LT77 "D2 suffix gearbox selection problem

[v8skroat]

Hi, I have a D suffix rebuilt LT77 5 speed box in a Fisher Fury V8, having covered 500 miles since full stripdown and professional rebuild of the gearbox. It may have had a standard remote control unit after the rebuild, but it would now seem to have a shorter secondhand remote fitted. This has a Leyland emblem and EA 1863 PA DD1 (i think as some letters and numbers are not clear). I cannot contact the previous owner for history. The g/box is filled with Max Gear 75w90, which I am told makes changes easier when cold and is a good oil when hot. It does not suffer from being stiff or slow when cold. Since I bought the car gears have been a little difficult to select. There is a knack to it, but if you miss a gate, it is then difficult to select any gear afterwards unless you let the car slow down enough to select 2nd. 5th gear was very difficult to select, as if the lever wouldn't move over to the right enough for the gate to be found. I widened the cutout in the transmission tunnel, but this didn't help. Recently, I have been unable to select 5th at all. Adjustments to the remote in the Haynes manual are for a different remote unit. Can anyone point me in the right direction to get this fixed please? Could it be an incompatible remote unit? Could it just need adjusting? any ideas or suggestions for the best people to take it to would be much appreciated. I have pictures of the remote unit with transmission cover removed. Thanks, Paul.

[ian.stewart]

First a question, The remote you have fitted, is it cast steel or cast ally, If its a steel one its more likely to be a Sherpa item or ally it will be the ultra rare Jaguar item, not that there is anything wrong with the sherpa piece but check the spherical joint in the selector rod under the remote, generally sherpa gearboxes have done lots of miles and the joint tends to wear.
TBH 70/90w sounds a bit heavy for a LT77 according to the factory workshop manual, is says, Quote, "Manual Gearbox, Auto Trans,BW, and Power stering"---" Use a well-known brand of fluid to specification ATF M2C 33G," Which is a Auto transmission Fluid, so the factory book says ATF, certainly later boxes were filled with ATF to help combat slow and sticky gear changes, and I have run all my boxes on ATF without breaking them, do not be tempted to add a addative to the oil to make things work better, the syncro rings rely on friction to work, and making things extra slippy, may improve your MPG, but will make the change horrible,
My favorate person for Gearboxes is Bernie at, CTS, A nice man who is very helpfull and knows his stuff. http://www.gearboxman.co.uk/products.html
Ian

[sidecar]

First a question, The remote you have fitted, is it cast steel or cast ally, If its a steel one its more likely to be a Sherpa item or ally it will be the ultra rare Jaguar item, not that there is anything wrong with the sherpa piece but check the spherical joint in the selector rod under the remote, generally sherpa gearboxes have done lots of miles and the joint tends to wear.
TBH 70/90w sounds a bit heavy for a LT77 according to the factory workshop manual, is says, Quote, "Manual Gearbox, Auto Trans,BW, and Power stering"---" Use a well-known brand of fluid to specification ATF M2C 33G," Which is a Auto transmission Fluid, so the factory book says ATF, certainly later boxes were filled with ATF to help combat slow and sticky gear changes, and I have run all my boxes on ATF without breaking them, do not be tempted to add a addative to the oil to make things work better, the syncro rings rely on friction to work, and making things extra slippy, may improve your MPG, but will make the change horrible,
My favorate person for Gearboxes is Bernie at, CTS, A nice man who is very helpfull and knows his stuff. http://www.gearboxman.co.uk/products.html
Ian

I agree with Ian that the oil you use can have a huge difference on the quality of the gearchange.

Last Summer a spent a small fortune on oil for my box. I could not get hold of dexon II so used III, the gears crunched all the time. I then tried some " synthetic wonder stuff" that a garage flogged to me and that was just as bad. In the end I used Redline MTL, (not the heavy shock oil). At first it was no better but as it gradually de-contaminated the baulk rings the gear change got better and better.

It is a bit slower than the ATF that was in it before I started the whole episode when the box it cold but is fine after a few miles.

I think that ATF is a bit cr4p myself (after reading many threads about this subject on the cobra forum) so I'd recommmend MTL.

Mind you if you've got a faulty selector mechanisum its not going to fix that!

If you believe all that you read then the link below is quite convincing!

(Open the tech info sheet at the bottom of the page)

http://www.redlineoil.com/products_gear ... tegoryID=7

Regards,

Pete

[v8skroat]

Thanks guys. In searching for more about this particular remote unit, I found a receipt from Tower View Race Services for the remote. They are TVR specialists. I phoned, and although there are many variants, they are pretty sure it will be a TVR remote....not sure where that gets me! He said to have a look inside and see if something has come adrift. So will have a go later. Cheers, Paul.

[JP.]

I could not get hold of dexon II so used III, the gears crunched all the time.

Pete

Thats obvious, Rover recoments ATF G (thats Ford stuff) not Dexron/ Mercon oil.
There's a huge difference between those two oils.

ATF- F (US spec) and G (European spec) oils are non friction modifier oils while Dexron type ATF oils are friction modifiers (friction improver) thats why your gears crunched all the time.

[sidecar]

I could not get hold of dexon II so used III, the gears crunched all the time.

Pete

Thats obvious, Rover recoments ATF G (thats Ford stuff) not Dexron/ Mercon oil.
There's a huge difference between those two oils.

ATF- F (US spec) and G (European spec) oils are non friction modifier oils while Dexron type ATF oils are friction modifiers (friction improver) thats why your gears crunched all the time.

Well I got the info to fill it with dexron from somewhere! maybe the haynes manual.

Anyway, ATF is still not a good gearbox oil, its an Automatic Transmision Fluid but I'm sure you already knew that. I still stand by what said about MTL being a good oil to use.

[Lewis]

Sorry to lift this up again - any advice on the best oil to use in an LT77 then? Mine's due a change

[Geoff King]

A fully synthetic 75W80 gear oil such as Redline MTL or Castrol SMX-S or Royal Purple Synchro-max 75W90.

Rover originally specified ATF but the latest recommendation was fully synthetic gear oil and my experience with Castrol SMX-S over the last few years has resulted in an improvement in the shift quality and syncro action, especially when cold.

[Lewis]

Thankyou very much