 | Home > Td5 > Defender Td5 gearbox R380 Driving style |
 
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| rallysteve Member Since: 10 Feb 2014 Location: Cumbria Posts: 2238   
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Sadly its a fairly common quirk of the R380. The synchros dont like to be rushed! 02' 110 TD5 Double Cab Rebuild Thread
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9th Jul 2023 6:09pm |
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| geobloke Member Since: 06 Nov 2012 Location: Nottinghamshire Posts: 4410
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Hi Julien.
 Love a 2003 Defender
The R380 is not a sophisticated performance gearbox at all, better than the LT77 that proceeded it, but nowhere near as slick as a modern car gearbox. In terms of gearbox sophistication the R380 is not that more advanced than one that only a short time earlier required double de-clutching in the lower gears. When it comes to changing gear I always find that you have to "feed" the box into gear rather than "force" it in. It feels like a two stage thunk thunk as it goes in to gear. If you get my meaning. That thunk thunk is the selector fork moving the synchro collar across the baulk ring and on to the teeth of the gear itself. The key is matching the revs to the speed you are trying to change gear. The crunching you are hearing are the teeth on the synchro skipping across the teeth on the gear. It is obviously not a good thing and the more it happens the harder selecting gears smoothly will become. You say that it is not crunching every gear change so I doubt that the teeth of the synchro, baulk ring and gear are badly worn. As is said "slow is smooth, smooth is fast"... |
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9th Jul 2023 6:24pm |
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| Mike c Member Since: 11 Aug 2017 Location: Maldon, Essex Posts: 932  
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Having owned 3 LR with the r380, the description above regarding changes, matching revs and feeding it into gear is spot on, once mastered you will be fine
2004 Defender 90 Td5 CSW
2002 Discovery 2 td5 GS (gone) 1994 Defender 90 300Tdi CSW (gone) |
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9th Jul 2023 6:38pm |
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| donmacn Member Since: 06 Nov 2017 Location: Nth Scotland Posts: 1852 
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I agree with all that's been said above - I've had three R380 gearboxes in the car in the time I've owned it (which sounds worse than it is in reality) and they've all been the same. Currently it's a new-ish, reputable rebuild, and it still has this behaviour. As a well-known poster on here would say, it's an agricultural vehicle at heart and kind of needs to be driven that way.
If I'm about to overtake, and depending on road speed and conditions, I might double-declutch down the box which helps maintain momentum. I was surprised recently looking over a friend's V8 Morgan to find that it had an R380 fitted! Not really an agricultural vehicle! I don't know if anything was done to those boxes to make them a bit more sporty? Donald 1994 Defender 300Tdi 110 SW - owned since 2002 - 230k miles and going strong (The 'rolling restoration' or tinkering thread: http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic58538.html ) 2000 Range Rover P38 4.0L V8 in the past.. RR classic - fitted with 200Tdi 1984 RR classic - V8 with ZF auto box 1993 Discovery 300Tdi not to mention the minis and the Type 2 VW camper... |
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10th Jul 2023 12:30pm |
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| geobloke Member Since: 06 Nov 2012 Location: Nottinghamshire Posts: 4410
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Triumph TR8 as well IIRC
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10th Jul 2023 2:56pm |
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| markb110 Member Since: 22 May 2010 Location: Guildford Posts: 2656 
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Worth a look, you never know.
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10th Jul 2023 6:42pm |
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| blackwolf Member Since: 03 Nov 2009 Location: South West England Posts: 17608 
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If you double-declutch your gear changes, up and down, you should be able to get smooth and rapid changes.
It's an old-tech gearbox in an old-tech vehicle and needs to be treated appropriately. |
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10th Jul 2023 7:38pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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The TR8 pre-dates the R380 by many years and used either a version of the LT77 or a 3 speed auto. Darren 110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
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11th Jul 2023 11:10am |
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| geobloke Member Since: 06 Nov 2012 Location: Nottinghamshire Posts: 4410
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Very true, I had a few TR7s with their LT77 gearboxes. Fun little cars. |
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11th Jul 2023 11:46am |
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| kenzle8a Member Since: 12 Feb 2020 Location: None Posts: 1074
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I’ve never found it that bad, fitting the syncro slick shift kit to mine was nice improvement. I’ve driven a very well built one in my father in laws +8 race car and there doesn’t need any form of double clutching or feeding. |
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11th Jul 2023 9:09pm |
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| blackwolf Member Since: 03 Nov 2009 Location: South West England Posts: 17608
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I'm sure you're right, I ddc everything out of force of habit, which does tend to raise eyebrows sometimes. Most folk today have no idea what you're doing, let alone why.
After years of regularly driving vehicles with no synchro at all it's just become a habit. |
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11th Jul 2023 9:38pm |
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| NickMc Member Since: 01 Oct 2014 Location: Norn Iron Posts: 1679  
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I don’t use third much in a td5- controversial
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11th Jul 2023 9:51pm |
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| kenzle8a Member Since: 12 Feb 2020 Location: None Posts: 1074
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The one thing i did find was solely driving a td5 for years left me readjusting significantly to a modern manual box in my wife’s Skoda. I had developed somewhat of a method to the madness of only running the Defender. |
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12th Jul 2023 6:32am |
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| Chris86 Member Since: 15 Jul 2014 Location: South Yorks Posts: 795 
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Couple of things,
Have a chat with opie oils regarding gearbox fluid, we swap vehicle to a Fuchs sintofluid of some sort and the improvement over normal MTF is vast. Secondly, a momentary pause as you pass through neutral (fractions of a second) makes a huge difference to how the box changes gear. Last thing, have a look at the turret on your box- they have a tendency to wear slots on them which can make the gearchange awful, if this is the case put a new turret on and liberally grease. Chris |
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12th Jul 2023 7:18am |
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