I am going to help a friend swap out his old lt230 for a new one on a manual 96 Disco. I understand I need a good jack cradle fabbed to hold the lt230 at 30 degrees to make it easier to move in and out ..

Other than this jack cradle is this just a bolt out and in operation ? any tips or tricks involved ? and step by step sites out there for the namby pamby in me ??

He is checking now to see what kind of lt230 he has old and new. Does installation of the transfer case itself differ by model Q R T etc..

If there is no Q's in the serial # on the Q's as I once read somewhere then how can I tell it's a Q ?!?!? ( because there is no R or T ?)

The first time you try something new always causes the worst jitters, the more info I have the better so please fire away!!

Billster says, and I quote:

"AWWWW Bullshit! It aint that heavy!"

you can do it easily with two people and isn't that difficult with one person especially if you drain it. Just Lift it up there and stab it in man

-ben

Bill and I have all the parts to do the swap into my LWB *except* for the lower bracket on the passenger's side.

Anyone parting out a Disco that has one? Miraculously my local LR dealer had the upper bracket. Go figure.

Back to SEMA today!!!

If Bill Ritchie didn't use a cradle then flipoff2: ' it .... I won't either.

"just lift it up and stab it in" LMAO!!

Thanks guys and have a great weekend...

JB

Brad, you need to do the following:

Remove Y-pipe

Remove cross-member

Remove drive shafts

lower t-case down until heater hoses in engine bay start to smoosh. be careful not to damage them.

Loosen ALL the bolts. They are a pain. Most of them are 17mm.

Remove various cables, wiring, etc...speedo cable too.

Just use a floor jack and pry/wiggle it around. It'll come off easily if you have all the bolts and wires/cables undone. If it doesn't come off easily you are still missing some bolts.

Oh, undo the brackets from the frame side, not the t-case side, don't even bother to remove the rubber mounts until it's out of the truck.

Installation is reverse of removal.

It's a PITA man. Try going from a BW to an LT-230. What a pain.

I'll finish mine tomorrow and give a report.

We just dropped the y - pipe section by lowering the front sway bars , then took out the transfer case - a true pain in the ass.

This is a standard/ manual 5 speed transmission 1996 Disco. The xfr case we pulled out today was plain topped with just two linkages for hi-lo and lock/ unlock. The one we got to replace it has the same 2 linkages and a small square plate on top with two different sets of wires coming out, like a solenoid and/or something for an auto-trans. Does anyone know what these wires are for and if we must use them ??

Hope the BW to LT230 swap is going better. I might get to do that soon.

thanks.

Just to help you guys on these swaps. When you remove or install an LT230, you will find it much easier to remove the pto cover, and then the input gear. You will not have to line up the splines of the tranny with the input gear, untill you have the t-case bolted up. This is how it is done at the dealership. when you are ready to put the input gear and pto cover back on, use Permatex aviation forma gasket to reseal the PTO cover. Do not use silicone or right stuff here, as the plate just behind the PTO cover has the Input gear bearing race on it, and is used to preload the input gear bearings.

This procedure will take alot of the frustration out of this job, even more so if you are on your back trying to heave up the t-case by yourself, which I have had to do.

Originally posted by TallBrad

The one we got to replace it has the same 2 linkages and a small square plate on top with two different sets of wires coming out, like a solenoid and/or something for an auto-trans. Does anyone know what these wires are for and if we must use them ??



thanks.


The solinoid is a park /neutral safty lock that keeps you from "accidently" shifting into low. You don't want it in there. One option is to make a plate to blank off the hole, or do what I did. I unbolted the solenoid, removed it from the housing, sealed the wire hole and put the empty housing back in.

-Jeff

Great tip Puff ! We were just gonna flip to see who had to bench it up while the other guy tried to direct it onto the spline.

JS - I will follow your advice on removing the solenoid and wires.

Now we have an extra lt230 needing a rebuild. Any suggestions or directions I should go to get it ready for a possible swap into a 1990 RRC with a worn out BW ? Can you get a lower crawl and still cruise at 80 mph on the highway ?

if you just replace the low gears of course you can keep the high gears so the highway speeds would be the same. I still haven't found a justificaton for replacing the low gears yet though you have a 3.3 and when you replace it it's something like 4.1 so you really don't gain all that much and it's major bucks. I think that just replacing the case with something that has a center lock and no viscious coupling should suit you much better. Try it out if you aren't satisfied drop the dough on the lower gears but definately try it out first.

-ben