cackshifter

Also, remember it's normal for all moving parts of Land Rovers to emit noise (and lots of it), even when new. Be more alarmed at sudden increases or changes of noise. Even if you do have a noisy box it might run for quite while. Nigel

Glad to hear it's sorted. You can change a u/j without a press, there's a good thread in the Tech Archive on it, they seem to go for a pastime. Nigel

I had a set on my 97' 110. I can't speak for whether your studs are OK, but if you're currently on factory steel rims, be aware I had to adjust the lock stops to almost their limit to stop the tyres rubbing on the radius arms, giving you the turning circle of a supertanker. Apart from that they were fine (with a set of nuts for alloys). Nigel

Hi, yes I was. It is important on a tdi, but I wasn't aware it doesn't apply to TD5s. I'm sure someone else would be able to confirm that for you. Regards Nigel

Apart from North Offroad, 2 other suppliers of such things are Safety Devices (www.safetydevices.com), & Protection & Performance (www.ppcages.com), sometimes also sell on ebay. Safety Devices definitely do an internal/external 110 cage, but I think maybe not to full comp spec. Nigel

Hi, It sound to me like you might have warped the pressure plate slightly with the heat of the slipping, and as you are engaging the clutch you can feel the judder. Alternatively you might have picked up some friction material on it or the flywheel from the clutch plate, which will gradually wear off as you use it. If so you must have got it well hot. I'd avoid repeating the exercise (ever) and see if it improves before stripping it, unless you think it's on its last legs anyway. If you can feel some juddery movement on the pedal without exerting significant pressure on it, that's because the release bearing's in contact with the pressure plate fingers, and so I'd make sure the master cylinder adjustment is correct, otherwise rapid (expensive) wear will result on the fingers and ultimately your wallet Nigel

I think NFU are good too; we have just had a claim with them, and apart from it taking a while to get an assessor there (but the weather has been bad and there have been lots of accidents) they have been really excellent - the people have been really good to deal with. A work colleague has just had a claim against an insurer operated by a well known large supermarket after hitting a dog on the motorway, and has had all sorts of problems. It's been a big contrast. Nigel

Just a minor point I'm sure, but if you intend driving it on the road afterwards, I'd check first with your insurers. They consider it a modification, and in our case were reluctant to accept it. Why I don't know, as I would have thought it made it safer for the passengers, though maybe not any third party involved. If they are willing to accept it, I'd be curious to know who you are with. Regards Nigel

I think you may find it easier to undo the bolts if you start them at least when it's rather warm. And there'll probably be a fair bit of crud to extract from the manifold, the sort of thing that pipe smokers do. I'd say go with the new hose unles you have a need to conceal its absence, and don't forget to block off the vacuum feed from the servo pipe. Nigel

Ok for your info,I measured the pressures; -0.3 bar idle, -0.5 bar with a rev. (I knew the EGR connection would be useful for something) . Put my British Standard thumb over the end of the hose and it didn't feel like a huge suck, our Dyson would have easily outdone it, but then I blocked the hose with a drill bit and the figures improved to -0.5 idle, -0.7 with a rev. That suggested to me that the servo was leaking, so I put a piece of hose on the servo connection, and tried sucking on it (ie with lungs) and I could pull air in no problem - it wouldn't hold any vacuum. So I've concluded that no.1 priority is change the servo and have ordered one. I take your point about the pump, it didn't feel impressive, so that may well be next on the list. Nigel

Maybe the rule should be "your brake fluid should never be older than your whisky". Thanks for the suggestions, I am about to have a look round.

Thanks very much, I'll give it whirl. That'll give some idea. Nigel

It's a 300tdi.

I have just bought a 90 to replace my 110 which was damaged in a crash. One thing I have noticed is the brakes don't seem very powerful. They feel OK initially with quite a reasonable 'bite', but then need a really good shove to do much more than check braking, and even with veins standing out on forehead with the pressure aren't impressive. I've checked the front pads and they have about 4mm, so nearly done, and the discs are below the minimum thickness, so yes it's time to sort that, but they shouldn't feel so dead at this stage. Calipers look quite good considering the age - the 110 had better brakes with far worse looking calipers. But I think it might be the power assistance that's lacking, so I was planning to measure the vacuum, courtesy of the EGR valve connection (it still has that). Does anybody have any idea what sort of figures it should show. Is there an easy way to test the servo to eliminate it from my inquiries? I though I might also just disconnect the pump and see if it felt any different (on an empty car park of course). Does the pressure valve ever go faulty ( though I can't see how it might affect the front brakes, and they must do most of the work) Regards Nigel

I took the cat off my 300tdi. It made it a wee bit noisier, gave a more guttural tone, and maybe it was slightly more powerful, or was that the noise? Anyway much cheaper to buy the pipe than the cat, you just need a standard exhaust pipe, and a flange gasket, but it is a bit of a fiddly job to thread it in - don't try to do it if you are in a rush. Nigel

I think Audi have found that these aren't very robust. They went from 5 plate to 7 plate clutches after a bit and didnt offer them on Quattros for a while. And they seem to be expensive to repair.But one thing I don't understand (slightly off topic) is why dry plate clutches aren't better cooled (forced air?) After all they are tightly enclosed, and then we wonder why they overheat when slipped a bit. OK I know the flywheels have to be contained - no one wants one of those babies gnawing their ankles - but there is next to no air circulation, so heat builds rapidly.

Used to add some methylated spirit to washers in winter to lower freezing point. Apart from turning the tubing purple it seemed to have no serious side effects. Probably banned/taxed these days. Nigel

Hi, I'm sorry I meant to post this in the Defender forum. Thanks for the replies and I aplogise for the mis-posting. If a mod reads this could they please move it. Regards Nigel

Hi, Has anyone got any experience of having their chassis swapped (for a nice new one) for a fee. Any recommendations (or damning with faint praise)? Regards Nigel

I'd second the goodridge proposal. I'd also say there are various sorts. If you buy from Automec (or maybe other places as well) you can get them with stainless steel fittings on the ends rather than plated steel, and also you have a choice of TuV approved or not (why I don't know as the cost is the same). Automec also do brass bleed screws etc. A lot of the ones on sale in mags, ebay etc have the plated ends. If you do go goodridge the hose to the rear tee piece comes supplied with a copper washer. When you fit it to the tee piece it doesn't fully tighten to crush the washer. I rang Goodridge about it and they said you don't need it, discard it (the sealing is done inside) Nigel

If that is the case I've seen tanks that have collapsed with the vacuum from a blocked breather. You could hear it as a whoosh when you take the cap off. Having said that I doubt a Land Rover has enough suck to do any damage. Nigel

Thanks for that advice Tony. It certainly had a mighty smack on the offside front wheel. TBH the general ambience of the accident was not condusive to crawling about underneath, so further investigation will have to wait till it gets to the repairers. Nigel

Well, the builder was not to blame, unless maybe he had been speeding but there was no evidence of that. But at least all lived to tell the tale. But I am in NFU's hands as to how they want to proceed. At present it is locked in some yard belonging to the recovery firm somewhere. It was supposed to be moved yesterday but the weather intervened, so at the moment it is in abeyance. I have a feeling it is reasonably far out of alignment as we though we could see by looking down the sides it was out of kilter, and that was in the light of a dim streetlight in a snowstorm. I could imagine straightening it would be not too difficult given enough push in the right place. Frankly otoh it could do with a new chassis, so if they wanted to do that I would be happy. Nigel

Well I won't know till tomorrow at the earliest. It took 5 hours to get it recovered yesterday and the body repair place was closed today. But that means it's easy to tell quickly, so that's good. And if they are bent what do you do? Is it usually written off? Nigel

Unfortunately my daughter, dog & 110 had a coming together with a Transit van crammed with a builder plus scaffolding, cement mixers, barrows etc yesterday. Luckily no living thing suffered worse than bumps and bruises. However... the Transit I think will be written off, and he went into the side of the 110, across the driver's door and offside front wheel. In the admittedly poor light and it was snowing for a lot of the time, the front of the Defender seemed to be pointing slightly to the left when viewed along the sides. Apart from that it burst either the oil cooler or a pipe to it, judging from the oil running from it (couldn't open the bonnet), and had a puncture. The front doors seemed to be misaligned, suggesting distortion of the body, but then again they never fitted very well anyway, and the sill was rather mashed up into the bottom of the driver's door. I must admit I was pessimistic about the chances of getting it back but the recovery truck driver said he was certain it would be repaired, and suggested the chassis would be straightened, new wing etc. Now I know that chassis can be realigned properly by jig, but I wondered if anyone knew of whether this is what might happen, or whether they would put it on a new chassis, or whether that sounds like too much damage. Apart from that the body damage looked fairly superficial, outer wing, maybe inner wing, bumper, headlight panel, indicator, and I'd guess the oil problem would be easily repaired. Of all the days for it happen.... Regards Nigel