SOA 93

I'm assuming your using the original 'universal' blade the saw came with, it won't last long just cutting steel. I replaced mine with a mild steel specific blade, it's for the Rage 230mm circular saw but the hole diameter is the same and the RPM is pretty close too. Being 25mm smaller means it has a reduced capacity but I can still cut 75mm box comfortably and it cuts straighter than the universal blade. Its always nice to see a DD fabrication thread, great attention to detail as usual, excellent work.

Many years ago I was doing some work for BR Motorsport, they had their labour rates up on the wall behind the counter It went something like; Labour Rates Standard £35.00 per hour If you want to watch £70.00 per hour If you want to help £120.00 per hour Made me smile.

Finn, Would clocking the PTO up help with clearance, when i was contemplating a H14 and doing some research it seemed that clocking the Pto stopped it getting damaged aswell. There was some good bits of info on here when I searched, have you looked in the archive.

There's a good write up in the tech archive. Maybe Renault, IIRC.

The contact address is not far from the wife's house. I don't think it would be too difficult to arrange for collection from the factory and then have them shipped to the UK. I assuming peeps are interested in the custom/universal stuff as apposed to the Landrover direct fitment.

Scrap man took my RRC away this morning, we were having a natter about Ebay and the price people pay for some stuff and he mentioned he had been bidding on a Nissan Primera cat, it went beyond his £55 max, said he gets around £80 for a catalytic convertor. Hope that helps.

I think one of the main questions to ask regarding full hydro is is it going to see a lot of road work? If it is to be trailered everywhere and the only road work it's going to see is between sections on a challenge event then there's nothing wrong what your describing. I posted on a previous Hydro thread about the valve available from Rakeway. Clicky Bill VS also posted in another hydro thread about the fact that LR steering box has no power a few degree's either side of straight ahead. Also elsewhere, it has been noted that self centering is a product of caster settings. I think Will Warne also suggested a system using a manual box. Which is the direction I want to take. Rakeway's Ridgeback racer uses one of there steering valves but with a rack for sensitivity and the ram for power. I asked Neil (Rakeway) a while back whether this would work with a manual LR box, he was convinced it would, in fact such a system had been fitted by him to his old Tomcat before he sold it, however it had not been tested and was removed prior to the sale.

Rakeway already make their's this way. Link

I remenber seeing a picture years ago of a air cooled volkswagen off roader/racer, it had a grill or mesh in front of the engine cooling fan intake and in front of this was draped about 3 or 4 lengths of short chain, fastened top and bottom loosely. The idea was you couldn't stop the grill getting muddy but as the mud dries the chains would jangle the dried mud off.

This is all correct of course but the trade off is either longevity of the bushes or effecting the on road handling. I think the important aspects of the idea are that it can be locked out for road use and the extra flex is balanced across both arms. As someone has noted, the trick is getting all the position of the pivots and bushes right, tyre diameter, vehicle weight will both have an effect on how much it flexes. My current thinking is to have the pivot near the rear bush, clearance the cut at the top but keep it close at the bottom, that way under braking the the two halves of the radius arm will touch effectively locking it up, but will still have relatively unhindered droop.

Well I know your not Fik and a picture tells a.......... However you'll have to make do with with an A3 pad as I don't smoke. Try to remember its only to provide a little more flex than standard, think drilled bushes or removing a bolt spread between both arms. The locking hole is not shown for clarity reasons

Yes you are right for the Superflex arms as I tried to explain. However, I think you need to re-read my post as I explained my idea is for both arms. I find it very hard to explain, I think it may take a few reads to understand, please persevere.

I assume that picture is of the front axle, in that set up with arm rising up from the axle to the chassis it will impart anti-dive when braking. How much depends on the steepness of the angle, if it was sloping down to the chassis it would pull the front down under braking, opposite of what you want. A shortened coiler rear radius arm would work well also, and not effect articulation.

About a week ago I had a front suspension idea flash to me at about 3am, 4am had me downstairs sketching it out and by 6.30am I had a torch under a RRC seeing if it would all fit, which it would. The point of this is to get a little more flex out of LR’s front radius arm set up, how much flex? Well enough flex to make use of Gwyn’s extended shock mounts and to go some way to balance the front to rear difference in articulation off road but retain the benefits of the stock system when on-road. However it will require being bolted up for road use. Benefits include no chassis modifications, no axle modifications, uses modified standard arms, during the modification process caster correction can be dialled in, little added weight, can use OE bushes or aftermarket and the bushes may even last longer. Disadvantages, well obviously its going to cost so it’s not free, maybe weakens the arm in an are of high stress which is where I hope some of you can supply some input. I’m certain it will work but this is just the idea. Trawling the web today, it seems the idea is not new, I’m just not that clever. Superflex Radius Arms are very, very similar but not identical to what I have in mind have a look here http://www.superiorengineering.com.au/ Some basics first, bush separation, the further apart the bushes, the less flex or axle rotation there will be , just like the bigger your tyres the more link separation you need. What you need on the road is the bushes further apart so that when you stand on your brakes at 70mph in your 2.5 tonne truck on your 35” tyres the axle does not rotate, I would imagine this type of loading is far in excess of what you see off road. So in theory Land Rover designed the front radius arms and bush separation to cope with a 2 to 3 tonne truck towing maybe a 2 tonne trailer. Obviously, on road this separation does not want to be made smaller, but off road maybe we could get the bushes a little closer together and trade some of that on road stiffness for some off road flex. So the superflex arms shown in the link are similar to what I have in mind, ‘googling’ should get some info on the items. Surely just fitting one of these arms brings us back to the pivoted arms that have been discussed on this forum at great length? Same as removing a bolt from one of the bushes, suspension behaves differently braking/power? My idea has the flex on both arms, basically you put a pivot between the bushes, the position of the pivot is up for discussion ie. Nearer to the front or rear bush. The radius arm is cut in two between the front and rear bushes (The chassis bush is not discussed). So now we weld plates both sides of the front bush half of the arm and extend these plates back and up. Two holes are drilled in though the plates and the rear half of the radius arm, one forms the pivot the other is for bolting through when on the road effectively returning the arm to standard albeit weakened. That's the basics anyway. Now the part that is similar to the Superflex arms, a tubular housing for a standard bush is welded to the top of the arm behind the rear bush up out of the way of the track bar, a bush is then installed. The plates that were welded to the front section extend up then a hole is drilled in the plates so a bolt can go through the third bush. So what does this do? Well with arm allowed to pivot this bring into play the new third bush, now the separation between rear bush and the new third bush is what controls the flex in the axle, not the front and rear bush as standard. So depending on how close the rear and new third bush are to each other will determine the amount of flex available. Variables? Lots, when the arms pivot the pivot gets nearer or further away from the axle housing, this means stops could be arranged to limit movement, these could then be used to bring the front bush back into play, for instance under heavy braking. Position of the pivot can also be used to tune the characteristics of the vehicle under braking or accelerating using the afore mentioned stops. I had no hope of explaining this until I came across the Superflex arms today, hopefully with the aid of the pictures of the Superflex arms and my description you can get a picture of my idea. So Whadya fink! Be gentle please.

The ‘Land Rover Heritage Run’ springs to mind for you. This year it was on May 3rd . A procession of Land Rovers of various ages and types drives from the Solihull factory to the ‘Heritage Motor Centre’ at Gaydon, the run is by invitation, but the small show is open to the public. I would have thought you would be a good candidate for an invitation. While your in this area, for history you could check out ‘Warwick Castle’ they do re-enactments, jousting etc. For ruins there is ‘Kenilworth Castle’. For English civil war re-enactments there is ‘The Sealed Knot’, is this the kind of thing your looking for? Don’t forget every American’s favourite ‘Stratford on Avon’. Googling any of the above should get you a few hits. In terms of Land Rover shows, if I remember correctly you’ve been to Billing before, first time is always the best I think, my opinion is it’s not so ‘cluby’ as it was before, with more emphasis on vendors nowadays. However attending in your own vehicle would no doubt put a smile on your face. Places worthy of a visit for views, photos etc. ‘Snowdonia’ in Wales, the ‘Lake District’ in England and ‘The Highlands’ in Scotland of course. Further a field, you could tour the Pyrenees from the Atlantic sea to the Mediterranean, the Alps are worth a visit, how about a tour around Mont Blanc taking in France, Switzerland and Italy. As you can tell I like the mountains. Andy

The radius arms give a lot of roll stiffness to the front of your truck, this gives it relatively predictable handling on the road. As you have noted, there are several ways to get more travel all of them are a compomise to either longevity, road handling, complexity and expense. Cheapest way is probably to drill your bushes, this is not a new method but has been revisited on this forum recently, do a search. Obviously these bushes will not last long and will also allow more movement under braking and accelerating which is important if your truck spends most of its time on the road. If there was a perfect solution It would come from the factory like it, or you would be able to by a kit at least. Bending the arms would either improve(a very small amount)upward travel OR downward travel, one at the expense of the other, so not really worth it. People have put the earlier narrower bushes into the later wider arms but I have not heard that their vehicles have been transformed, I think LR brought in wider bushes so they last longer. As you say, when the suspension articulates one end of the axle is twisting one way while the other end is trying to go the other, hence the need for the large bushes to take up this difference. Have a look in the archives, lots of people have given this lots of thought and no one has come up with a definative answer.

Yes. I can confirm that. They can be bought seperately, or they come in the Tomcat kit. And yes they are expensive, I think I paid £90 for a set of four from the SuperPro stand at the Indoor show. They were designed for the Safari comp crowd.

As the Topic Title, I'm going to the Newbury 4x4 and Vintage sale on Sunday, got my info back and it says I should have 'Auto Jumblers Insurance'. Any recomendations? Anybody not bother?

Ok I didn't answer your question fully. Yes the diff will be of use to you, but you need the pinion as well as the diff centre. I've no doubt people do swap centres from different axles and leave the pinion in but it is unlikely to have the correct shims in for various side play clearance etc. Are you doing a ratio change? If so you must get the pinion.

Didn't intend to confuse you, On your front axle the the diff comes off in one piece; housing, pinion, crown wheel and diff centre is in one unit and unbolts from the axle. On the Salisbury the housing is part of the axle and the pinion and pinion flange are removable but form part of the housing also. The crown wheel is bolted to the diff centre and this is removed from the axle housing leaving the pinion in the axle housing. Basically the Diff on the Salisbury is intergrated into the axle housing, while the standard rover type diff unbolts from the axle as a complete unit. Hope that makes sense.....clear as mud! Your Series 3 R6 sounds like it was SA version I am assuming it is a 109(LWB). What engine does it have?

Salisbury diff? Do you mean the complete axle? As a salisbury diff centre would not be a lot of use to you unless they have removed the pinion as well, crown wheel and pinion should be matched. If you do mean the axle then I would guess about 100 kg for an axle or about 20kg for the centre/carrier, if it has the crown wheel attached. If you mean front axle then I would say around 90 kg. HTH

The Salisbury axle IS the same as a D60, just like ZF 4HP22, LT77, R380's and RV8's are used in many different vehicles, they are still the same gearbox/engine saying they are NOT is misleading. CIPX2 had already posted the diference between the axles very well in my view so I din't feel the need to go into it any further. Zim had already stated that he wasn't after new axles, just wanted some info. If you look into a detroit/ARB catalogue very few D60 axles came from the factory with 35 spline, same with D44 and 33 spline. Quite a few D60's are no stronger than a LR Salisbury. In the States and Oz 35 spline conversions are available for the Landrover Salisbury. FC101 Salisbury's shafts, although 22 spline, they are just a shade thinner than 35 spline. I've had a set of shafts made for 101 axles with 35 spline inners so I can fit 35 spline ARB's in the axles. Most of that information would suggest they are the same axle. Alot if not most D60's have a cast iron centre where as Salisbury's are steel at least on LR anyway. However, I think your sentiments are, all D44,D60 and Salisbury's are not equal, and for that I completely agree.

The Salisbury axle as fitted to LWB land rovers, LDV sherpa/Convoy is the same as a Dana 60. The 44 can be found on the back of diesel Jeep Cherokee's(or as a towing option) in the UK. Not sure but I thing pre IRS jags used the 44 as well and I assume it was these that were fitted to Mk 1/2 Escort rally cars as an upgrade( but Known as Salisbury).

I've had a Earlex vacuum for nearly 10 years, it refuses to die. It was bought as a short term item until I could afford something better but have never needed to. I think they are about £40, they are wet'n'dry and have a replaceble filter, I have always used it with the optional filter, about £10 I think. It can also be arranged to blow. Filter needs tapping when it gets blocked and although they tell you not to I get the air line on it aswell. Its been used and abused in the course of my work as builder, I think its biggest attribute is its simplicity, its just a big motor on a plastic bucket. The tools are cheap and nasty and the mains lead is criminally short, but for a cheap, robust and fuctional bit of kit I can recommend them. Argos, B&Q ,Machine Mart Etc.

I'm going to scrap a RR classic but I want to keep the Heated front screen. I'm planning to cut the seal with a stanley knife but I'm unsure how the screen is connected, I want to avoid damaging any connections does anyone know where the screen is connected. Also is there anything clever like a timer relay I should be keeping to go with the screen. Thanks