Today I've pulled the EAS valve block off and given it a set of new O rings. Wasn't that urgent but it was beginning to drop slightly overnight so figured I'd do it. As it was -1C this morning, took the car out for a 10 mile or so run to get everything nice and warm, then pulled the valve block out so I could take it into the house and do the job in the warm. By the time I'd finished it and went outside to refit it, the temperature was up to a nice (?) +4 degrees C.

Weather is forecast to be the same tomorrow so I'll be getting a bit chilly. Arranged the use of a 4 post lift belonging to a mate's brother in law to make dropping the transfer case and giving it a new chain, bearings and seals. Only problem is that the lift is in a barn with a huge opening at one end so not even a chance of being able to put a heater in there. We're working on the principle that by the time I've driven over there (30 odd miles), everything will be nice and warm so we'll only start to freeze when putting it back......

Maybe time to invest in a set of thermal overalls Richard

They were a god send, as the first garage I worked in was a repurposed barn, that was basically a rusty holed tin roof with 4 spindly legs.................

Open all weathers and it would sway side to side in a strong wind, very unnerving

Got thermal long johns, thermal socks, a thick pair of jeans, tee shirt, sweat shirt, overalls (laying in the passenger footwell so the heater will be blowing on them on the way over), old jacket (also in the passenger footwell) and 3 pairs of gloves. Got a woolly hat somewhere but I'm buggered if I can find it although I have a feeling it might be in the boot of the car already.

I've been able to make the chain skip a tooth if I floored it from standstill for a while now (only to be expected after 410,000 I suppose) but as I may have to tow a dead 1978 Rolls Royce for about 300 miles next week, figured I ought to do it before then. As it's coming out I bought a set of bearings and seals to go in while it's apart and on the bench (or floor, I can't remember if the barn has a bench in it or not).

I'm all too familiar with dead Rolls Royces, my old P38 will have to drag one around soon..

With all that gear you're bound to get it done in no time...

Heavy bastard that T case.

I've changed one on my own with the car on the ground in the past, took a whole weekend. Mate who is giving me a hand has a 94 Classic which needed the viscous changing and we used the lift when doing that. It may be heavy but with two people and the car up in the air, it only took about 3 hours to remove the T case, change the VC and put it all back together. So, with any luck, we should be able to get mine done before it gets dark.....

Keeps fingers crossed!
I work in a large area without heating (30x10x5mt warehouse, split in two sections by a nylon curtain) and in addition to your "gear" I suggest a neck warmer, and couple thermos with nice tea for breaks. When you are in "action" don't feel the cold unless you get close to zero temps inside. Standing still however wears you down quickly, which will happen when you are at the bench doing the innards of the case ... that's where the tea comes handy!
Remember good footwear, if your feet get cold that is a near unrecoverable moment :-)

Never imagined the sump was so accessible ... great, on the list :-)

Didn't get too cold but didn't get it finished so it's still on the ramp with the transfer case on the bench. Old chain must be at least an inch longer than the new one so not surprising it could be made to skip. Front output shaft bearing had slack in it as well as being noisy and rear output shaft oil seal was slowly filling the parking brake drum with ATF. So a good job I bought the seal and bearing kit as well as the chain. Following the instructions in the overhaul manual, having changed the chain, bearings and seals, it came to putting it back together. Would it go together? Would it hell. One thing I couldn't understand was that when putting the interlock spool back in, it says to put it in low ratio even though it had been in high when taken apart. Looking at the way the cogs line up, this actually made sense. But the cover wouldn't go on. We must have taken it on and off at least 6 times trying to work out what was stopping it about 15mm short of going on fully home. Finally twigged it. All the pictures in the manual show the transfer case with no range change motor fitted. As the motor was in high and the mechanism in low, the two didn't line up and was stopping the two halves of the casing going together. Pull the motor off and the casing slotted back in. Then rotate the drive to put it back into high and refit the motor.

At this point, we'd spent so much time with the thing in bits on the bench, we decided to call it a day and finish it off tomorrow. Should be pretty straightforward not having to do battle with bolts that haven't been undone for many years.

Gilbertd wrote:

Didn't get too cold but didn't get it finished so it's still on the ramp with the transfer case on the bench. Old chain must be at least an inch longer than the new one so not surprising it could be made to skip. Front output shaft bearing had slack in it as well as being noisy and rear output shaft oil seal was slowly filling the parking brake drum with ATF. So a good job I bought the seal and bearing kit as well as the chain. Following the instructions in the overhaul manual, having changed the chain, bearings and seals, it came to putting it back together. Would it go together? Would it hell. One thing I couldn't understand was that when putting the interlock spool back in, it says to put it in low ratio even though it had been in high when taken apart. Looking at the way the cogs line up, this actually made sense. But the cover wouldn't go on. We must have taken it on and off at least 6 times trying to work out what was stopping it about 15mm short of going on fully home. Finally twigged it. All the pictures in the manual show the transfer case with no range change motor fitted. As the motor was in high and the mechanism in low, the two didn't line up and was stopping the two halves of the casing going together. Pull the motor off and the casing slotted back in. Then rotate the drive to put it back into high and refit the motor.

At this point, we'd spent so much time with the thing in bits on the bench, we decided to call it a day and finish it off tomorrow. Should be pretty straightforward not having to do battle with bolts that haven't been undone for many years.

Reading between the lines there, does the p38 use ATF in the transfer case? That explains something thats been bugging me (your remark somewhere on here about not replacing the input shaft seal and ending up with ATF over the rear end of the car and having to pull the transfer case off again to sort it) thats been puzzling me somewhat, as I'd expected the ATF to be from the gearbox not the transfer box. I've just had the box off the Disco to sort out it leaking from various points and a faulty switch and whilst its obviously different I couldn't see how the ATF could leak given the seal on the gearbox wasn't touched.

Also thought you getting it done in a day was somewhat hopeful, Mine took a few days working on a 2 post lift to sort it, though some of that was waiting for a new brake drum to turn up after discovering 2 cracks through it.

Yep the Borg warner 4462 T case uses ATF ;)

Yup, Dexron 3 for transfer case and auto gearbox but ordinary 75W-90 gear oil in the diffs. When I pulled the transfer case off and then put it back on again, I only read the bit in RAVE on how to remove it, I didn't bother reading the how to refit it. I mean, it's just the reverse of the above surely (and there's an awful lot of bits they tell you to remove or disconnect that you don't need to do)? It is but the first sentence in the refit instructions, is to always change the gearbox output shaft seal if the transfer case has been removed. So on that occasion it was ATF leaking out of the gearbox and not the transfer case.

The transfer box was off and on the bench in under 3 hours and that included a lot of swearing at bolts that didn't want to come undone. I reckon it will go back on in not much over an hour. It was just the fight that a couple of bearings took to remove (or more to the point, the big circlips that hold them in) and getting the thing back together that took most of the time today.

Got any pics?

"nudge nudge"

No, couldn't be arsed...... Maybe I'll take some tomorrow when it is going back in.

That makes more sense now, So the remaining question does the gearbox output shaft stay on the gearbox when your doing it, or is it attached to the transfer case?

I'll take a picture tomorrow, but the gearbox output shaft stays on the gearbox. It has external splines while the transfer case input shaft is a tube with internal splines that fits over it. Hence it is the outside of the transfer case input shaft that bears against the gearbox output oil seal.

Ups, I plan to do the front output shaft bearing on my TC ... what was the problem with the c-clips? I have a spare TC here and wanted to "bench test" the dismantle and fitting process in advance, before I try it on my car. I was hoping to be able to change the front output bearing with the TC in situ ... can You tell us, Richard?
Thanks a lot in advance!

Yes you can change the front bearing with the TC in place. Hardest part is breaking the RTV seal on the VC cover. Generally accepted method is once all 6 bolts are out, hit it with a hammer to twist it. There's even a couple of lugs that look like they were put there for that very reason. Problem with the circlips is that they are very strong, stronger than my recently purchased Machine Mart circlip pliers. The VC on mine took a bit of persuading to get it out of the bearing and I ended up putting the old nut on the shaft (as the Ashcroft seal and bearing kit comes with two new nuts too) and hitting it with a club hammer.

Mine is all back together now and flooring the throttle from standstill no longer gives me a skip. Even with two of us and a transmission lift, getting the TC back in is a real pig of a job.

Started gluing wheel arch extensions on.
Cleaned up the area first with rubbing alcohol, then T-cut the paintwork. I used Tigerseal to glue the polyurethane arches on.
Did the first one, all nicely in place. Came back 5 mins later and it had slid off on the floor, WTF.
Next try, I used clamps all round.Looks OK , then it started to rain!
Will carry on over the next feww days.
Tigerseal cleans up with brake fluid if anyone is interested.

Don't put T cut on the area you're going to glue, it won't stick

I know this from a mistake I made involving Discovery 2 Arch extensions ;)

Get yourself some wax and grease remover and go over the area you cut very well. Then give it a last go with metho right before you goi to glue.

Use some panel wipe or similar on the area you want to stick the arch extensions too and don’t put anything else on there other then the adhesive. I reckon it’s probably the T-Cut that’s caused your problems.

I went to Aberdeen and back in my VSE with the trailer about a month ago. I’ve driven it this evening for the first time since. Started flick of the key and is running perfectly as always.

The car that had the new engine is on the ramp awaiting the heater matrix being changed now.

David.