Paul

No, that's incorrect. Defender 200tdi front props are longer than 300tdi front props, by about 40mm. It sounds like you've got a 300tdi front prop (which is also tha same length as a Disco II double cardan prop), and both are 40mm shorter than the standard 200tdi Defender front prop. Have a look here Paul

Over here, we'd call them Multigrip Pliers, or just Multigrips, that's why I was a bit intrigued.

So, is the thing at the top of the photo what you guys refer to as "Water Pump Pliers" ? Paul

Hey Tony I recognise that blasted Pit Lane that the nav thingy on the Jag kept trying to send us down last year. Paul

There's a useful duiscussion here about getting the brakes shoes and backing plates on correctlty. Paul

A couple of snips from the guide to towing regulations put out by the various Road Traffic Authorities in Australia: The minimum braking system required for a trailer or caravan depends on its type and weight, as well as the weight of the tow vehicle: Up to 750kgs GTM: No brakes are required. 751-2,000kgs GTM: There must be a braking system on the wheels of at least one axle and over-ride brakes are permitted. However, for caravans exceeding 1000kgs, independent brakes (electric brakes are the most common form) are strongly recommended. Over 2,000kgs GTM: A brake system operating on all wheels is required. The system must be capable of automatically activating should the trailer become detached from the tow vehicle. Under these circumstances the brakes must remain applied for at least 15 minutes. These 'break away' systems are compulsory on all trailers over 2,000kgs GTM. and another: the ball mass (the mass towards the front of the trailer carried by the tow ball of the towing vehicle) should be about 10 % of the total laden trailer weight. The ball mass can be measured either at a weighbridge by resting only the jockey wheel on the scale, or by placing a ball mass scale under the coupling then taking the weight off the jockey wheel. Notice it says "about 10%", so by interpretation I wonder if about 10% can be a bit over 5%, thus getting the towing weight on a Landrover up to something reasonable. I suspect the insurance companies might pounce on you if you had an accident though. Paul

Yes, it's an interesting one. The standard trailer setup in Australia puts about 10% of the trailer weight on the towbar (generally accepted over here as the requirement for stability), so with a Landrover limited to 150kg (all pre TD5 Defenders), then the towing limit is only 1500kg, which is not enough for a decent boat really, let alone anything large. Paul

I think you'll find it to be a great deal more than 150kg. Most Toyota Landcruisers in Australia have a maximum noseweight on the ball of 350kg, and they can do that legally with a 50 mm ball. Paul

As far as I know, the changeover from Railko bush to taper roller bearing occurred in late 200tdi, at the same time as the front brakes went from solid discs to ventilated discs (and rear drums changed to discs, and axles went from 10 spline to 24 spline), at least that's the way it happened on Aus spec 110s. Paul

Yep, I had a 3.9 auto Disco once, and that mileage is exactly what I used to get. (Also moved to the Disco forum, where you'll get better responses). Paul

From our very own Tech Archive, see post #10 in this thread: http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=1298 Paul

For some strange reason, I've always kept records of the fuel usage & cost for all the vehicles I've owned. It's a 200tdi 110 with 255/85s and a fairly tweaked fuel pump, and A/C running much of the time. For 32,000 kms over 3 and a bit years, the average is 26.4 mpg, or 10.7 l/100km and 11.88 cents per km. ...oh, leave me alone....it's an accountant thing...you wouldn't understand Paul

If your 90 has the LT230 in the same position as a 200tdi Defender (which sounds likely if it's a factory LT77), then no, the front prop will not fit. It will be about 2" too short. You can get around the problem though - depends on how enthusiastic you are. http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopi...mp;hl=propshaft Paul

I understood that copper is the better conductor of heat, and would make a substantially better radiator than Ali. However, the copper core is attached to the copper fins with lead solder, and it's the lead that's a poor conductor of heat and lets the whole system down, meaning overall, the Ali radiators are more efficient conductors. Paul

There's some on ebay, don't know how bright they'd be though: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/12V-16-WHITE-LED-WO...3QQcmdZViewItem Paul

Just to finish off this thread, I took the easy (cheap) option and put a spacer in to make up the gap. Here's the spacer turned up out of a scap bit of alloy: Bolted up in place. Obviously 50mm longer bolts were needed too, which are the only bits I had to pay for: Paul

Alternativley, since you'll be replacing the seal (or leaving it out altogether), you can use the seal to push the bronze bush out without damaging the bush. Put the stub axle on a vise bush side down, with the vise open wide enough allow the bush to be knocked through. Get a thin rod or an old screwdriver with the tip bent at a 45° angle that can reach though the stub axle and get behind the seal. Knock out the seal and it'll knock out the bush on the way through. Paul

All Defenders and the last of the 110s used weaker 32 spline CVs (RTC6862 until TD5). Late 110s and most 200tdi Defenders had 10 spline at the diff end and 32 spline at the CV. Change point from AEU2522s was axle no 20L48866, which as far as I can work out, occurred some time in 1988. Paul

No help to you Geoff, but reading things like this always makes me thankful we don't have the necessity for salt on our roads. We have no comprehension what it must be like to have to deal with that stuff. Nobody waxoyls anything here, and there's a good chance you can pick up something like a 1991 Disco with 300,000km and still find it rust free. Paul

My (limited) experience with the Range Rover caps is that they're rather unreliable. That's why I went off looking for a better solution. Paul

Some time ago I fitted a low coolant alarm to my Defender, and since my version is slightly different to some, I thought I’d share the ideas and reasoning. I’ve always had an issue with trying to detect a low coolant state either in the thermostat housing or the top radiator hose. When the engine is running, these are the two worst places to be looking for low coolant level because of the operation of the water pump. In our Land Rover engines, the water pump draws coolant in through the bottom radiator hose and pushes the coolant from this hose up through the engine and out through the thermostat housing into the top radiator hose. If the coolant level was low it will show up in both the radiator and the expansion tank, before a low level was experienced in the thermostat housing or top radiator hose (whilst the water pump is operating). It would only be when the pump was stopped that the low coolant level would be equal in both the expansion tank, thermostat housing and radiator. This is in fact done deliberately by most manufacturers to ensure that the engine receives its full level of coolant whilst in operation, even if the system is a little low. The low level is carried in the radiator, not in the engine. Only when the level is so low that it falls below the level of the water pump (causing the pump to cavitate) will the engine not be full of coolant whilst the pump is operating. As I said above, this is the system for the majority of engines. A very few have a reverse coolant flow where the thermostat is mounted below the water pump, and the pump pushes coolant down into the bottom radiator hose, up through the radiator and into the engine. In this system coolant level is ultra critical because any low level is carried in the engine (at cylinder head level) and the radiator will always remain full whilst the pump is in operation. The only example that comes to mind is the 12valve 2.4 Nissan engine used in the '90's in Pintaras and Ford Corsairs. I decided that the expansion tank is the most convenient of the correct places to install a sensor and initially went down the route of using one of those Range Rover caps that incorporated a level sensor. However, the Rangie cap sensor proved to be quite temperamental, so I searched for a more reliable solution. Enter the simple and effective float switch I discovered on www.4x4gadgets.com.au. This company sells the Little Black Box system which is very comprehensive, but I was only looking for the coolant level sensor. After a quick phone call I confirmed that the sensors were for sale separately (about $25 IIRC), and a plan was formed in my head. Here’s the coolant level sensor, a straightforward level switch, easy to install with minimal chance of gremlins: Installing the switch was easy, simply drill a 22mm hole in the side of the plastic expansion tank, screw in the sensor and wire it up: Here it is installed in my 200tdi Defender: Here’s one installed in a TD5: And another one in a Series II Disco: Next we come to the slightly more complicated part. The sensor is just a switch, and as it is it’d work fine in an on-road vehicle, but our vehicles may occasionally spend some time at a slight angle, or bouncing around a bit. This would inevitably lead to false alarms as the coolant sloshes around in the tank giving the sensor a hard time. Obviously what is needed is some sort of time delay. At this point my fellow Land Rover suffering mate, Pete, came to the fore. He put together a simple and robust little circuit from fairly commonly available components that achieves our objective i.e., a short (adjustable) delay before the alarm is triggered to prevent false signals when off road. Firstly, here’s a couple of photos of the completed circuit: Now, here’s the circuit diagram: Finally, here’s Pete’s description of the circuit for those of you who wish to replicate it: This circuit is setup to provide an adjustable delay from the sensor located in the header tank when the level drops. It works using a basic 555ic timer circuit. When the ignition source is initially turned on pin 2 is triggered via a short pulse from the C2 and R2 combination. This then allows C1 to charge via VR1 and R1. If the tank switch is closed (the tank is full) C1 is held to ground and a small current flows through R1,VR1 and the tank switch. This will remain like this until the tank switch is opened or the ignition is turned off. In the event that the tank switch opens C1 will begin to charge through VR1 and R1. When C1 gets to 60% of the ignition voltage pin 3 on the 555ic will be grounded causing Rly1 to turn on and sound the alarm. I also had to add a suppressor inline with the supply to prevent false alarms when heavy load equipment is started and stopped. This was typical fans and windscreen wipers. My setup was set for about 8 seconds of delay. The components I used were what I had laying around but seem to give a good range and do not draw much current through the tank switch. Component list R1 – 33k R2 – 33k VR1 - 1M C1 - 4.7 uf C2 - Green cap unsure but not that critical D1- IN4001 Rly1 - Standard 12volt relay Now Pete is a member of this forum and goes by the username of Peterla, so if you have any particularly techo type questions, either PM him direct, or PM me and I’ll pass them on. I guess the actual alarm is the final part of the puzzle. I simply used the output from the circuit to trigger a standard relay, which is in turn connected to a piezo buzzer and a light. The buzzer is tucked behind the dash, but is easily loud enough to be heard over the racket made by a 200tdi Defender at 110 kph. The light is mounted on the centre dash thus: There you have it. Simple, reliable and effective and it's been running in my Defender for some time now without issue. Paul

Thanks for the replies guys. 250 quid for a couple of spacers is a bit OTT, or does that include discs as well? I only need the spacers because I can get better quality DBA discs over here much cheaper. Ian The problem is LR parts are so expensive here that scrap calipers would sell for a few hundred buck alone, and I was only wanting the spacers. I might have to track some down in the UK and get an obliging friend to pull the spacers out and post them over... Paul

Like it says - I remember seeing advertisments somewhere for a conversion kit that spaced out the front calipers so that vented discs could be fitted. Anyone remember who it was? I want to do exactly that to my 200tdi Defender fronts so I can fit the later vented rotors. Are there any alignment problems or is it a straight dropin job? Paul

All parts for Land Rovers that is (except Maxidrive). On the other hand, if it's Toyota or Nissan... Paul

As Mike mentioned above, another big benefit of letting the oil from your swivels or axles reach the wheel bearings, is that it will also lubricate the drive member splines. For many years now this has been an essential modification to disc brake rear Defenders (110s & 130s) here in Australia because they've all suffered terribly with the dry splines wearing out. Drum brake Defenders never suffered this problem because they come from the factory without a seal in the stub axle, thus allowing diff oil to lubricate the drive member splines. Paul