42110 Land Rover pointers

[Brooxy85]

Hi all, just joined. Hope you are all keeping well.

 I have recently taken delivery of 42110 Land Rover defender. Really looking forward to getting started on it. I have heard a few horror stories about the gearbox cracking and engine not working. Something to do with the UJ alignment? Is this something people are doing wrong or are the instructions incorrct or unclear?

Any advice/pointer welcome.

 

Thanks 

[ExeSandbox]

Hi Brooxy. 

I've got the 42110 myself , from my experiences, those horror stories are true. The UJ orientation might have a factor, but in my case it's because I didn't have enough of play between the gears, and the engine could not even run at all (which will cause the cracking). So I had to take it apart and rebuild it properly, and even then high gears could not run. I've tried changing the UJ alignment but it didn't fix anything for some reason. I don't think it's a building error. It's more of a design flaw as many pointed out that having 4 U-joints for a gearbox is simply not efficient. Though I've seen the gear box work nicely for some people, so I don't know if they spend hours aligning all the gears and axles properly or it's just luck. 

It doesn't really bother me (or at least I've gotten over it ), 42110 is still a great model and most of the time it's just sitting on the shelf.

But anyways, happy building! 

[Nalyd997]

Mine worked fine, just make sure you line up the slots on the sleeves of the universal joints that share an axle. Awesome set, you'll have a great time with it!

[thekoRngear]

It is a design flaw and I actually do not blame the designer as Lego intended to have it as much authentic as the Original Landy. It is the set's inherent problem. Too much gears and hence, too much friction specially in high gears. Most of the people are facing it, and those who are not- actually a few. From Amazon's 42110 review page someone just demonstrated the whole thing in the most efficient way:
 

Quote

"I have created a summary below in which gears you are likely to face this problem.

1st gear is when you can't downshift [-] any more - you will find lots of resistance if you try to do so
4th gear is when you can't upshift [+] any more - you will find lots of resistance if you try to do so

L-1 = works ok
L-2 = works ok
L-3 = some cracking noise, some resistance
L-4 = continuous cracking noise, more resistance
H-1 = works ok
H-2 = works ok
H-3 = continuous cracking, lots of resistance
H-4 = continuous cracking, lots of resistance"

From my observations which are mostly from Eurobricks forums and youtube, there are few things that can be done to "improve" the situation:

1. Make sure to leave TINY LITTLE GAP behind and between EACH gears. People reported after having it done they have seen buttery smooth gearing

2. slap some WD40 grease to the gears

3. Replace the newest 20 tooth bevel gears with the earlier versions as they are more tapered (less thick)

4. Replace the Red Clutch gears with old DBG clutch gears. The red ones are newer and improved but when it is about moving a vehicle smoothly at high gears they are nightmare. That is why people who create MOC they dont prefer Red clutches for high gears.

5. Pimp up the 42110 (jb70, rebrickable). It completely eliminates the u-joints. BTW, Aligning the u-joints is only part of the solution. Again, some people aligned the u-joints and are now having smooth gears, congrats to them.

From my personal experience, I also have observed one more horrible thing: the gearbox is not stable. After my 3rd build the gearbox caused no cracking upto D/Hi/Lo 3rd gears, previously it was cracking-free just upto 2nd gear. However, after playing with it for around 2 weeks the gearbox started to crack even in the 2nd and 1st gears! However, I never had any issues  running all the gears in the Reverse. And also, my vehicle's Engine pistons move almost immediately as it is pushed forward or backward.

Update: I am not alone

2 hours ago, Bartybum said:

Has anyone experienced the gearbox tightening up over time? I've had it sitting on a closed off shelf for a few months now, and the gearbox has somehow tightened itself to the point that it'll only run without clicking in 1st LO.

I've only ever had the same experience with two sets before - 42009 and 42043. In 42009, the outrigger gearbox began to sieze up over time, and in 42043 the crane began to lose its slewing capability.

I'm hardly surprised these phenomena pass through unnoticed in the design phase, since they take months to onset.

So, my advice would be, build it, enjoy while you building it. Pay attention to every detail. Then if you see the gearbox works okay up to D/Hi 2nd gear be happy as many other pointed it out you will be ended up having it as a display set which looks really gorgeous on my wardrobe.

However, if you want more playability, just go for the jb70 pimp up my land rover mods. If you want to RC it, the original designer also has a youtube video showcasing how to motorize and RC it.

There's no regret buying this set IMHO. It is my first set in some 18-20 years and I thoroughly enjoyed building the Defender.

 

 

Edited April 10, 2020 by thekoRngear

[agrof]

I suggest to go directly for the upgraded version, which contains improved gearbox without the U-joints, and one-piece body:

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-31299/jb70/42110-pimp-up-my-land-rover/#bi

and don't forget the awesome B-model from Grohl (designer of 42110):

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-36089/grohl/stadium-truck-20/#bi

Both have professional Building Instructions!

Edited April 4, 2020 by agrof

[Arioh]

Seems i was lucky, i never managed to make my copy of Landy to emit any cracks even on highest gears... Just careful building with ensuring that all grears didnt squeezed, proper u-joint aligment made miracle on my set.

[Rudivdk]

Just now, Arioh said:

Seems i was lucky, i never managed to make my copy of Landy to emit any cracks even on highest gears... 

Same for me, so I can't be of much help here I think... I always make sure that every axle runs smooth though, and I (re)test and (re)allign everything after almost every building step. 

I do know however that some sets come with flawed tan 20tooth bevel gears, which are sligthly too large and therefore produce insane amounts of resistance (I had that issue on 42075, which only has a few gears in it's drivetrain, but it hardly moved no matter what I did). You'll only find out about these gears when building unfortunately, can't tell from just looking at them. If you have flawed ones, you can get replacements directly from TLG customer service. See also this thread: 

 

[Brooxy85]

Thanks for all the pointers. I will pay attention to the details when building. It is going to be a display model so If it does crack, its not the end of the world. Just wanted to make sure I eliminate any potential issue before its fully assembled. 

1 hour ago, agrof said:

I suggest to go directly for the upgraded version, which contains improved gearbox without the U-joints, and one-piece body:

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-31299/jb70/42110-pimp-up-my-land-rover/#bi

and don't forget the awesome B-model from Grohl (designer of 42110):

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-36089/grohl/stadium-truck-20/#bi

Both have professional Building Instructions!

@agrof that B model does look awesome. Will have to give that a go at some point 

[Brooxy85]

So finally in the process of building the LR. All was going well until I put the wheels on to test it before assembling the body. Low and behold its cracking when going forward in Hi and low range and the engine doesn't work. I've checked and double checked all the gearing as I was assembling it. Ive removed and refitted the UJ's multiple times in different positions, following guides and videos online. Ive checked the diff is fitted the correct way, which it is. 

I know this is only a static model for me, but its the principle of it. Its becoming quite frustrating and you really expect something that cost so much money to work correctly.