LT77 Mainshaft Thread - making up a bearing press tool for the R380

[Phill S]

I wonder if anybody can tell me what the thread is at the tail end end of the LT77 mainshaft? It's used to attach a special Land Rover tool LRT-37-015 to press on the bearing track that mates with the bearing in the extension housing, I managed to pick one of those up quite cheaply some years ago, but prices on LR tools seem to have gone crazy.

What I'm actually doing is to press on the corresponding bearing track on an R380. The official Land Rover adapter is LRT-37-021 and cheapest I can find is Xmod - £24 delivered to my door. I reckon a couple of bolts welded head to head will do the job for a couple of quid. The end of the R380 mainshaft appears to be tapped out to a standard 12mm thread, but the LT77 thread seems to be an odd one, and you can't get anywhere near it inside the tool to measure. Took it along to my local agricultural hardware store and a standard 16mm thread bolt went in a short distance and then binds up...

[smallfry]

No idea, but there are three different pitches of 16mm thread, or it could be 5/8 UNC or UNF. I cannot imagine it would be an older British Standard. Are there no bolt and nut stockists down your way to try ? Mind you, with the cost of fuel, running round trying to find a solution makes the costs add up..

Looking at the photo of the tool, and assuming its the bigger end you are after, the thread looks quite coarse, so I will stick my neck out and say its likely to be 5/8 UNC. Some older towball retaining bolts are this size, if you have an older vehicle hanging about. 

Trouble is, bolts of this size are not pennies, and by the time you have bought a selection from the well known auction site, you may as well just buy the Xmod tool.

[Phill S]

Morning Graham! Yeah - agree with all that and succumbed to the Xmod part:

 

So for anybody else interested in dismantling and rebuilding the R380 the slim thread is a standard 12mm and the fat end measures up as a standard 18mm. Don't have anything to check against, but easy to double check for  anybody with an LT77 on the bench and an 18mm nut laying about. You can see why I was after a couple of bolts to weld together.

I bought the main tool at a garage closing down sale a few years ago for £20, take a seat before checking out the price new. Only ever used it on an LT77 so far, but makes pushing on the tail end mainshaft bearing track really easy...

Edited June 16, 2022 by Phill S
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