After changing the differential oils a few weeks ago, it was also time to do the transfer box. The transfer box takes the exact oil specs of the front and rear axles but has a slightly larger capacity. Again, it is a drain and fills to overflow to ensure the correct level.

Transfer box

Use Texaco Multi-Gear 75W/90R.

Refill 2.0 litres

Fill from dry 2.3 litres

You may use other good oils recommended by a trusted mechanic or dealership or one you know is recommended by Land Rover. In Uganda and other countries, we strongly recommend using Castrol products. Castrol Syntrax 75w90 is a good one to use.

My Local Land Rover Dealer no longer supplies the differential/transfer box oils in 1-litre bottles as they use it from a large barrel in their workshop. So, with this in mind, I looked elsewhere to see what was around. As long as you choose a high-quality oil that meets the above specifications, all will be ok.

Again, for the transfer box, I chose to use Castrol Syntrax, a semi-synthetic readily available at my local Halfords store. To ensure you have enough, you must buy 3 litres. However, you “should” have some left from the Differential oils “if you have done them first” as they only require about 3.5 litres, this means you will have enough for the transfer box, and you only need to buy 2 litres.

So, first of all, you need to get your truck parked on flat ground to ensure you can fill the transfer box to
the correct level as it fills to overflow. My driveway is slightly downhill in both directions, so I  parked the Disco on wood blocks to even it up. Getting the roofline horizontal front to back and side to side is pretty good to go.

Fortunately, unlike the differentials, the transfer box has metal plugs for drain and refill. They also have a 1/2″ square drive in them to undo them. The drain plug is right on the bottom corner, and the fill plug is located on the back face just by where the handbrake cable goes.

It’s a good idea to make sure you can undo/remove the fill plug BEFORE you drain the box of oil.

Now, because of where the fill plug is, you cannot get “straight” onto it with a half-inch extension/ratchet. I used a small 1/2 ” drive “wobble” extension, which allows you to get on the plug at an angle to undo it.

Once that’s loose/undone, you can drain the oil. The fill plug is right on the bottom corner and can easily get on with a ratchet or breaker bar to undo it.

As usual, there is always “something” in the way. The bolt-in cross member is just below the drain plug, and oil will hit that once it has slowed to a minimum flow.

The drain plug is identical to the differential drain plugs, containing a magnet to collect any metal particles in the transfer box. You will see “some” stuff on there, but not too much (I hope).

This is the easy way to tell the 2 plugs apart. The fill plug has no magnet on it. Below are the two plugs. The drain plug is on the left.

Once the oil drains, clean around where the fill plug goes, apply some Loctite / thread lock to the threads, refit the drain plug, and torque load it to 30NM or 22LBS ft.

Next is the more difficult part. Because of where the fill hole is, pouring the oil back in from the
bottles won’t be possible, so the only real solution is to pump it in. I  looked for a small type of oil container/pump for this job for ages on eBay and other places. Finding something was difficult, but I eventually stumbled across this little device below.

It has a 1-litre capacity, a small plastic tube, and a metal “filling” hook that will easily fit into the fill oil and hold /
hang itself in there.

Without this product or something similar, refilling the transfer box with oil will be very difficult. I bought 2 of these and will use one for Diff / Transfer oils and one for the Auto box fluids.
There is a larger capacity pump/container available from www.difflock.com, but it is pretty pricey, to be honest, and I won’t have the need to store large amounts of fluids.

So when you are ready, hook your little fill pipe into the hole and get pumping!! Fill the box until the oil runs in a 2mm bead from the fill/level plug. As stated, it will need about 2.3 litres, so I had to refill my little pump two times to finish the job.

Once it is “overflowing,” remove your pump, apply some thread lock to the fill plug, and refit and torque load to 25 NM 18 LBS ft.

Wipe and clean away any excess oil from the transfer box and cross member, and job done!!