I am a new rover owner and new to this forum, so please have a laugh on me and forgive any blunderings on my part.

Have a Disco 2 with the LT230SE transfer case/box. It sees offroad only about 5% of the time and nothing serious. It over heated and didn't want to stay engaged and spouse drove about 10 miles that way. After erroneously thinking it was tranny, doing flush & filter I realized xfer had temp sensor so drained fluid to change it. There was barely any in it - maybe 1/2 Qt. A few metal pieces came out too (not shavings, actual pieces). I filled it, drove 5-10 miles, & drained it. I did this 5 times until fluid was not filthy and no more metal pieces came out.
It is drivable now and have put about 100 miles on it with no problems. Runs strong! The only concern is the metal pieces that came out and there is distinct whine that is for sure coming from xfer case. Had wife drive while I hung down out passenger door - yeah she had her chance if ever wanted to get rid of me lol.

I believe the metal pieces are part of a bearing but not sure which type or which one. The whine is a kinda hollow whistle whine. No grinding, no sudden noises, and no chunk/clank/clinks.
It is now stuck in HI though, but a few miles ago whistle would sound worse in LOW than HI.

I am desperate for advice and previous experience. I will try to add pics of the pieces. I am mechanically inclined but never rebuilt a tranny or xfer case. From what I've read it appears not too bad to do front or rear bearing only but it will be a gamble for me if not either one is bad and then need to do all the bearings. Best place I found for admirable history of Rover parts for xfer cases is Ashcroft in UK and Master rebuild kit would run about $240 delivered. Any place in USA with good rep? There is local shop who has good record with BBB and no bad online feedback and they say $750-1000 to rebuild it. I always assume places will end up with highest amount and half the time slightly higher. For good used I am looking at about same price so feel better with all new seals and bearings than used at same cost.

Any guesses on how long I could drive it this way? Any ideas on cause of stuck in HI? This Disco has also had traction control & ABS warning lights on since we bought it and cruise not working. I guessed it was a sensor on axle by wheel but maybe its the interlock?

Last but not least, is it feasible, cost effective, or advisable to convert to a manual interlock? Reason for desire is to save fuel and prefer to decide for myself rather than the vehicle, i.e. it is either in 4 wheel or not and no flip flopping back and forth.

 

1. Please look through the RAVE workshop manual, under transfer box, for diagrams of what you are up against. That unit changes at a certain model year for D2's. Could you rebuild it DIY? Yes, but with considerable effort, and may need tools (bearing press, etc.) that you may not have available. Local shop is certainly an option.

2. IMHO running until parts broke means that other things that were left behind got plenty of extra heat, and scored from metal pieces floating around, and there could be smaller fragments still in there. So more parts may break, and only the Rover gods know when. This would also mean that repair of a few parts might be followed by failure of another part in short order.

3. No one knows how long you can drive it ths way. You could remove the plate on the bottom, and inspect a little more. You could change to 85W140 oil and quiet it a little.

4. Another option is pull a used case from a salvage yard. $125 at yards near me. Keep your existing case, with option to rebuild it in the future. Or buy one from a dismantler.

 

There is a guy out of santa fe New mexico that rebuilds transfer cases for AB and a few other companies. Has his own shop too. Good guy. I can vouch for him.

Southwest Rovers LLC
Land Rover Service & Repair
8700 San Pedro NE
Albuquerque, NM 87113
Rob Dassler - Owner
505-872-7818

 

Hard to tell for sure, but it looks like it's one, or more, of the ball bearings which would mean the front or rear output housing bearings. The rest are taper roller bearings and don't have the same type of bearing retainer (the long pieces).

Do not drive it at all until fixed. You might get away with removing the housings and replacing those bearings, but there could very well be other internal damage. If it were me, I'd get a good used unit and put it in.
The LT230 isn't terribly complicated . Lucky 8 carries Ashcroft parts I think.

Unless you also install freewheeling hubs in the front converting it to a manual lock isn't going to save you enough money to be worth it. And even then you'd have to put a lot of miles on it it to see any savings.

 

I do have the RAVE manual and not having a bearing press does not concern me but not sure about all the other tools. From many threads I read on this site it can be done without all the land Rover special tools but I am up against time too.

i would LOVE to find a xfer case for $125!!!!!!!! Wish GA was not so far from CO. They are minimum $400 here.

Thanks, Tom for info on 'lucky 8' and bearing info. I will check out lucky 8. Even if I have the local shop rebuild it I want to get the bearings and fluid myself to be sure all is quality parts.

Having contacted at least 10 of each (shops,yards,online parts sites) I am left with $1000/6 days for shop rebuild, $900/2 days for swapped out used, $600/3 days if I swap out myself with at least 30 day warranty on used xfer box, or $300/7 days for all parts and fluids if I rebuild it myself. One other option would be to buy cheap no 'real' guarantee $400 xfer case from private party, swap xfer cases, rebuild mine on bench at leisure, then swap them back and sell the used one I bought. That would be more immediate but certainly more hassle.

Big thanks to everyone who replied!

 

We don't have much choice to not drive it. We have AAA so if it dies on road it is free tow to shop, my wife refuses to drive our other vehicle because it is too big. (Kudos to her for that because it is sooooooo annoying all the people who drive vehicles too big for them to handle) and we are not looking at much difference in expense if we do more damage to it. It is only being used for her to drive to work 15 miles each way. I can drive her but her hours are such that our baby does not agree with. Along with that, the only shop who I deemed trustworthy can't work on it until next week at soonest. This shop was not cheapest or most expensive but all of them were within $150 of each other. 15 years ago we could have bought poor looking but mechanically sound used car for cheap just to use during repair period, but is it me or have used cars jumped outrageously in price? I remember when you could by little Ford Escorts and such with 100k for $500. Maybe it is just Colorado as even the Rover parts seem expensive used. $400 is cheapest for private party xfer case, $650 is cheapest for 30 day guarantee yard xfer case and that is searching entire front range which includes Denver.

 

Under $100 from the U Pull and Pay: U-Pull-&-Pay - Aurora price list and you can search their inventory online. Which part of the state are you in? There's lots of u-pull-it yards in the Denver/Front Range area.

 

I did not mention that my local yards are u pull, wished they had on-line inventory.... prices are scrap metal level. In some of the larger DIY yards, you can pay a little more and get a one or six month warranty (their exposure is you swap it for another one, etc.). A u pull lot is cheaper than a conventional yard, vehicles are usually only here about 8 weeks, so if you see it and don't get it, it's gone. Some yards have parts vultures that will pull something like a tranny or transfer case for like $75.

 

I'm in Pueblo West. I did however find a used one in Denver for $150 cash already pulled and just got back from picking it up. It was 220 miles trip so about $35 in fuel. It was at a shop where they bought a transmission and got the tranny, xfer case, and driveshafts all for same price so they had shafts and xfer case xtra to get rid of. It was already pulled and drained and at least it was someone who is not going anywhere if it is not good. He said it had 91k on it. I did find one other one at u pull yard for $135 + tax but would have to pull it and it had over 200k miles on it.
Right now, due to time restrictions and need we figure to pay local shop to swap it then I will tear down the current one that has a bad bearing (or more). Based on what I find and difficulty I will do one of 3 things - sell it after replacing one bearing or complete rebuild OR swap it back into our disco after same and resell one I just bought OR have A1 Transmission in Denver rebuild it and then swap it back into ours & resell one I just bought. A1 was recommended by several places in area. They only work on pulled units but specialize in xfer cases and are very familiar with these. They said to replace all seals and bearings would be $450 and take 2 days.
Based on the above my ending net cost will be between $300-1050 but will only have 1-2 days of down time for vehicle and no work on my part except rebuild at leisure on one case, UNLESS the used one I just bought is junk. That is BIG gamble and why I didn't want to simply swap in used on. If I had time I would still not have bought used one at $150, but then, time is money and if gamble pays off I could have awesome replacement and find only the front or rear bearing on mine being bad.
I will post back on how this used one runs, if at all, and what I find in the original xfer case.
Any opinions/experience with A1 transmission?
Any recommendations on oil for xfer case? I was tron between Amsoil or Royal Purple but more likely to use Royal Purple simply because of ease of acquisition if no big difference. I can get RP for about $16 a quart.
Thanks for that Aurora price list link Jimmy. That is a good link to keep around for future even if quite a distance away.

 

Well, anytime it comes to pulling money out of my wallet I start getting stingy, so less than an hour later and I am thinking of swapping the xfer cases myself. I've done an engine and a transmission before so it shouldn't be outside my abilities.

I'm just wondering how many hours it would take someone to do the 1st time around without any help? I'm gonna have to get creative to deal with the weight going back in though. If I heard right and remember right two shops mentioned it was 11 hours labor and I would guess for me it would be longer due to various issues like no 2nd pair of hands, fewer tools, no hoist, and of course being within shouting distance of family when something else breaks and is an urgent need.