R380 or same again guv?

[Nigelw]

Is the difference big enough to warrant paying the extra surcharges on outright purchase of an R380 from Ashcrofts or am I as well to just stick another LT77 in my Rusty?

Apart from reverse now being on the other side of the gate, is there any noticable difference between the two?

[mmgemini]

Well I didn't think so when I went from 177 to 380.

Others may think differently.

[miketomcat]

I don't think there's anything wrong with the lt77 apart from the disco box seaming to be better than the defender box. Having said than I've not owned a truck with an r380 either.

Mike

[reb78]

I've got an r380 in the disco and an lt77 in the defender. IMO, there is rally little diffence and not enough to justify the extra £££

[Maverik]

ratio's.... keep an eye on these... my 90's R380 I got from RW transmissions I think must be a slightly different ratio to my LT77 110 not in a good way, much prefer the gearing of the LT77, from memory, the R380 and LT77 don't have a comparative gearing ratio, i.e. the R380 is either under or over geared compared to its equivalent LT77... not an expert and don't claim to be (on gearboxes ) so I could be wrong.

[Bowie69]

Got all the gear ratios on here: http://www.expeditionlandrover.info/gear_ratio.htm

Third and first are different comparing Disco boxes.

[CwazyWabbit]

As I understood it the reason people swapped to an R380 is they are supposed to be stronger, aren't they?

[reb78]

As I understood it the reason people swapped to an R380 is they are supposed to be stronger, aren't they?

Info from Ashcrofts site here:

http://www.ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk/manual-gearboxes/r-380.html

R380 Development

The R380 was introduced in 1994 with the suffix J which was a significant improvement on the LT 77 it supercedes> Differences included a steel oil pump (as opposed to the LT 77 fibre one), an additional 2 support bearing, used on the layshaft and the mainshaft, wider gears, bigger diameter synchro rings, synchromesh on reverse and a longer mainshaft spline.

This suffix J did unfortunately have a couple of design flaws which gave the R380 some bad press, they were prone to the mainshaft shearing across the oil feed holes, the layshaft also sheared at a stress concentration behind the sandwich plate causing loss of 5th and reverse also early ones still suffered from mainshaft wear until the cross drilled transfer case gears became fitted as standard on the suffix G transfer cases.

In 1999 the suffix K was used very briefly for a few months then came the suffix L. The K and L are virtually identical, the only difference I have found is the L outer main casing has an additional strengthening rib, internals are the same. The J and K/L are very different, 2 of the bearings were substantially uprated and pinion and layshaft teeth were widened again, this results in a much stronger unit.

Cooling

It is not abnormal for the R380 to run quite hot and this often results on either baulking or sticky shifts which can often be improved by either an oil additive or different oil.

If you feel your unit is running too hot then bear in mind Landrover make for 2 main markets, Europe and Rest of World (ROW), the ROW spec TD5 Defender and Disco gearboxes are oil cooled but Europe spec are not, there is some debate as to whether they should be, especially if you live in south Spain or Italy Etc.

The temperature the box runs at will have an effect on it's lifespan, please have a look in the misc section for details of the 'Oil Cooler Kit'

[Scotts90]

I wouldn't say there's any great difference driving between the two, our 110 pickup has a 300tdi with R380 which was an upgrade from a 200tdi with LT77...I just keep going for reverse in the wrong place.

It is smoother on changes (as smooth as a pickup on MTs can be), but this could just be down to a lower mileage box vs a worn one.

[dailysleaze]

I prefer the R380. I almost smashed into the car behind when I quickly moved the gearstick into first on a hill start and dumped the clutch.

It actually went into reverse.

No chance on an R380.

[Nigelw]

Looks like a recon LT77 it is then.

So far there seems to be precious little in it between them but a lot of money in terms of outright purchase when compared with simple exchange.

Think I'll just do the clutch first and wait for whirring noises to tell me it's time to cange it.

[Jamie_grieve]

I'd agree there's precious little in it. We had both on the last Defender fleet I worked with and both seemed to wear just the same. The R380 has a stronger build supposedly and wider gears but there's not much in it to be fair if you put them next to each other. I forget what the 'S' was on the later LT77S boxes. What kills them all is people putting gear oil in them instead of ATF or even hydraulic oil in hot climates. we had very few gearbox problems in Southern Angola which can get quite warm and driving in sand and really bad roads all the time with ten men on board. When we did have problems it was almost always due to water contamination.

Ours were all ROW spec and none had coolers on the gearboxes. The later ones had the heavy duty chassis and 300tdi etc but no coolers. Maybe we got short changed!!

[western]

the S in LT77S means improved synchro IIRC, I prefer my R380 over the original LT77, R380 also has synchro on reverse. & IMHO it's a much nicer box to drive with.

[FridgeFreezer]

R380 is a bit better than LT77s which is a bit better than LT77 which is a bit better than the pre-war Jag gearbox it's based on...

(or so I'm told)

[Daan]

LT77S is the best in reliability, Or so I am told. I like the reverse next to 1st an second, so you can flip quickly in reverse if you fail a hillclimb (not that I alwys do that off course...)