Earlier this year I went off-roading and drove through a fairly deep mud pit. When I exited the pit, there was a strong odor that I thought was transmission fluid. Later at home I looked under the vehicle and discovered that the transfer case front output seal was weeping. I had driven slowly through the mud pit, and I think the muddy water suddenly cooled down the transfer case and fluid. The resulting temperature/pressure change caused water to be sucked into the transfer case. I could have left things alone and just topped up the fluid occasionally, but I didn't want to leave a stain on anybody's driveway, so I went ahead and changed the seal. Since I had to open up the transfer case, I also put in a new input seal and rear output seal.
This is not an overly technical job, but some aspects require a tremendous amount of patience and careful observation. I will be honest, it took me nearly an entire week to get this done, and I often found myself regretting not just taking it to a shop. It would have been painful on the wallet, but I think it would have saved a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and stress.
There is a good writeup on the disco3 site that explains the whole process. Here is the link. The transfer case in the LR3 is a Magna Steyr DD295, the same one found in the Range Rover Sport. Somebody did a teardown with great pictures here. The only difference I noticed with mine is that the magnet for capturing shavings looks more like a trapezoid and not a plus sign. You should be able to get the seals at your local dealer, but if you are in need of any other spare parts, Cobra Transmission seems to be the only game in the states, and they are not cheap. It appears that some of the parts might be interchangeable with the transfer case on the BMW X5 and X3. The transfer cases are Magna Steyr as well, but they are not completely identical.
I apologize for not taking any pictures. I am not the type to pause, take off the gloves, and then take pictures. If I were to add my own notes to the disco3 writeup:
- It's easier to remove the transmission support cross member first before undoing the front drive shaft.
- Get a set of star sockets (torx sockets) to remove the bolts on the front and rear driveshafts. I believe the front takes 12mm and the rear 14mm. If you have trouble reaching some of the bolts (let's use the front driveshaft as an example), jack up one of the front wheels and put the vehicle in neutral. Rotating that wheel will cause the front driveshaft to turn, and you can now reach all the bolts. Of course you'll need the vehicle chocked for safety.
- There is a plate on the passenger side of the transfer case held on by three 10mm bolts. Attached are fuel lines and O2 sensor lines. You'll need to disassemble this in order to get the transfer case out.
- Get a 13mm stubby ratcheting wrench. Access to six of the eight above mentioned transfer case/ transmission bolts is really bad. The factory manual says to use a torque adapter or crow's foot, but I can't see how that is possible without losing your sanity. The bolts are torqued on pretty tight and I used a slightly longer wrench to break them loose. There is very little room to turn anything, so you'll want to use a stubby ratchet as much as possible.
- Once the transfer case was open, I had a hard time removing the output shafts. Both the front and rear have a large circlip that needs to be compressed, but I don't think there is tool for this. I ended up inserting four paperclips to hold the circlip in place and then gave the shaft a good whack with a hammer.
- None of the three seals get pressed in all the way (input, front output, and rear output). I learned this one the hard way. Pressing the seals in all the way will cause the bearing to rub against them. Also, when the input seal is out, look at the opening and you will see that there are channels for oil to lubricate the shaft bearing. Pressing the seal beyond these channels will allow oil to leak out. I believe the Land Rover tools will limit how far you can press the seals in, but they are very expensive for a one time job like this.
- When closing up the transfer case, keep an eye on the magnet and oil pump pipe as these can easily fall out of place.
- I refilled with Royal Purple Synchromax as this is the only non Land Rover oil I could find that specifically says it meets the Shell TF0753 spec.
- Buying the seals though the dealer is not expensive. They are about $12 to $15 each, but I think you can get them cheaper if you know the exact measurements and get Timken branded or such.
Best of luck if you are doing this.
This is not an overly technical job, but some aspects require a tremendous amount of patience and careful observation. I will be honest, it took me nearly an entire week to get this done, and I often found myself regretting not just taking it to a shop. It would have been painful on the wallet, but I think it would have saved a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and stress.
There is a good writeup on the disco3 site that explains the whole process. Here is the link. The transfer case in the LR3 is a Magna Steyr DD295, the same one found in the Range Rover Sport. Somebody did a teardown with great pictures here. The only difference I noticed with mine is that the magnet for capturing shavings looks more like a trapezoid and not a plus sign. You should be able to get the seals at your local dealer, but if you are in need of any other spare parts, Cobra Transmission seems to be the only game in the states, and they are not cheap. It appears that some of the parts might be interchangeable with the transfer case on the BMW X5 and X3. The transfer cases are Magna Steyr as well, but they are not completely identical.
I apologize for not taking any pictures. I am not the type to pause, take off the gloves, and then take pictures. If I were to add my own notes to the disco3 writeup:
- It's easier to remove the transmission support cross member first before undoing the front drive shaft.
- Get a set of star sockets (torx sockets) to remove the bolts on the front and rear driveshafts. I believe the front takes 12mm and the rear 14mm. If you have trouble reaching some of the bolts (let's use the front driveshaft as an example), jack up one of the front wheels and put the vehicle in neutral. Rotating that wheel will cause the front driveshaft to turn, and you can now reach all the bolts. Of course you'll need the vehicle chocked for safety.
- There is a plate on the passenger side of the transfer case held on by three 10mm bolts. Attached are fuel lines and O2 sensor lines. You'll need to disassemble this in order to get the transfer case out.
- Get a 13mm stubby ratcheting wrench. Access to six of the eight above mentioned transfer case/ transmission bolts is really bad. The factory manual says to use a torque adapter or crow's foot, but I can't see how that is possible without losing your sanity. The bolts are torqued on pretty tight and I used a slightly longer wrench to break them loose. There is very little room to turn anything, so you'll want to use a stubby ratchet as much as possible.
- Once the transfer case was open, I had a hard time removing the output shafts. Both the front and rear have a large circlip that needs to be compressed, but I don't think there is tool for this. I ended up inserting four paperclips to hold the circlip in place and then gave the shaft a good whack with a hammer.
- None of the three seals get pressed in all the way (input, front output, and rear output). I learned this one the hard way. Pressing the seals in all the way will cause the bearing to rub against them. Also, when the input seal is out, look at the opening and you will see that there are channels for oil to lubricate the shaft bearing. Pressing the seal beyond these channels will allow oil to leak out. I believe the Land Rover tools will limit how far you can press the seals in, but they are very expensive for a one time job like this.
- When closing up the transfer case, keep an eye on the magnet and oil pump pipe as these can easily fall out of place.
- I refilled with Royal Purple Synchromax as this is the only non Land Rover oil I could find that specifically says it meets the Shell TF0753 spec.
- Buying the seals though the dealer is not expensive. They are about $12 to $15 each, but I think you can get them cheaper if you know the exact measurements and get Timken branded or such.
Best of luck if you are doing this.
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