Landrover CDL install
Landrover CDL Install
I have looked at most of the commercially available systems but am just too mean to spend that much money or did not like the system. I loved the cheap systems but dont want to get out of the truck to change into and out of dif lock. Eventually decided to make my own system. This is the end result - cheap but easy. I know that the D1 shifter works well but I don't like the idea of the transmission shifter being physically bolted to the gearbox and the console plate in the cab - not enough movement). I really like the cable system but don't want to spend $400 to make one.
I decided to make a cable system that would cost less than $400 and this is what I came up with! My original idea was to make a slot in the gear lever spindle which is why there is a slot in mine. I was going to put a lever with a pivot point through the shaft and then connect it to a cable much like the original 2004 and later CDL system. Once I started however I found it was a quite cumbersome system to reverse engineer and needed a lot of fiddly bits that the average shade tree mechanic would not have access to. I cannot recommend that you do this as the liability is your own and done at your own resposibility!
In the end I made this system which works very well and is easily within the scope of the shade tree mechanic. the only bad bit is 2 items need to be welded, the average person with a mig welder will have no trouble. Most people also live within a few miles of a fab shop that would probably weld the bits, once you cut them, for under $20. If you cannot get anyone to weld the bits for you - then you can email me and I will do it and post a welded ring/shift lever / cable post thats honed to the right size with the small square of nylon to you for $25 plus postage ($5 in the US) (my email is locostlandycdl at gmail dot com just insert the correct symbols). Its just for the people that cannot get it done themselves! I will be adding to the web page on how to do it with a nissan sentra shifter cable as I picked one of them up initially for $9.50 at the local pull a part (they are $39 new on ebay)
here is the system
Its basically a second shifter running on a nylon bush on the shaft of the original shifter. works very well and is easy to shift into CDL in either high or low range as it works independently of the transfer box shifter like the 2004 and later shifter does.
here are the steps
1 remove the centre console and ancillary bits and then drill out the rivets holding in the shifter plate and make sure you have the CDL nipple before you do anything else. even better if you are not sure crawl under the landy and stick you hand up next to the front drive shaft and feel to see that it is there - some mid 2001 to end of 2003 landys do not have it.
If you have it remove your transfer box shifter at the shifter (just pull the slip pin and remove the cable) do not try to remove it at the transfer box as there is no need.
next disassemble the shifter unit to pull out the spindle, don't loose any of the o rings. to start knock out the roll pins with a drift then tapping on the shifter shaft you can push out the end plug. once the end plug is out you can remove the shaft and spindle.
once the spindle is out take the first big step - requires nuts/ovaries of steel - and cut off the shifter handle shaft. Always takes some doing to take that first step. Once you have the shaft cut off clean up all of the welding marks from where it was welded on so you have a clean spindle with which to work. remember I tried something else first so DON'T CUT A SLOT IN YOUR SPINDLE AND IGNORE IT IN THE PICTURES
with mine I had messed up the shaft of the changer trying other techniques so I had to cut it shorter then weld on a bolt but with yours you will not need to do that. just turn the spindle so that one of the 4 flat faces on the end stud are pointing up (doesn't matter which) and then drill a hole through the spindle to tap with a 3/8 UNC thread and run a die up the cut off end of the shaft to thread it for 3/8 UNC, the shifter knob is threaded for 3/8 UNC as well so if you want to lengthen you shifter then use some 3/8 grade 5 UNC threaded rod (don't use mild steel it will bend, use black grade 5). Also cut a narrow groove around the spindle to take a circlip
you also need to modify the holder of the shifter by cutting a slot for the cable arm attachment. Again you will have to do your own as i cut mine very large for a different original plan. works fine for this too but if I was doing it again I would just cut a narrow slot through the housing to fit the cable arm for the CDL shifter.
Doing it again I would just cut a slot in the casing where the red ring is but I had already cut it for the original system i was planning.
Next weld up the second shifter connector. I used thick walled tube so i could weld onto it and the bottom cable arm is 3mm steel cut to size and the top shifter knob arm is a 5.5 or 6 inch long 3/8 UNC bolt (I used that to fit the $8 knob from Schucks/oreilly/napa/autozone etc). I then reamed out the centre of the tube to slightly larger than the spindle in the shifter and honed it shiny with a brake hone. I honed it so I could put in a thin nylon bush rather than have it riding on steel. The bush material was just a nylon sheet around 500mil. (this is the bit I can weld and sell to those who cannot do it themselves - see above)
I also honed out the inside of the barrel just to get a nice smoot surface for the nylon bushing material and for a smooth shift.
Then its just a matter of reassembly and getting everything in the right order. here is a picture of everything you need except the loctite blue.
I know one of the nylon washers is an odd shape but its supposed to be, it fits into the end of the the shifter housing and is that shape as i did not want it to rotate.
steps should be self explanatory but are as follows. the square of nylon sheet you can see sticking out of the CDL shifter is pushed inside the hub when its installed. first put the grey spindle bush and its o ring back in the housing with the nylon washer around it
then put in the CDK shifter and push the transfer case shifter spindle through it and put on the next nylon washer
and secure everything with the circlip
Next put in the end bushing and tap the roll pins back in, screw the transfer shifter into the threaded hole and lock with locktite blue (I used blue so i can remove it again, with red it wont come out without heat etc) then you have a shifter box with 2 handles that work independently of each other. As you can see from the pictures I also used a lock nut on my transfer box shifter.
then make the cable holder for the shifter end. I just used a second hand landy Hi Lo shifter cable that i had in the garage but also found that a nissan sentra shifter cable works well too.
then make a bracket to hold the cable for the new CDL shifter. Remember that the CDL nipple only takes about 5 lbs of force to move it so you dont need a 50lb steel bracket! the arm on the fare side is the original one for the Hi Lo shift cable
here is the actuator end of the system the mounting bracket and the actuator arm on the CDL nipple.
The CDL nipple and the bracket mounted and a nylon washer between the arm and the top of the transfer case mount
Then the arm attached
and working, the CDL engaged and disengaged from the second shifter lever
then its just putting it all back together, I replaced all of the rivets that held the transmission cover plate down with riv nuts so i can just undo the screws whenever i need access here are some pictures
had some questions about the rivnuts - was surprised a bit as I thought they were common. they are small threaded tube rivets. you screw them onto the end of a special rivet gun and then through the hole and collapse the side walls (which are ribbed) so you have a lined hole with threads at the bottom. the rivnuts cost about 50c each but are very worthwhile. I have used them to make inspection plates, particularly for starter motor top bolts so you cut a hole with a hole saw, make a blanking plate then drill the floor and put rivnuts in the blanking plate and what was once inaccessible now has an inspection port.
then you just get the transfer case cable attached as normal and line up the housing and screw the machine 10-24 screws in to hold the plate and the 10mm bolt heat bolts to the transfer case shifter
and then just put all the padding in after cutting a second slot in it.
hey presto working CDL from the comfort of the cab for about $40 in bits and pieces
(mine cost more as i had to buy bulk but maybe I will sell some bits, it was worth it anyway)
just for completeness I reinstalled everything and found I needed to extend the cdl shifter by about 1.5 inches so when you do it use a 5.5 or 6 inch 3/8 bolt (I have corrected it in the earlier text as well) so with everything back in place it looks like this now
I then sewed up a double sleeved shifter boot with leatherette on my wife's sewing machine with a heavy duty needle
and it all works! I will make a better shifter knob when I have time, that one is a cut down 8 ball shifter knob - all they had at my local schucks.
here are some pics of the CDL icon on the dash and the shifter in Hi CDL and Lo CDL
Good Luck if you try and remember this is how I did it, if you try its your own responsibility
Barri
locostlandycdl at gmail dot com just insert the correct symbols
UPDATE USING NISSAN SENTRA SHIFTER CABLE
just repeated this using a nissan sentra cable instead of a landrover hi/lo shifter cable. The nissan sentra cable (out of a 91) is a great deal cheaper
and just to repeat if you try this its at your own responsibility!
As the nissan sentra cable has a bolt connector at one end and a bar connector at the other end - also so as not to show the system installed as I dont use this particular system and only developed it out of interest I will show the system clamped together - not installed!
I have not installed one of these and if you do its at your responsibility!
the shifter lever with a bolt welded into the the end for the nissan cable
the slot cut into the shifter housing to accept the shifter handle
the bracket that would attach to the shifter housing to hold the cable - the c clip secures it
the shifter with the HI/LO lever cut off and the shaft drilled for 3/8 coarse tap, the same as the knob uses. and the CDL shifter with the nylon bush
the CDL shifter in the housing and the cable attached to the bracket with the c clip
The system as it would be installed if I were to do this. I would bolt the bracket to the shifter housing with 3 bolts and use some washers to position the cable on the bolt and lock 2 nuts against each other to make sure the cable was secure.
On the other end I would have a piece of flat bar drilled and cut to fit the same way as the system above but with some small changes
As the Nissan cable comes with a bracket with bolt holes in it then one could bend up the end of the bracket that fits over the CDL nipple and bolts onto the 2 inner bolts on the transfer case
and then pinch the end nissan sentra cable between the 2 pieces of steel as in the second picture below. as this is just a representation one would have to drill holes in the back piece of steel
that way the whole system at the TC end would look like this
So all the pieces one would need are shown in the picture below, but if I were going to do it then I would Have to drill some holes and do a bend in the CDL nipple bracket. I wouldnt do it however as i have no liability coverage and could not recommend doing that. I would guess the total cost to be around $45 for all of the pieces if one were going to do it
