Hello all, I just recently bought a 1987 defender with 300tdi/ R380/lt230 with some need for maintenance.
At first drive it was difficult to get the transfer box into the locked/unlocked and low/hi and it was leaking from numerous areas. I pulled it out and resealed including the intermediate shaft seals and front output housing. It all went back together ok and reinstalled it with some Royal Purple gear oil.
My issue is that when I place the case in high gear it seems to just barely engage and it will pop out into neutral when I start driving. Diff lock/unlock works well as well as low gear. The linkage moves freely and tried adjusting it by finding Hi/low neutral and transfer case neutral then reinstall the linkage in the splined shaft but didn’t help. Manually moving the hi/low lever without the linkage it still seems like it barely goes into high gear and doesn’t hold in place when driving.
Should I take off the bottom plate/pan and check out the shift fork or anything anyone recommends to do at this point ? Thanks

 

I figured it all out. Just in case anyone has similar issues-
my detent ball dropped down into where the hi/low shaft slides when in high speed which kept the slide from engaging all the way. All is good now

 

Yep, you have to watch those darn detent ***** when assembling, glad you got her straighten out. Post up dome picture of your Rover and welcome to the forum.