Who rebuilds diffs / lt230s stateside?

_ExpeditionMan

Well-known member
Dec 11, 2017
295
34
Texas
Who rebuilds rover diffs / lt230s stateside? Anyone used GBR to do a rebuild rather than order new equipment? Any other options? Surely there must be someone over here who can do it rather than wasting a core charge and ordering from Ashcroft...
 

fishEH

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2009
6,927
201
Lake Villa, IL
Lamorna Garage in Seattle rebuilds the LT230. You don't want to know the price.
There's another well known guy that rebuilds LT230's stateside. Last time I looked into it, it was cheaper to get a rebuilt from Ashcroft and eat the core than to ship two ways to the guy in the US and pay for the rebuild.
 

_ExpeditionMan

Well-known member
Dec 11, 2017
295
34
Texas
There's another well known guy that rebuilds LT230's stateside. Last time I looked into it, it was cheaper to get a rebuilt from Ashcroft and eat the core than to ship two ways to the guy in the US and pay for the rebuild.

That just seems crazy, especially with the exchange rate difference.
 

DiscoPhoto

Well-known member
Jul 23, 2012
2,581
76
Vermont
Roadside Rob(Rob Dassler) of Southwest Rovers rebuilds 230s, he's in Abq and probably the highest regarded for it in the states. As for diffs, I've had GBR do it in the past as well as Lucky8, and I just sent another set to L8 to have built
 

Gordo

Well-known member
An LT230 should not be hard to rebuild. Not much to it really. I’ve rebuilt an LT95 tbox in the truck and an old Toyota Land Cruiser in the truck. Both were intimidating but turned out to be fairly easy. Now diffs are another story for me. Reading gear patterns is always a challenge. Setting the pinion height for new gears is tough but changing bearings with the same gears is easy as is changing carriers or lockers. Just reuse the pinion bearing shins and housing with new bearings. Measure the preload on the pinion bearings with a inch torque wrench and reset backlash with a cheap dial indicator. Really easy unless u start changing housings and/or gears, then u need to deck it for pinion height or be really good at reading gear patterns. Just my two cents
 

Tugela

Well-known member
May 21, 2007
4,754
562
Seattle
An LT230 should not be hard to rebuild. Not much to it really.

Any resources on this you can share? I haven't dug around in RAVE enough to know if this info is covered in there. Contemplating this project on my "one day when I finally make the time" list.
 

Swedjen2

Well-known member
Sep 12, 2018
594
127
California
You said you are in Texas in your Parts Wanted post, so you're closer to Southwest Rovers in ABQ than anywhere else with a reputable rebuilder. As an added bonus, If you drop it off in person you can get lunch at Los Pollos Hermanos...tell Gus I sent ya.

Southwest Rovers
8700 San Pedro Dr. NE Unit B
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87113
Tel: 505-872-7818
Roadsiderob@gmail.com
Contact Person: Rob Dassle
 
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Gordo

Well-known member
Any resources on this you can share? I haven't dug around in RAVE enough to know if this info is covered in there. Contemplating this project on my "one day when I finally make the time" list.

I found the Lt95 rebuild on YouTube. Coupled that with the manual and it really helped. There are a few for the LT230 on there as well. I’ve rebuilt Ktm engines, hung doors, etc using the tube. Manuals are great but a video really helps! Good luck
 

Jeff Blake

Well-known member
May 6, 2016
429
16
Pacific Beach, San Diego
Any resources on this you can share? I haven't dug around in RAVE enough to know if this info is covered in there. Contemplating this project on my "one day when I finally make the time" list.

I rebuilt one. The Overhaul section in the Workshop Manual is really all you need. There is a separate LT230T (or was it Q?) overhaul manual, but that is for the version prior to the D1/D2. I wasted a lot of time with my OCD trying to compare and reconcile differences between those manuals.. just follow the Rave and be done with it.

It's not too difficult... but it's impossible to do it by the book without specialized (and very hard to find) LR specific tools. Rebuilding the engine, there are "required" specialized tools, but there's always a suitable off-the-shelf or DIY tool to use instead.. whereas with the LT230, you actually need the specialized tools. You can do it by feel and probably be fine (see Land Rover Toolbox Videos on youtube), or try to source the special tools (what I did), and/or combination of pray for the best (like determining what length spacer to use on the intermediate shaft gear set, as I couldn't source that tool and didn't want do the out-dated collapsible-spacer method)
 
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