it all started when my series III 88 was leaking massive amounts of oil. I.e. i filled it up on thursday with fresh 90wt and it was dry that tuesday, yea LOTS of oil. Figuring i should get it sorted before offroad4kids i did a quick inspection of the entire transmission and lost some stomach lining after what i saw.... about a 4 inch crack in the casing. So leaving it parked in the road for a couple days before i came up with a plan and a means to execute it, i checked the crack again, yea it was still there ONLY BIGGER.
My frame geometry is slightly off because of my slipshod measurements for the passenger frame horn and the rear cross member (w/ 18" extensions). This is also why my truck has been sitting funny (high front end, low rear end) but i could drive it with that problem. The stress caused by the faulty geometry split my transmission casing right next to the transfer case.
After talking with my dad and another rover friend they gave me the opinion on a new frame and a rebuilt transmisson. I thought a transmission rebuild was a big job, but now i get to put a newly rebuilt transmission onto a new galvinised frame. So on the positive side when I'm done i will have a series III 88 on a galvy frame, newly rebuilt transmission, and while I'm at it i might as well have the engine done too. The brakes and clutch were both done within the last two years so I wont have to re-do everything, but a good deal of it.
Anyway the transmission rebuild will commence this week and the frame-over will kick off when i decide where to buy a frame from. So no my truck will sadly not make it to offroad4kids (gonna bolt the swampers on the white 109 and drive up), but I'm aiming to have it done for winter romp.
notice in this picture how low the back end is compared to the front end:
pictured below left to right: the crack, the leak, the rebuild candidates
