still. I think that this must be friction but I am just a little wary of moving it onto the vehicle until I am sure. Deep sigh.

It's quite likely to have been caused by a poor connection between relay and base. When it's operating and there's current flowing, heat can be generated if there's any resistance at the relay lugs to base contacts. I have altered mine somewhat but I think that those yellow relays are for heated rear window / headlamps / starter

Where's the run-off going at home? That's what is usually on my mind. There's a garage in Buxton with a long twin ramp outside that forms a pit. You buy time (very informal) on a big jet-wash and can blast away. It's mainly used for trucks but cars can just span across, with a second pair of eyes!

Here @FridgeFreezer is the synchro assembly info. sheet. Roamerdrive synchro assy.pdf

In session #2 to get these shifting plates (I keep writing slippers) in place, I made an aluminium 'tool' which was less springy than the one made with a hacksaw blade. I thought initially that this was better but it isn't springy, it just bends and also it was too thick. You need the thin steel of the hacksaw blade (as it says in the guide). The groove is needed to capture the curl on the spring. Holding the selector rod in the correct position, which is neutral inside.. I got the spring to the right; it moves to the centre when you compress it slightly in the next operation. Then pushed the tool down and towards the middle and there is just room for the shifting plate / slipper to be pushed between tool and hub. Then the other two seemed easy. A key point that I didn't know is that the front spring should also start in the same shifting plate / slipper but run in the other direction. This stops the 'key' shifting plate / slipper from turning. Then I quickly popped on the nice new front-side baulk ring Final job here is to secure the selector rod with its detent which goes in the hole with its spring and retainer (no pic).

That's correct, you don't need to disassemble the planetary housing and @Snagger didn't need to. On his unit it was the smallest roller bearing that failed, the one I was just referring to in the post above. That was also the case on the unit of @ashtransbut that one had totally let go and the sun shaft had been flapping around all over. To replace that bearing you need to split the case, that's all. Don't let the synchro slippers fall out though! As yours is a new unit then I presume you have the modified hub carrier which is supposed to allow better oil flow into that rear bearing. However, the two bigger roller bearings may have started to fail. Mine certainly had as you saw and heard in my posts and these need the inner and outer shafts splitting - and that is the circlip challenge. The other source of noise could be the bearing on the gear in front of the unit that is placed in the LT230 PTO hole. That would be easy to check before you split the Roamerdrive and when you remove it, you can spin the shafts and listen to the unit itself.

I had two sessions in which I tried to re-fit the three shifting plates and am happy to report that they are in place. The first part of the work at the rear case was to insert the sun shaft to the case, with the synchromesh mechanism already assembled on it but include the selector fork (on its operating rod). I was so focused on getting the assembly fully in the housing that I forgot to include the selector fork but more importantly, in ensuring it was home, I shocked it enough to move the synchro hub resulting in the forward circular spring and the three shifting plates falling out. To get to this point the casing had been warmed in the Aga (100 degree C / 212 F oven) and the assembly was in the freezer. I probably didn't heat the case enough, as the 6205 bearing didn't fall into it's place in the housing and also I had to be sure it was in the correct orientation so that the three dowels around it also lined-up with their holes. I needed to pull it home by sequentially tightening the six hex socket screws at the back. It was difficult to decide when that was done but using the wire pick I think I could feel the inner end of the casing through-holes and when there was no gap to the assembly. I used some Loctite 270 (green) on the screws by removing one at a time and refitted them. Once I was past that point of no return, I turned it over and saw the slippers on the bench. Normally there would have been wailing and gnashing of teeth at that point but I remembered that I had a grubby copy of a guide, written by Global Roamer, on how to replace them. It seems that they fall out on disassembly, so other people have had the same problem. I only have a copy of this document because it happened to be in the box with the other broken unit that Dave Ashcroft sent, in case any parts were useful. So thanks @ashtrans, I didn't tell you that I had taken a copy of it. First the rear circular spring needs to be rotated so that the curl on the end is a tiny bit to the right of central in the slot and the rear baulk ring slots are also lined-up. This spring is moved with a pair of long nosed pliers, without the synchro hub and selector in place. Then they can be added, with the selector rod sticking out far enough from the rear to hold the selector in the neutral position. In this photo it needed to go down (rearwards) enough to align with the synchro ring inside it. With the shaft pointing up, I sat the case on the bench with some plastic spacers under the end of the selector rod, holding it just right. Then, using the grubby guide, I tried to insert a tool made from a hacksaw blade (as per instructions) that pushed the curl of the spring in towards the centre, leaving enough room to push a slipper down the other side of the tool and into the slot, going right through to the rear baulk ring. This method is used for each of the three in turn... I tried this a few dozen times yesterday and then got fed up. I couldn't get the first one home - which turned out to be the hardest because of the bend on the clip which needs to go in the slot of the slipper. Suddenly my other project, which is replacing some clay drain gulleys on the house, seemed much more interesting and so I happily jumped in there instead.

You’re already in the game. 😊

Ok, I’ll start with a chainsaw including petrol in the tank, that started first pull. Also a nearly new lawnmower that needed help with carb cleaner.

Thanks guys. The NHS are not as brilliant as is sometimes made out and that includes end of life care. I won’t rant but where is the value in two palliative care nurses covering most of Derbyshire, in one car at night? When they rang me back after my early hours request to come to us, they were so far away I couldn’t believe it. Value streams and all that. Anyway, the next step was to put the sun shaft into the rear case, locating the bearing in it. I have slightly messed up as I have dislodged the three slippers(?) that run through the synchro hub. There’s a method for relocating them and I will be attempting this procedure tomorrow. 😄

Final bit of this stage was to build this assembly into the front part of the casing. This is a 6017 bearing and again the freezer and Aga helped. Firstly a snap ring locates the outer... They just dropped onto each other

Next was the bearing between the shafts, a 6009. The old (China) one was noisy but not the new FAG one. IMG_8047.MOV IMG_8049.MOV I needed some stronger circlip pliers and knocked on the door of a Snap-On van wondering if he'd sell to J. Public. As it's a franchise he definitely does and sales and margins are directly of interest. So I bought a great pair of reversible ones. First job for them Then I needed to insert the inner to the outer and get them in the correct position to reveal the circlip groove 75mm down that gap. That circlip is the one that holds the two parts together and is the crux of the disassembly operation. I made a pick so I could feel for it, as I didn't know the protrusion spec. and it isn't visible. That's it... Then fit the circlip using my previously ground-down pliers. It's very hard but not as hard as removal, as it does slide down the inner shaft... needs a zoom lens to see it.. Then that stage was done. Phew

Well things didn't go to plan and I ran out of time, as it was Easter and then we went on a little trip to Spain for six weeks (without the Roamerdrive). By the time we got back my poor father-in-law had finally been diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. He had been complaining of difficultly swallowing for months but the NHS wouldn't / couldn't give him an appointment until 'sometime in August' as he wasn't considered to be an urgent case. A 95 year old not urgent 😢 He paid handsomely for a private check which confirmed the worst and then we spent June and July with him, as he starved to death, There's no other way to describe it. So I was a little distracted over the summer but this week I got started. I had previously got help again at Mister Gearbox that wasn't mentioned... Synchro hub warming then pressed onto new sun shaft new planet shafts into the new (modified) carrier and the rear-most bearing secured on the back I can't praise this company enough. Mister Gearbox in Sheffield opened their workshop to me and I helped or watched them do this and then chatted about all sorts of stuff and looked at their more specialist jobs with autoboxes and clever clutches. Then it was time for me to get working in my garage and the first job was to build-up the planet gear assembly. needed to check the orientation of the dog washers by looking at the old ones then grease and needles, 20 per stack, and double stacks on each of the three planet shafts and close it up, making sure the dog washers are in the correct positions and not getting trapped. That's the inner shaft / planetary assembly complete

This might help too...

That's the understatement of the week. Lovely work.