Hi, just a quick question [for a change] - is there likely to be much difference in the propshaft doughnut kit, costing around £40 and the one by LR costing £134 ?

Pierre3.

Doubt it. Is the £40 shown as OEM or Shitpart?

Hi Richard, there's one on LR Direct, Britpart £37.00; and there's two on LRparts.net, one Britpart [ I think] at £22.00 ex. VAT, and another, OEM, I think, at 47.00 ex VAT.

I just found a LR original one in France for €98 plus postage, made by GKN. I think that I will be going for this one as I don't have to pay anything extra, except the postage, for buying in France.

Pierre3.

But the main question is, did you get the parking brake drum off?

Ha-ha-ha, good man, Richard, for remembering about it. Sorry, I probably should have updated the other post.

Yes, indeed, I finally did get it sorted out, on Tuesday past, thanks so much for your advice. One of the valuable lessons was about jacking up only one side if you need to do anything with the transmission brake or te propshaft.

I have indeed fitted nice new brake shoes and the handbrake is transformed. But I suspect that the seal behind the drum is leaking, and although I have a seal and a 13/16th ring spanner I could not get enough leverage to slacked the nut in the centre of the drum so that I could remove the old seal. All I can do for the moment is keep an eye on it and see if any more fluid appears around the bottom of the brake drum.

In the meantime I feel that the doughnut may have a very small split between two bolt holes so I have ordered a new one from LR France. I don't know whether it is a tiny split or a production issue but I am not risking leaving it now that I have seen it.

So again, thanks for all your advice, the job has been successfully completed !!! How about disassembling the gearbox next !!!

Pierre3.

You might need more than a ring spanner, the centre nut is done up to 109 lb/ft, so socket and big breaker bar is the way to do it.. Changing that rear seal isn't actually that difficult. With the drum in place put the handbrake on so it doesn't turn when you undo the nut. Let the handbrake off, remove the drum and the rear flange should just pull out. RAVE shows a gear puller being used but I've never known one need it, they usually just pull out. Lever the old seal out, push the new one in, coat it with ATF then put the flange back.

That isn't part of the gearbox, it's the transfer case output. To get to the gearbox you have to remove the transfer case, a whole new can of worms, especially as it weighs the best part of 70kg.

Yes, thanks for the advice. As I suspected, I really need a pit, or a lift, to really get a decent sized bar under the car. I'm not sure that I could get the leverage required with the car just jacked up, but I would have to go to Halfords to look for a long 1/2 inch breaker bar.

Anyway, I will wait until the weather gets a bit warmer and more reliable as far as no rain is concerned. I will have a look around and see what decent sized bars are about, maybe on the internet could be the best bet. But many thanks for the description of how to do it.

I did find it a bit awkward, to say the least, changing the handbrake shoes while laying on my back. There is a spring c-clip which holds one of the brake shoes to a lever in the drum, and it is a real PITA trying to get it back when trying to keep two curved washers plus one normal washer in place on a loose pin, which goes between the two brake shoes parts, all while laying on your back and working upwards. In the end I had to leave out one of the curved washers so that the spring c-clip would fit. I'm pretty sure that having left one washer out isn't going to make a huge difference.

I was only joking about the gearbox by the way !!

Pierre3.