Paul

The taper shim thingy from Rangie Spares was exactly what I was going to do Rick, but they cost about $100. I can get the new ones made up and set at whatever length I want, and bent to whatever angle I want, all for free, so long as I tell him length and angle etc. I'm thinking why pay $100 if I can get them bent when they're made? Yes I know, I'm starting to sound like an accountant or something. Paul

Thanks Si, I think I must have been on the right track then using pythagoras theorem. My existing arms are approx 30", lets say 76cm. So for a 2" lift, the extra lenth required would be naff all then, less than ¼" ? Unfortunately the calculator I have here at work can tell you the value of an annuity in 25 years time, or the internal rate of return but doesn't have any scientific functions, so can you help me out with the angle? Paul

I've got the opportunity to have some new trailing arms made for the back of my 110 for free, but it needs to be done by someone remote me, so he needs details of the length and angle I want them bent to. Soooo...can anyone tell me what angle they should be bent, where along the length the bend should be and what the resulting length should be? This is assuming a 2" lift from standard. I know I could probably work out the angle roughly by eye to get the chassis end bush unstressed, but I was hoping someone might have already done this for a 2" lift and save me from guessing wrong. The arms are going to be made from 44mm dia solid bar (because that's what he's offering for free) if that makes any difference. Paul

Probably a smart move with the weather you guys get. What sort of clutch are you replacing it with Ralph? 130 or std? Paul

Whilst sitting at the computer reading new posts on LR4x4, guess who wanders past the window. Even stopped for a while whilst the missus took a couple of photos. Must be in a better mood today. Paul

You're right Simon, it doesn't look at all worn. The spring fingers had hardly any groove from the thrust bearing and there wasn't any oil over it either. But, yes it was slipping, quite badly in fact. On a flat road full throttle in 4th gear at 60kph would make it slip badly. Steep hills were out of the question. There was plenty of free play in the pedal too, so I have no idea why it gave up the way it did. Paul

Well I finally got around to the clutch change job. Thanks to those who replied to my earlier question in anticipation of this job. Les' suggestion of using two ropes (in my cases chains), one to lift the gearbox/transfer box, and another to stop the lot from trying to turn, was just the ticket. I used an engine crane to do the job, since I had to do it all on my own (and I'm a weedy bugger to be honest). Two chains as I said, and it all pulled back enough to change the clutch & fork after the handbrake was removed from the transfer box. The old clutch was an AP brand, installed by the previous owner at 98,000km (currently up to 172,000km), so it only lasted 74,000km. I took White90s advice and replaced it with a 130 clutch, Valeo brand. Interestingly there's little difference between the actual plates, in fact the 130 plate is about 1mm smaller in diameter, but has 2 extra springs. The cover is quite different though, the 130 jobbie has the spring plate divided up into 18 segments whereas the AP is divided up into 15 segments. One thing I did do was to put a zip tie around the slave cylinder rod. It helps to make sure the thing doesn't drop out next time I have to remove the slave cylinder. I also found out why I had the occasional judder when letting the clutch out. I thought is was probably the clutch itself letting me know that its time was nearly up. I think this might be the real reason though: The mounting rubber on one side of the transfer box literally fell out when I unbolted it. Funny, it looked to be in perfect condition when it was still in place. The only whoopsie occured when I was having a period of deep enjoyment trying to line up the swinging monster to get the little shaft back in that little spiggot bearing. I must have been looking for something to brace myself with whilst pushing and lifting and twisting, and ended up leaning against the clutch pedal pushing it down slightly and popping the piston out of the slave cylinder. Thank goodness for those one man bleed kits. Paul

I have to say, I didn't see any of it. There's something strange about this Commonwealth games event. It has been taken as a bit of a yawn around the country and I'm not really sure why? Media attention has been low (except maybe in Melbourne). I have just come back from a work thing in Melbourne and I was staying in the Crowne Plaza hotel, which is right next to the games village. The hotel was far from full, traffic didn't seem much different by Melb standards, even the airport was quiet. It seems all such a pity really because Melb is a great venue for the games. I wonder why the event has started off in such an underwhelming way. Anyone have any ideas about that? Paul

Great minds... AUD450 (about 180 quid all up). Paul

Thanks Tony. This sounds interesting. Are you saying I can remove the clutch cover & plate without taking the gearbox out? What stops the boxes trying to tip/drop once it's unbolted and pulled back off the bellhousing dowels?

My clutch has just sent up the white flag, so it's gearbox removal time for me this weekend. I intend to take the gearbox and transfer box out in step this time as I have access to an engine crane. Assuming I take the floor/trans tunnel out and suspend the gearbox & trans box that way, approx where is the point that the two units will almost balance if suspended? My guess would be approx where they bolt together, but I'm not certain. Paul

Of course, if you fit a Maxidrive locker, then you'll have a 4 pin centre, no backlash trouble, and a warm inner glow everytime the little switch goes ktsssch. Go-on Steve, you know you want to. Paul

From a marine supplier: 350A continuous and 600A for 5 minutes. Good enough for winching. Paul

Great bit of coastline there Steve. Just the spot to set up the barbie. Paul

Hi James Price for the Maxidrives was $1600 (670 quid) for the Salisbury, including axles, drive members and freight. An ARB would be $1300 without axles, which add another $700. The front cost $1986 for the Maxidrive and axle set, plus another $286 for the drive members. AEU2522 CVs are extra, but I already had them on hand. An ARB for the front would be a bit over $1200, plus another $700 or so for the axles and a further $286 for the drive members. As to the advantages / disadvantages of the Maxi setup compared to the ARB, well that's a discussion that could go on for days. Over here in Australia, people who know a lot more about these things than me reckon the Maxi locker is a better choice than ARBs (with McNamara being better again) so to a certain extent I went with public opinion/experience. In the end I went with the Maxi setup because it is very simple in operation that should be trouble free just about forever. The locking dog is moved by the external actuator and if anything went wrong with that, then it's just 4 bolts to remove without the need to open up the diff. As I said above, there were also some savings with the Maxi setup, about $400 in total. Also, for most people there's the saving of not needing a compressor on board, which is an added cost for the ARBs (about $300 here in Oz), but this didn't apply to me because I already have an onboard air system. The ARB setup has the advantage of being easier to install, since you only need to drill a small hole in the casing rather than cut a large rectangular hole and weld on a mounting block. Also the ARBs are completely contained within the axle housing, with no external actuator that could be damaged. As I said in my writeup though, the actuator is up so high I can't see that it'll ever cause me a concern, but it might for some people. There have been some discussions about the Maxidrives being slower to engage/disengage than the ARBs, but I believe this is more perception than reality. The difference between them is that the Maxi warning light is linked to the movement of the locking dog, not the switch as the ARB is. Paul

Here we go for the front (Rover type) axle. First step once again to remove the axle. This wasn’t a difficult thing since the Rover axle weighs bugger all compared to a Salisbury, especially once the swivel housings have been taken off. After setting up the housing to pre-stress it, it was just a matter of taking to it with the die grinder to cut the hole, and welding on the mounting black for the vacuum actuator. Once again, Mal supplies a jig to set up the mounting block in exactly the right place. Even I couldn’t stuff that up. Here’s the block after welding. No comments on the cocky poo please. The front was pretty easy to build up because most of it gets thrown out. Only the crown wheel remains, which is transferred on to the new Maxidrive centre. The new centre comes complete with the bearings already fitted. Very nice of Mal, don’t you think? The most interesting part of this is the change to the locking tab thingy that mounts on the bearing caps. In this photo you can see the locking thingy on the top of the bearing cap. The other side was originally the same: The side where the locking dog engages get a bit of surgery. Basically, the mount for the locking thing gets a date with Mr Hacksaw and Mr File, then drilled and tapped to take a bolt holding a small bit of angle in place. You then mark up the angle and cut it out to make a new locking tab: After grinding and starting to coat with some cold galv stuff, I was ready to fit up the actuator: Then it was just a matter of sticking it all back together. Even though the actuator is on the front of the axle, it’s right at the top and protected by the steering guard and the panhard rod. If I hit anything high enough to bother the actuator, I think it’ll be the least of my worries: Since my 200tdi has the old style swivel housing, changing to the AEU2522 CVs was straight forward. I already have the broze bush in the stub axle, and the early CVs are the same size and therefore a simple fit. The Maxi axles are also straightforward, although the tight fit of the Maxi drive members onto the CV stubs is a bit of a pain. No doubt they’ll loosen up a bit with use. The rest of the installation revolves around fitting the switches and vacuum lines and tank. Maxidrive lockers use vacuum lines to both engage and disengage the locking dog. They also include a third line which is the breather. The factory breather banjo fitted is removed for both front and rear, and the hole is filled with a plug. Vacuum for the Maxidrives is supplied by the vacuum pump simply by cutting into the line to the brake booster: A non-return valve is fitted into the line that feeds the two switches (valves actually) and the small (supplied) tank. Usually the tank is mounted under the blank plate on the RH wing, but mine is crammed full of manifold and pressure switch etc for the onboard air system. The best spot I could find was under the brake booster, mounted to the inner guard. Once again, all mounting hardware, brackets etc are included in the kit: The Maxidrive system is all pneumatic and uses pneumatic switching too. The control valves (on/off switches) look like this: The valves could be mounted in any protected space (but they do draw in air, so need to be dust/water free). I chose to go along with Mal’s suggestion and mounted them here: The warning lights are also mounted up in the place suggested in the instructions, but they could be just about put anywhere that takes your fancy: The only electrics involved are for the warning lights. Unlike the ARB lockers, the warning lights show whether the Maxidrives are engaged, much like the light for the LT230 centre diff lock. The ARB lights just show when the switch is on. Well, that’s it. A couple of weekends work and a few dollars out of the savings account. Overall I couldn’t fault the Maxidrive kits. As I said before, everything is included and the instructions and photos supplied are first class. They’re not as easy to fit as the ARBs because you have to weld on the mounting blocks, but they have a reputation for being much stronger and absolutely trouble free. They are also better value when you take the cost of the axles and everything else into account. Paul

I've been a bit busy over the last couple of weekends, finally having taken the plunge and splashed out on a set of Maxidrive lockers front and rear, complete with Maxidrive axles, drive members, and an upgrade to AEU2522 CVs too (thanks Tony). The eagerly awaited packages: The thing I really liked about the Maxidrive kits is that they were absolutely complete kits. Everything is included, gaskets, mounting screws, zip ties. The vacuum lines were even ready assembled inside lengths of split plastic tube, with the ends already fitted up with olives and the wires already fitted with terminals. The kit for the Rover front: The kit for the Salisbury rear. Note that this kit includes the vacuum tank: First step in the installation was to remove the Salisbury centre, so it could be pulled down and one half of the hemisphere and one side gear sent of to Mal for Machining. The Salisbury before dismantling: After just 6 days, the hemisphere and side gear had travelled up to Qld for Mal to do his bit, and returned to me. This is the work done on the hemisphere, you can see the splines for the locking dog to engage with have miraculously appeared: In the meantime, the rest of the axle was removed, likewise for the front. My garage floor very quickly filled up with bits of Defender: The poor old girl looks a bit sad like this The next step was to cut a hole in each axle casing and weld on the mounting block for the vacuum actuators. This has to be done carefully because it's very easy to turn an almost straight axle into a banana. I say almost straight because Mal reckons the majority of Salisbury tubes are slightly bent right from the factory. In most cases this doesn't matter much, but with the Maxidrive lockers any warping can cause the locking dog difficulty in engaging. To weld on the tubes correctly they need to be pre-stressed with about 2 tonnes of pressure right opposite the weld point. The best way of achieving this is to use an hydraulic jack between the axle and a strong beam, with the axle chained down at each end. In my case the brother-in-law came to the rescue with the loan of his work's hydraulic porta power. This was a flash one with a pressure readout too, so I could be certain of what force I was pumping in. Here's the front axle rigged up with the porta power straining against a handy length of rhs. Do ya reckon the chains were big enough A close up of the freshly welded mounting block on the rear: Mal includes a jig in the kit to ensure you cut the hole and weld the block in exactly the right place. The best way to cut the hole was to use a carbide die grinder. It all went quite smoothly for the Salisbury really. Everything went back in easily (with the help of a home made axle spreader), and the backlash came out extremely good, right on the very minimum of specs. The axle casing didn't warp during welding, and I was beginning to wonder when something was going to jump up and bite me on the a#se. Finally the diff was fitted up with the actuator: Directly under the actuator in this photo you can see where the mounting for the stone guard is also welded to the casing: Next comes the grunting part. Taking the rear axle out was relatively easy because I'd already removed the diff centre to get the hemisphere out to send to Mal. That meant it was a lot lighter than when the fully assembled axle was to be put back in. For a wimpy accountant type like me, those things are a bit of a struggle on your own. I got there in the end, and then set about fitting the axles and new brake shoes. The Maxidrive axles do cause a slight inconvenience when fitting because the locking dog moves on a splined section of the axle, and this section is too large in diameter to fit inside the stub axle. This means that the axle must be fitted before the stub axle. Also, Maxidrive drive members are a tight fit on Maxidrive axles. I mean, knock on with a mallet tight. You must therefore fit the long side axle first, the fit the stub axle and build up the rest of the hub. When you have knocked the drive member on as far as you can and bolted it up, you need to use a long rod from the short side to knock the long axle the rest of the way through the drive member. You can then build up the short side, by knocking the drive member on first. The short axle doesn't have any extra splines, so it fits through the stub axle as normal. Not surprisingly, no shims were needed before the circlips on either side, Mal's tolerances are better than that. The rear axles showing the extra splined area for the locking dog: The completed rear fitted up: This one shows the stone guard in place: That's about it for the rear really, the rest of the installation happened at the same time as the front Maxidrive. Paul

Thanks for the link Mike. I got it to work using: http://www.ep90.com/index.php?id=67 Paul

Is this a straight forward workaround Mike. I'd like to be able to get one of those sensors working on my Tdi. Paul

Actually, they can cost about as much as you want to pay. Spending £10000 is easy for the big names, especially the hard floor types. Just have a look at these: http://www.kimberleykampers.com.au PS. Coming to Adelaide Ali? Paul

Woke in the wee hours to the roaring of something very grumpy outside our bedroom window last night. Scared the cat half to death, and didn't do me a lot of good either. First thought was of lion & tigers (well, it was early ), but after I came to my senses I pretty much knew what was causing all the fuss. Grumpy bugger, carried on for about an hour. Don't know what his problem was, maybe had a splinter in his backside. Anyway, he was still there in the morning, still as grumpy as ever. Carried on like a right pork chop when we stood under the tree to take the photo. For those of you who don't come across these fellas often, they're not as nice and cuddly as they look. In fact they're downright cantankerous, not to mention incontinent. They also growl like something quite unexpected, enough to keep the Jack Russell in the neighbour's yard cowering in the corner. He's still in the same tree now, about 5' from our window. I hope he's in a better mood tonight. Paul

Well, I'm not there! Bit of a long drive for me anyway. I've just spent all day removing the front and rear axles. Those Salisbury rears are a fair grunt for one bloke on his own, even with the hemisphere removed. Paul

I use a recessed track system with removeable sliding rings. They leave a completely flat floor when the track in let into a routed groove. The rings can be moved anywahere up and down the track on each side. You can just see the track here with all rings removed: Here's the track before the rubber matting was glued down: Paul

Steve Here's the Maxidrive jobbie: http://www.lrexpert.com.au/parts_gif/large/324.jpg It sells for about 60 quid, and I guarantee you'll only ever have to replace it once, even on our roads. Paul

I've replaced that joint on both my old Disco and my current Defender. Both times I've used the greasable and adjustable joint made by Maxidrive here in Australia. For us it's not much more expensive than the genuine part, and it's far better made and will probably outlast the vehicle (and owner). Paul