rover drive vs fairey

[woodman1]

my 63 series IIA has a loud whine when i put the fairy into high range. I was wondering if anyone has switched to rover drive from a fairey? Is it worth it?

[siiirhd88]

I still have Fairy OD units in two of my Series. Both are noisy when overdrive is engaged, and have been for years.

Bob

[mongoswede]

I have not switched but I think the Rover Drive is a better design. It is expensive so maybe if you can sell your Fairey unit for most of the cost of the new unit then it won't be so bad.

[Tim Smith]

Too much noise could be a sign that it's going to go soon. They are noisier than the roverdrive so even a brand new fairey would likely be louder. I'm not sure if it's worth the cost to swap over though. There is just a lot of noise in general and the fairey is only contributing to that.

Make sure you change the oil in the fairey! Make note of the contents of the oil and if you see much metal in there, you should probably pull it out to avoid an unneeded breakdown.

I've heard that redline is very good at reducing drive train noise. I have used Lucas additives with good success but after reading up on that some more, I'm not so sure I can recommend it.

[rejeep]

I love my roverdrive!!

[bobzinak]

I have had my fairy OD for ten years and although it is a bit whiney, it hasn't ben bad. recently I replaced the transmission and after that it make a horrendious noise.. wondering what had change I came to discover that the bolt holding the shift lever touched upon the transmission case and transmitted all the gearbox noise through the overdrive lever..it was horrible...a little grinding on the bolt a little bending of the overdrive lever support and things once again were ok by rover standards. a i/2 inch piece of hose slipped over both the transmission shift lever, overdrive lever, and the high low lever helps with noise reduction, and doesn't look to bad either..rove on , bobzinak..

[tmckeon88]

I installed a Roverdrive last fall after 6 months without any overdrive. (cringe) My Fairey disintegrated after 15+ years of use -I can't say that I didn't get some use out of it (including an Alaska-to-Argentina jaunt). But I will say that my new Roverdrive works better, is quieter and seems more robust than the Fairey. It has also actually made my transmission shift and hold gears better, maybe because the slop in my worn Fairey was facilitating it jumping out of gear. Now there's no more of that. I am aware of a slight whine while driving with it disengaged, but engaged it doesn't get any louder. Overall I'm very happy with it. It wasn't an absolutely effortless installation, but it worked OK, especially since I had already had an overdrive in there. I can recommend it highly.

[Boddington]

Do Roverdrives have different gear ratios 1-4 than a stock transmission with a Fairey?

Oddly enough I would prefer to have the stock gear ratios ... low and slow is the way to go on the back country roads on which I drive. But I've wondered if Roverdrive is any different.

[woodman1]

actually I think the ratios are about the same but the roverdrive is quieter than the fairey.

[tmckeon88]

The difference with the overdrive engaged feels about the same as the Fairey, but of course you don't have to engage it. It's helpful for splitting 3rd gear on climbing some hills.

[scott]

I've got the fairey. Never seen a roverdrive so can't compare. And I'm one of the economically challenged type of series owners so if my whinny old fairey craps out I've got the parts to cap off the tranny end and will just have to get use to driving slower

[Boddington]

I guess this is as good a time as any to ask: How exactly does the overdrive work? Does it slip into "fifth" gear or do you use the clutch? What happens if you keep the overdrive engaged and you downshift into third or second?

I hear that overheating was an issue. Why? These were lubricated just like a transmission, yes?

My '67 IIa had the stock transmission and conversely couldn't go any faster than 45. Before I sold it I had plans to find a Fairey, but never fully understood them.

[scott]

the fairey is engaged while moving using the clutch. mine almost always grinds a bit when shifting "out". it's like a 2 speed gear box between the tranny and transfer case. so it could be used in all gears but i only use it with 3rd & 4th. i engage it in 4th at about 5o mph if i'm going to be cruis'n. if i hit a bit of a hill i'll shift to 3rd with the fairey still engaged. it's gearing halfway between 3rd & 4th

[Boddington]

Thanks Scott. How fast can you go with it engaged? 60-65? Were Faireys the factory option from Land Rover?

[jac04]

I hear that overheating was an issue. Why? These were lubricated just like a transmission, yes?
The Fairey has its own oil sump and doesn't 'share' oil with the transfer case (like the Roverdrive does). The sump is small and the unit doesn't get rid of heat very well. With the sump being small, the problem is that even a little leak with a small oil loss will have a significant impact on oil level, leading to overheating. If you check the oil level often this shouldn't be a problem.

[scott]

Thanks Scott. How fast can you go with it engaged? 60-65? Were Faireys the factory option from Land Rover?

on flat ground w/ no wind my 88 will do 65 all day. i think there might have been some sort of fancy fairey package. my 88 is a soft top equipped with fairey od and fairey free wheeling hubs

[Tim Smith]

Thanks Scott. How fast can you go with it engaged? 60-65? Were Faireys the factory option from Land Rover?This will depend on your truck, it's overall condition and set up. For me, I have been known to wind out 4th to 60 mph or so before engaging my roverdrive. I'm not advocating this behavior but just saying that it's a little hard to give you an exact top speed with or without an overdrive because there are a lot of factors to think about.

Either way, having an overdrive will certainly help reduce your RPM's for highway runs.

[TedW]

70 mph no problemo with a tail wind.

My Fairey gets leaks from the transfer case so it's always overfilled. Almost 20 years on and no problems (and no noise).

[Wander]

I've not seen a fairy OD listed on here so is this an ebay item? If there are some good sources please let me know. My IIa has a strong engine but no OD and I'd like to take it some longer trips but I don't want to push it at high rpms for that long.

[Jim-ME]

They are listed on Ebay from time to time. If you are looking for one they show up on EbayUK quite frequently and there is currently on on Ebay US that is from Germany.
Jim

[I Leak Oil]

You can get a Fairey from RDS, as well as parts for them. Can you even get a Roverdrive yet? There was a long period of time when you couldn't get a unit. How about parts for them?

[Jim-ME]

According to Ray Wood the newest generation Roverdrives are available. I did just buy a 2nd generation new one from Ray last week. I'm still of the opinion that they use GM parts but I hope I won't have to find out for quite a while.
Jim

[I Leak Oil]

That's good to hear Jim. I think it uses some GM parts but not all. If you can get one new you can probably get parts as easily.

Now the Rocky Mountain Spring bushings I ordered back in mid July still have yet to make their way to my door, so my theory of ease of getting parts may be flawed....:(

[robert wood]

Some clarification seems needed.

The ROVERDRIVE uses one component from a GM truck transmission - it is the main internal gear on the epicyclic assembly. These things can transmit up to 400 HP so chances of needing one from GM are small. In designing the ROVERDRIVE I also borrowed from Land Rover parts bin and our units use Rover synchromesh assemblies.

We started making ROVERDRIVES eight years ago and there has never been a time when we could not supply any spare part from stock. Not that we are ever going to get rich selling parts because there is virtually no demand for spares.

There has been no shortage of ROVERDRIVES for the last year or more although we ship on a 'first come first served' basis and you may sometimes have to wait a few days to get one.

Although both located here in Vancouver ROVERDRIVE GEAR CORPORATION and ROCKY MOUNTAIN SPARES are two separate businesses no longer associated with each other. Jermy Pinney purchased the ROCKY MOUNTAIN business from me a year ago and he continues to sell suspension, door tops etc. under the RM brand.

Ray Wood
Roverdrive Gear Corporation

[I Leak Oil]

My apologies Ray, my memory and info are obviously dated! Now, the last time I spoke with you, you were working on an over/under drive. Any new details on that? (This might be dated too but I hope not)

[robert wood]

The UD/OD is in limbo until we switch to a revised main housing casting which we have not started to tool yet as we have a good number of the existing housings in stock. Probably about twelve months away unless sales pick up. Ray

[adkrover]

Ray,

Just throwing this on the wall to see if it sticks but I think if you did offer an over/under drive, that would encourage a lot of us to shelve our existing units in favor of an O/U drive. Waiting until you run out of existing cases might not be the best decision but I'm sure there could be other factors involved. Just wanted to let you know that I would be happy to shelve my new Fairey I purchased 3 years ago from RDS (I was wanting a Roverdrive but you said you couldn't supply it at the time due to certain "circumstances").

If you build it, they will come (with cash in hand).

To the original poster - I have a new Fairey from RDS and while it does work, it really raises the noise level in the cab so I would try the Roverdrive. Also, if you buy a Roverdrive, that will get us all one case closer to seeing Ray's new creation.

[I Leak Oil]

Ray,
Just throwing this on the wall to see if it sticks but I think if you did offer an over/under drive, that would encourage a lot of us to shelve our existing units in favor of an O/U drive.

That's what I've been waiting for.;) Glad they're back in production. I bought my Fairey new from AB in 1994. It whined right out of the box.