Clutching at straws

Iwill admit, as I lay there staring up at the undercarriage of my Series IIA, thoughts of, ‘I hate Land Rovers’ entered my head. For two days (with a one-day break in between) I have been replacing the clutch and gearbox on my 109. What a truly hideous job. For three to four years it has been jumping out of third and fourth gears. A recent trip down the coast which saw me reselecting fourth gears every couple of minutes was really beginning to make me think it was time to get things sorted. A couple of weeks later when each gear change was accompanied by a rattle in the gearbox my mind was set; it was time to get it sorted.

I do not think there is a bigger job on a Series Land Rover. To remove the gearbox you have to take out the floor, seat box, disconnect the mounts, handbrake, speedo cable, the bellhousing bolts and, of course, those fiddly propshaft bolts. That’s the easy bit, because you then need to get the thing out. It is heavy and I have a useless hoist that does not like to roll. It took around three hours to get the gearbox out (actually that’s some kind of record for me). I then had to transfer the good stuff across to the new gearbox which included the handbrake mechanism (and yes, those tiny roller bearings fell out) as well as the four-wheel drive selector.

Of course I must point out the ‘new’ gearbox was of entirely unknown quantity. I bought it a couple of years ago for $60. Before dusting it off I checked the internals by removing all the inspection covers. No obvious signs of damage. Good to go surely?

I soon found the source of the rattle. The clutch friction plate had disintegrated; all the rivets had failed and it was now in three parts. I’m surprised I had any forward motion.

I eagerly opened up the box containing the new plate and quickly found that I had the wrong one. Some phone calls later and it seemed the plate was incorrectly boxed. Typical! I should have taken it out of the box when I bought it, but you sometimes assume they might actually be boxed correctly. Trying to figure out what to do next (I was now stranded at my workshop with no transport) I remembered I had another friction plate. We were back in action.

I got the new clutch on the back of the flywheel, aligned using a socket set (one fits perfectly in the spigot bush). I then spent three hours trying to get the new gearbox in.

I eventually managed to get two bolts hooked up to the bellhousing, but no joy, the underside was still way out. I ended up (after a day’s break) realigning the clutch and trying again. That satisfying clunk never came, but it did eventually fit in place. What a struggle! Then it is a case of hooking everything back up. I held off putting the floor in and sensibly decided to go for a test run around the block. Perched on the fuel tank it all felt a bit funny but to my relief we now had forward motion and a smooth clutch. Good enough for me, I then went about refitting the floor, seat box and all the other bits and pieces.

Pretty anxious on my return home as I reached higher speeds, to my absolute relief my $60 gearbox appears to be a good one. I was trying to imagine what I would do if there were issues. I suspect I would have wheeled it to the back of the workshop and left it there. I suppose that’s why there are so many barn finds – Land Rovers that have pushed their owners to such desperation that they couldn’t face trying to fix them! I often wonder what caused a vehicle to just get parked up and forgotten about. It does not seem to happen as much these days with more modern vehicles. Generally if a car becomes too expensive to repair they are sent off to the scrapper, not parked up in a barn for decades.

With my fancy new gearbox I felt like it might be time to tackle some of the other jobs amongst my fleet. Grandma, my V8 Series IIA ,had a bad exhaust leak and it is affecting performance (yes, the words Series IIA and performance can go together). The issue is that one of the studs has snapped off the manifold on the passenger side. For months now I have made do with wrapping exhaust repair bandage around the joint. It works fairly well for about two outings then it’s back to spluttering and popping. This morning I opened the bonnet, flush with enthusiasm to remove the affected manifold and fit new studs. I was quickly reminded that there is absolutely no space to get at the bolts securing the manifold. I reckon it would take at least half a day to get in there.

The bonnet is now closed and I am on my way to pick up some more of that exhaust bandage. Perhaps when the remaining studs give up I will muster the enthusiasm to sort it out properly. How many jobs are you putting off on your Land Rover?

nWhen Brit Jack Dobson emigrated to Australia in 2010 he took his passion for Land Rovers along with him.

“I suppose that’s why there are so many barn finds – Land Rovers that have pushed their owners to such desperation that they couldn’t face trying to fix them ”