LT85 whine - what causes it? Also is there a reduced throw shifter?

[Chicken Drumstick]

On a factory V8 90 with the standard LT85 5 speeder, when you rev it you get a whine sort of sound from the transmission. It does this either with the clutch in or out, although maybe a slightly different tone/sound. And also while driving.

I don't think it's a problem as the vehicle has been known and/or in the family since around 2002 and goes fine, but I wouldn't mind knowing the cause of the noise and if anything can be done to reduce or curer it?

And while I accept the LT85 will always feel more agricultural than an LT-77/R380, is there anything you can do to reduce the amount of throw/movement needed to change gear, or indeed make it feel more like an LT-77 in operation? Some sort of "quick shifter" linkage or similar?

Thanks.

[landroversforever]

Only a guess here but could the whine be an oil pump?

[antony110]

I have no idea but Ashcrofts would know, that are very friendly and do not mind sharing Thier expert knowledge in this area.

[landmannnn]

Just some bearings, Ashcroft do a diy bearing kit if you have a look on their site. Don't know about the gearchange, I had a V8 90 from nearly new, seem to remember 3rd gear nearly hit the radio and 4th gear was almost in the cubby box.

[kiwi_110]

Haha, unfortunatley a long throw and much noise are the price you pay for the good ol' LT-85... They're hard on their bearings, the helical cut gears cause the gear cluster to crash forward into the front of the box under load, that's a lot of thrust for the input shaft bearing to handle. You can rebuild with up-rated bearings to help cope with it. If you have a split-case model, you have an advantage during the rebuild process.

Ray.

[mickeyw]

As Ray said ^^^

The mainshaft bearings are the source of the noise, they don't seem to stay quite for long, even after a rebuild. The bearings are huge in size and huge in price too.

I rebuilt my solid case LT85, not too difficult but you do need some special tools to remove/fit bearings to the shafts.

If you are used to handling LT77s you had better have an extra Weetabix for breakfast before tackling an LT85

I wonder what difference modern synthetic lubricants would make to the running of this 'box? Of course you'd have to use something the oil pump is happy with.

[tacr2man]

I run Redline Mt oil in my 110 V8 CSW , have done for years , works well , and the box has done some very hard work , eg towing over 3.5 tonnes in 45C and a maximum of 54tonne in one instance . the main box seems quiet enough but the transfer gets a bit whiney esp over 70 you can just about hear it over the tyres , but its always been like that . I dont see how you can shorten the throw of the gear lever other than by cutting something off the top, as you are moving some quite large gears , in a gearbox with a tall top . They obviously put the dog leg in it to stop it hitting the dash ! JMHO