Hi guys, new on here. I'm an Auto Engineering postgrad student at Cranfield Uni. I drive a South African import 1999 Defender 90 with a BMW 2.8i for anyone thats interested
I'm having some problems with my box... as it were. On monday the right hand side of the gate ceased to exist when I vainly tried to select 5th on the motorway.
It returned shortly afterwards when I went to park, and the realisation dawned on me that reverse had also parted company along with 5th (it was an early morning), and, when faced with pushing a 1.7 tonne Defender backwards into a parking space in the middle of my Uni, gave it the 'two hand technique' and wrenched it back across the gate.
I can now get both gears, although the stick sort of gets stuck to the right hand side of the central neutral position, so I sometimes need to give it a wiggle when changing from 5th to 4th. Apart from that it seems OK... and it still shifts better than our old LT77 one
I'm told its probably layshaft extension shearing off, disconnecting the two gears. The strange thing is... if its sheared off, how can I now select the two right hand gears at all after yanking it back in? It makes me want to think that maybe, just maybe, I wont have to spend £x00 on a new gearbox, and something temporarily got caught in the linkage, and giving a good yank has dislodged it, or bent something. Wishful thinking maybe, but there were no nasty noises to indicate things shearing off, and it was working perfectly moments before.
If I do need a new one, I don't suppose there are any 6 speeds that fit. I do a lot of motorway caterham towing, and it'd be nice not to be revving the nuts off it for hours on end. If anyone says overdrive, what are the frictional losses like on them?