Transfer of a Disco Transfer Box and Overdrive into a 110

[ZeroDelta]

I own a 02 plate 110 Defender TD5 and use it for my daily commute and love driving it. Apart from this I use it to go to hard reach places to mountain bike, climb and travel all over Europe to do this. Although I love the Defender I would like to increase its comfort for all those long journeys. When I bought the wagon I had the engine remapped which has increased its performance drastically. I have just read in Febs edition of LRO about replacing the transfer box with a Discos to help with smoother driving. It also mentioned that adding an overdrive would have a similar effect. I am pretty new to this game and have never attempted anything so major. With this in mind does anyone out there have any advice? What I am after is:

Is it worth it?

How much of a drama is it to do it?

How much would it cost?

Are there any specialists who could make the transfer (south of England preferable)?

Lastly I do not tow any trailers so I am not too fussed in losing a bit of towing performance. I am sure there are those of you who think that I should chop my Defender in for a Disco, but I have already had that experience and was back in a Defender within 3 months - not something I want to repeat.

Thanks for any advice given.

[LandyManLuke]

Changing the transfer box is a pretty straight foreward job, if you are competent home mechanic. I would expect a garage to be able to do the work in a couple of hours.

Likewise, an overdrive is not complicated to fit.

Aschroft Transmissions could supply and/or fit a transfer box.

GKN manufactured an overdrive for the LT230, but it suffered reliability issues and stopped production. that said, there are plenty of happy owners out there, and service/parts support is still available. Rover Drive sell an overdrive, which is an alternative. Devon 4x4 sell GKN parts and the Roverdrive units.

Fitting both would result in massive overgearing! The transfer box is a cheaper solution, but the percentage change in gearing is fixed, where as you can engage/disengage the overdrive as you wish.

[Ben_J85JTY]

I am pretty sure the GKN will not fit with a Discovery transferbox something to do with the different input splines.

Besides, as Luke said, it would be massively overgeared.

I have a transferbox waiting to go into my 110, aving had one in a previous 90. Fairly easy job really.

From Memory:

Remove rear prop

remove linkage to Hi/Lo leaver

remove speedo cable

undo 6 bolts

slide back and remove.

You may need a bit of help fo the last bit!

[ZeroDelta]

Thanks very much for the advice. I will take a look at the transfer box option and GKN and Ashcroft. As I said I am pretty new to this game and although I could probably make the change myself I do not have the facilities, like a garage for starters!! Have you done this change to your own wagon? If so was it worth it?

[cackshifter]

I have a disco transfer box in a 110 with a slightly tweaked 300tdi (full width intercooler, fuel pump 'adjustments'), and standard tyres. I think generally a good move, only noticeably not good when setting off with a trailer, and motorway performance considerably better. You can in any case avoid the restarting problem by using low range which isn't changed. I'd say the tweaked engine with it is a good idea, might feel a bit turgid without, and if you have bigger wheels maybe not. As you don't tow, to me it would be a no-brainer. Only thing I would say is beware which box you get to swap - not all Disco 2 boxes came with difflock - I thnk some had it but not means of actuation, others had bits missing inside the transfer box so it couldn't easily be added. It's a much simpler solution than an overdrive. I'm sure a more knowledgeable person than me will be able to set which tfr boxes to avoid out for you. Or maybe get Ashcroft to rebuild & convert yours if it needs a rebuild.

Regards

Nigel

[Bush65]

IMHO the overdrive from Roverdrive is the better option for a 110.

[jumping jack]

IMHO the overdrive from Roverdrive is the better option for a 110.

Not at £1400

compared to less than £100 for a good disco tranfer box.

[JimAttrill]

"GKN manufactured an overdrive for the LT230, but it suffered reliability issues" you can say that again AFAIK only one was imported into SA at great expense and broke almost immediately in the way they said it wouldn't ie no drive at all.

A Disco transfer box in a Defender will work well with a remapped TD5. Just don't try it in a Tdi 110 like mine......

[yellow]

I did 100000 kms happily with a GKN overdrive in my 110 TD5. Had a Disco T-box in my 300Tdi 90. Both sold, but drove happily with both.

Towing a heavy trailer with the 110 was easier to get started and off the spot. Took some more 'welly' in the 90

[Andrew Chua]

one thing to note :

you didnt mention which year and engine model the disco box was from.

the Td5 has a small housing that has a mechincal switch to tell the engine to use FTC or LTC. Fast throttle control (high range) and Long travel (low range). When the switch is in open (it's FTC) when closed it's LTC. FTC put 80% of the engine power with 30%of the pedal travel.

it is located on the transfer box. i've done the 1.222 via buying gears from ashcroft (and some workshop boached up the job) and a direct swap from an old disco box.

Now when you get the disco box, you might want to swap over the switch housing from your 1.410 transfer box to the 1.222 transfer box so that this switch remains usable. however, if it's too tedious, you can run a wire up to your cab and just flip the switch when you want the LTC. So you can now use the LTC in high range as well.

if you can get the donor 1.222 box cheap like what i did then it's worth the messing around. if not, go the gear change route. However, do note that you should ensure the box seals are good as they all start to leak when they age. ask me how i know .

Mine was a 2002 Td5 90. you can search for my threads and see a picture of the switch you need to look out for.