The handbrake drum is removed easily. Just a couple of countersunk screws hold it on. When the drum cannot be stopped with the handbrake, use of an impact driver makes it easier to remover these screws.
The handbrake backplate is held in place with 4 bolts. I have a disc brake replacement, so none of this will be reused.
The transfer lever assembly is removed.
And so is the gearlever assembly.
After lifting off the transfer box (it's an awkward part and quite heavy, so use a sling and crane to be safe), this is what the gearbox output shaft looked like.
This is what it's supposed to look like!
I found an ex-military reconditioned LT77 gearbox on eBay. Bargain!
Given the state of the gearbox output shaft, the transfer box input gear needed inspecting. Here the pto cover and bearing housing have been removed.
The input gear can then be lifted out.
This is what was inside the input gear! You can't see it too well, but the splines were as badly worn as the input shaft.
The replacement input gear, shown here already fitted with hte bearings. Note this is the later cross drilled type which should reduce the wear in the splines.
The input gear pre-load is set with a shim under one of the bearing outer races, seen here in the middle. The shims can be obtained in several sizes to achieve the correct pre-load.
Having installed the correct shim and bearing race, the new gear is assembled into the case and the end housing fitted.
The cover is then fitted. This is where any PTO driven item would be fitted.
The transfer box fitted to the reconditioned gearbox.
Unfortunately, one of the threaded holes in the gearbox had been fitted with a thread insert...... badly! So the hole had to be drilled out.......
And after a little grinding to create a flat surface...........
A new, longer, bolt and nut were fitted.
The
old drum hand brake was discarded and a nice shiny new X-Eng disc type
was bought. These come highly recommended by those who have used them.
www.x-eng.co.uk
Barely 5 minutes, and it was fitted.