I recently did the LR3 metal transmission pan conversion and it royally sucked. I disconnected and jacked up the transfer case which helped a lot with clearances, and instead of cutting off the filter stem I just snapped it off in one quick motion. Replacing the ZF sleeve was HORRIBLE. I pried against it for an hour trying to press it in far enough to push the white retaining clip up to no avail. I eventually had to put a socket against the sleeve (23 or 24mm I believe) and put a pry bar against the socket to press it in. When trying to reassemble the heat shield bracket, I just could not get the two driver side bolts in. The propeller shaft is in the way and there's no clearance or visibility, so I wasn't able to line up the holes and fit the bolts in. Then I realized something - this bracket's only purpose is to hold up the heat shield which isn't heavy at all. Why don't I cut slots on the troublesome side so I can put the bolts in first and then simply slide the bracket up so that the bolts go into the slots and then tighten them? It worked like a charm.

In hindsight, I should have cut the two slots on the left side instead of one on the right and one on top but it still worked great. I cut the left one first, and when I went to do the right side I noticed I couldn't cut it in the same direction since it would remove too much material and weaken it. If I did it from the left side it would have worked just fine. I don't recommend cutting a vertical slot so that if the bolts got loose, the bracket would slip down due to gravity.

I cut the slots using a hacksaw and a file to finish it off. If I ever need to remove the bracket in the future it will be a piece of cake.


LR3 transmission heat shield bracket

 

Luckily the diesel variants have a different heat shield arrangement and no exhaust or cross member clearance issues when fitting the steel pan.

 

Not a bad solution. I bought slightly shorter machine screws for the same reason. 2 mm shorter makes all the difference. Whoever does this job next will be lucky.

 

I thought about getting shorter screws but the stores were all closed and I really wanted to get this wrapped up. Since the lr4 doesn't have this bracket, I think LR realized it wasn't needed. I suppose I could have simply left it off but I'm a stickler for putting things back to stock.