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Def. or Disco R380 for Rangey?


Shackleton

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Guys I have this Td5 classic Rangey as a donor for my '73 Rangey. The engine's good but I have two gripes with the gearbox...

It's a Disco box and it shifts nice etc but the stick of a Defender R380 would suit my Classic better, plus the Disco unit doesn't have a diff lock.

So I'm thinking of just swapping / px-ing for a Defender unit, but what are the implications in terms of ratios, as in will the Defender box be less 'nice' in the Rangey.

Also will the output flanges on the transfer case be in the exact same place as on the Disco unit. I'm not getting into modifying prop shafts!

Cheers

George

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it's the transfer box that has the diff lock, not the gearbox though

defender gearstick is about 6ft long too which i would say is less good tbh

and the defender ratios will be annoying to say the least if your range rover has standard sized wheels and is used for a lot of road work

td5 rrc??

transfer case flanges - again, not part of the gearbox at all, the transfer box is seperate and has the diff locker on it, all disco ones have diff a diff lock i believe (LT230 is it?) and yes the flanges will be in the same place, only difference may come (and im no expert on these in rangies) is if yours originally had the borg warner box in it

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Cool, but my original g'box is the LT95 which has a big pudding stirrer anyway. It might sound backward but the R380 from the Defender is tighter obviously then the LT95 and it'll look and feel right in terms of what I'm used to driving in the Rangey. What I'm really wondering is are the ratios hugely different between the Disco and the Defender?

This Disco unit definately doesn't have a locker, there's certainly nothing indicated on the Hi/Lo lever and unless it's totally siezed or jammed it doesn't move anywhere only forward and back.

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Seems to be confusion here between gearbox and transfer box...

1: The R380 ratios will be basically the same give or take a couple of % whether Disco, Defender, etc.

2: What won't be the same is the tail casting, which will mean if you fit a Defender box the gear shifter will be about 12" further forward than where it is right now (straight up out of the back of the R380). You can't swap shifters without basically tearing down the whole R380 and swapping the tail casting. Ask me how I know <_<

3: Diff lock - IIRC the TD5 LT230 has one, it just doesn't have the mechanism. Ashcrofts sell them but they're £££, or you could use one from a different vehicle.

4: Ratios - the LT230 has different high ratio depending on what it's from, they vary from 1.6:1 to 1.003:1. If you have small tyres or big power, you want high ratio (1.003, 1.222), if you have big tyres / low power you will want 1.4 or 1.6. That assumes rover axles and stock diff ratios. Many more knowledgable people have written far more on the subject of gearing than I can be arsed to reproduce here - the search button is your friend :P

5: Gearshift - if you want a big long stick to stir the cogs with, lengthen the gearstick. Making the gearknob heavy improves the feel of the shift.

More info about gear ratios etc. including a calculator spreadsheet thingy is here.

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Thanks fellas, thats a great help

And the confusion comes from my actually wanting to do what sounds mad to yous :D

Yes I want the long stick, not necessarily cause it's long but because it comes out of the floor in the right place... the LT95 as standard in my Rangey is a big puddin stirrer right up in front of the heater controls. Remember my classic is old enough to have no centre console. Bar the small SS ashtray there's nothing but a large wide expanse of carpet between the front seats.

It may sound weird but I need all the space I can get seeing as I'm gonna live in this thing for a year.

That plus it'll look identical to the untrained eye but be much smoother equipment in classic clothing.

Oh and I'm embarrassed, but had I thought about it and not been lazy I do know the difference between the G'box and the transfer case :D d'oh!

Just so's ye know, I have standard early diffs, 16" Rostyles with standard tyres, it's all standard bar the engine and box.

Cheers again!

George

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