5 speed Disco? Thoughts?

utahdog2003

utahdog2003

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2004
1,842
0
North Florida
I've become a wimp
My DiscoII is to blame.
I hate getting it dirty.
I hate rolling up my carpets and drying the thing out after club trips.
My club hates me for asking "how deep is the water?"
Time to replace my long departed Tacoma with something I'm not afraid to sink...I mean really sink

So I'm thinking about a 5 speed DiscoI as a possibility. The one thing I miss about my Tacoma was that it had a manual transmission. I like shifting, and especially the control a manual affords off-road. I have no experience with manual Discos so my question is...do they stink?
 
BaldEagle

BaldEagle

Well-known member
Sep 13, 2004
2,824
0
Atlanta, GA
i love mine and i would go out of my way to find another one if god forbid i had to. i love the control i have off road. they arent as fast as the automatics, unless you want to shift like a racecar driver, but that doesnt bother me. and maintenance free up to 226k miles so far, except for a replaced clutch at 175k.

on another note, i noticed autozone supposedly can get a hold of them at a much lower price than Atlantic British. it says its an r380 (or whatever) i wonder if it truly fits?
 
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A

Asolo3j

Well-known member
Nov 8, 2004
1,267
1
Annapolis
BaldEagle said:
i love mine and i would go out of my way to find another one if god forbid i had to. i love the control i have off road. they arent as fast as the automatics, unless you want to shift like a racecar driver, but that doesnt bother me. and maintenance free up to 226k miles so far, except for a replaced clutch at 175k.

on another note, i noticed autozone supposedly can get a hold of them at a much lower price than Atlantic British. it says its an r380 (or whatever) i wonder if it truly fits?
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X2

Love it and would do it again in a heartbeat. I do, however need a new master and slave cyl. 115K on the original. 1st or 2nd in low, locked CDL... creeps down the trail.
 
jhmover

jhmover

Well-known member
Apr 23, 2004
5,571
3
California
I have a 96 5-speed now as I totalled the D2 in a headon collision. I was sick of the 3 amigos and the many problems I had with the D2, so I went retro and found a plain jane D1 with a 5-speed. No sunroofs to leak or break, no power seats, etc. I bought it with 119k on it, I now have 187k on it (since June 2005). I've had very few problems with it.

I like the 5-speed. Gives you a little more gear selection, it's geared lower when you're in 1st gear low range than the auto is. You can downshift it when you want as opposed to wating until the computer lets the auto downshift. First in low range is low enough where you can be going uphill off-road and just let the clutch out and it will start moving without giving it any gas.

The clutch had about 60k on it when I bought it, I've put on almost another 70k and the clutch is still fine. My mechanic advises new clutch is expensive job, lots of labor.

I also find it's not much of a bother in traffic as you can almost bring it to a dead stop in low gear without pushing in the clutch. It's only a bother if you're in a real bad traffic jam.
 
utahdog2003

utahdog2003

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2004
1,842
0
North Florida
I should point out that I am not selling the DII.
Anybody with clutch replacement experience? I've done Toyota, Honda and VW clutch work, but something tells me I shouldn't be suprised by the potential expense of Rover clutch issues!:smilelol:
 
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BaldEagle

BaldEagle

Well-known member
Sep 13, 2004
2,824
0
Atlanta, GA
justinhaaga said:
never driven a manual offroad, but wheel with people who do and they die alot on steep ascents.
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they just need practice; both with wheeling and using the 5 speed on steep ascents. but we also dont need our brakes on steep descents :victory:

as far as the clutch replacement, i spent $1200. that was the same at an indy rover shop and a general import shop. the parts are rather expensive compared to a ford ranger. i replaced it at 175k miles, and the clutch was actually still good, it was the release bearing that was bad.
 
R

Ron

Well-known member
Jun 15, 2004
1,820
0
Main Line
If it is a good trans when you buy it, you run MTL and shift slow it is a good set up. Otherwise . . . . expect second to crunch and over time the input bearing dies. Also, make sure there is no mainshaft spline wear and it has the updated cross drilled LT230 input as this is really really expensive to fix on an R380 (ie new R380 mainshaft as opposed to stub shaft on ZF).

Mine had no issues, nor does my current D90. The first D90 second was worn, but I could still drive it like a champ . . . .
 
A

apg

Well-known member
Dec 28, 2004
3,019
0
East Virginia
5 speeds are scarce. According to LRNA records, only 5% of the Discos sold in the US were manuals. I can think of only two places where an automatic is superior to a manual: driving in deep sand (an autobox is quicker on the downshifts...) and steep uphill work (again, quicker shifts). Oh, and trying to balance on the teeter-totter....

I had the fifth-reverse layshaft on my R-380 fracture under benign conditions. Straight, level running with the cruise control on, returning from Roverfest and ironically, exactly while passing the storage yard of imported Rovers near Baltimore. Out of warranty, all the parts suppliers (ABP, RN, the stealership) were within two dollars of each other for a new R-380. A postmortem revealed a layshaft fractured as cleanly as you could cut it with a plasma torch. While the box was out, I had 'em replace the clutch. The cross-drilled upgrade was done gratis.

One of these days, I'll get around to rebuilding the old R-380....
 
Chris-St Louis

Chris-St Louis

1
Oct 27, 2004
3,000
4
apg said:
. I can think of only two places where an automatic is superior to a manual: driving in deep sand (an autobox is quicker on the downshifts...) and steep uphill work (again, quicker shifts). Oh, and trying to balance on the teeter-totter....
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And rush hour traffic. :p
 
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