Thought I'd provide an update with a successful outcome ... I have an independent Land Rover shop in Portland, OR that has worked on our vehicles for 20yrs. He felt that the issue would be resolved by using Lubegard Shudder Fixx. If you look them up on the internet, you'll get a better explanation of the "what & why" concerning the issue and their products. Like they advised, we used a single tube and it took care of 75% of the symptoms. Then added the 2nd tube + their ATF product. Combined, that is the max they advise using and the ATF product is a longer term solution to address the shuddering issue.

I hope this will help others with similar issues, versus the annoyance of the symptom and cost of a full tranny replacement.

 

did the acceleration feel almost like micro surges? did they tend to go away on hard acceleration?

 

there's a thread over on the disco3.co.uk site concerning the various Dr Tranny and other TC snake oils, and the concensus seems to be they work well beyond expected.
ZF makes a darn tough slushbox.

 

Interesting that you bring that subject up. We had one LR3 that did that "micro surge" under light throttle, and it was more you kind of felt it rather than saw any indication of it. Nothing came up on the Gap and never any CEL. None of the others did that. Never considered it might be a TC issue.

 

I would describe the sensation as jittery when a hard acceleration occurred. Overall, the tachometer would cycle up-and-down every second about 100rpms on any slight grade (e.g. 2-3%) with a soft jittery/shutter. On steeper roads/highways it became very noticeable and unsettling.

 

I just got my transmission fluid flushed and replaced last week finally and that has removed the jitter I originally described. I am still seeing light fluctuation in RPMs when using cruise control but I believe now this is related to the transfer case specifically.

But overall, the fluid flush and change resolved the bulk of the issue for me.