[Welders]

Many thanks

I replaced my Clarke 151 TE with a Portamig 211 from the the same place as LandymanLuke. Clarke are cheap and compared to machines costing twice as much then obviously they don't stand up. The nice thing about the Clarke is you can pick it up and put it back in the shed when you've finished with it, not to be discounted if your short on space, my Carke was my second they've always been reliable and my first was sold on as opposed to being scrapped.

Spare tips, liners and shrouds are available at all the DIY places plus Halfords along with the gas bottles, the machines are easily repairable with a good spares back-up. If you use a proper trade machine at work and that's what you are used to then don't bother with a Clarke as you'll probably hate it.

If you are an occasional welder and want to do your own repairs on your Landy then I think its good enough, if you want to get into alot of fabbing then look elsewhere.

If you still want a Clarke after all the advice given then I still have mine and its only about 2 years old, if your interested

Andy

[Fill my hole]

have to be a long drill

25mm 450mm long masonry drills are standard fare for any plumber, pick one up at any merchant or borrow from a friendly plumber, hire shop's will even hire you one.

I don't doubt its 12" at the edges, but that does not mean it will be in the middle.

[Fill my hole]

Self levelling isn't really suitable for for that sort of depth, you could use it and build it up in layers, and its not 'self levelling' you will need a float to spread it about.

What about a big masonry drill about 20-25mm and drill through the slab once or twice in the centre of the puddle, so it can drain away.

Once you've got a roof on you won't need to worry about it

Andy

[Garage Drawings]

Having helped Nick do his gearbox and clutch etc on the floor and having done all the work on mine ( several times ) outside the time has come for a garage and workshop

So..... planning anyone on here any good with drawings ?, that could knock me a set up for submission if I had some dimensions

Or could I do them myself

need some building advice as well

Basically I need to get the Hybrid and Disco through the doors ( not both at the same time ) , have enough room to work around it, have a section as a work area....... and big enough to get Jez's old welder in

I already have a retaining wall that has 1.2 m'ish footing with 9" hollow x 3 high that that may or may not be suitable for the rear wall

I take it custom doors will be needed to get them through ?

Thoughts on construction....normal blocks and piers ?

or 9 inch hollows all the way round ?

Flat roof...well slight pitch for the water to run off....

any web sites I can look at

Any Brickies want a cobble

So what I really want is if I give someone the floor dimensions....for them to tell me the rest

Regarding plans, assuming its not connected to the house in any way you should only need plans for 'planning approval'. You shouldn't need a building regs type drawing for a garage. Your planning sketch should show the garage in relation to your house, also include a site plan showing your property in its surroundings eg. the street you live in with all the houses marked on, many blow up the the relevant section of an OS map and mark in red where the propsed building is to be.

A sketch of what you expect it to look like along with some overall sizes would help.

If it does not have to match the house, then I'd build it in 100mm concrete blocks 7N (densecrete or similar) with pillars(full block laid flat). If the doors are going to be swinging on these pillars then then make sure there is enough support/weight in them for the doors, any other openings especially side doors, pillars both sides.

If it is near the house it may be worth paying the extra to have that side of the garage in facing bricks to match the house.

Andy

[Monster 2.25 engine!]

How silly / doable would this be?

2.25 petrol block, 2.5 cam and crank, 19J turbo and manifolds, suck through su carb and water injection?

Would it blow up?

I had the same (crazy?) idea a while back, I was informed by Alan Allard who built suck through installations on LR years ago that you can't stop the carb icing satisfactorily even with water heated manifolds etc, it really needs to be EFI. Didn't know about the ports not being the same though .

Andy

[Series HD 4 core Radiator]

I have 3 spare S3 radiators down the shed. I'll check later today to see if any of those are 4-core items.

Les.

I didn't realise S2 and S3 rads were different, The one I have is a S3.

Andy

[Series HD 4 core Radiator]

Assuming it's 4 core because it has four rows of galleries, then I have one in excellant condition, if your interested I can take a few piccies for you.

Andy

[KAM crownwheel and pinion sets.]

A friend rang me this evening to tell that he just picked up a factory rebuilt pair of Mog 404 diff/axle assemblies. He already has a low geared Rangey/Jeep hybrid on Volvo portals for serious offroad playing, but wants to also build a truck more capable of long distance cruising through the Australian outback, so we discussed final drive ratios and the various diff options available to us over here. We concluded that grafting the Mog portal boxes onto 24 spline ARB locked Rangey diffs would be our most practical option providing we can source higher ratio crownwheel and pinions at a reasonable price. KAM list a 2.83:1 ratio R&P set but don't list a price. Do any members here have any idea how much incl tax in British Rupees a couple of gear sets ould set us back ? Thanks in advance.

Bill.

Bill, I rang them the other day about the exact same items, they are out of stock and not down to be re-ordered yet, if and when they re-order can expect to wait another 3 months on top of that as that is the lead time from the people who cut the gears.

I was told to email the enquiry to them but didn't. They don't have the best reputation regarding their expected delivery dates.

Prices are £283+VAT so £332.52 and that's each http://www.kamdiffs.com/landrover_2_83.htm

Don't Toyota do a suitable diff?

Lots of pictures please when you do the conversion.

Andy

[Q for Suspension Gurus]

Here is a pic of that hybrid.

Nice winch install aswell.

Seen that picture before, didn't know it was Bill's

Looks like VW torsion bar radius arms aswell.

Bill, is there anything you have not tried?

[Q for Suspension Gurus]

People generally run twin shocks for two reasons.

1. Redundancy - you can bust one and the handling won't be too bad.

2. Heat dissipation - the heat loading is spread between two dampers so you get less suspension fade when racing.

For soft springs, for critical damping, you actually need less damping not more. It is true that it will make it hit the bump stops less often and less hard, but at the expense of your wheels being in contact with the ground less often! One of the main job of a damper is to stop the wheels 'skipping' as the mass / spring go into resonance. You can sometimes see this, particularly on hill climbs where the wheel appears to jump up & down on the slope loosing contact inbetween.

Shock absorbers have a number of pressure sensitive valves which are used at different compression & rebound rates to try to achieve critical damping. Multiple valves allow a single shock to be OK with a number of different rates of spring and mass of vehicle.

Doubling up will push you to the outside of the bandwidth of the shocks and will degrade handling in the extremes (which is often when you need it the most!).

The answer is, I'm afraid, to increase the rate of the springs or the length of the travel. The thing people forget when they fit soft springs is that you have to increase the separation of the axle and bump stop at rest pro-rata.

E.g. If on hitting a bump a 250 lb/in spring compresses 4", a 170 lb/in spring will compress 6". Therefore, to cope with the same terrain at the same speed, you need 50% more travel.

Buggies with coil-overs can usually achieve this, but on a Land Rover, you probably don't want a 4" or 6" lift!

This is where the idea of dual rate springs comes in. You can have a soft spring for the flexibility when you need it and a hard spring for the bump response when you are going fast. However, it's difficult to make a dual rate spring with more than about 20% difference between the hard and soft bits. For most road-going applications that's plenty but off road it's not really enough to give you the best of both worlds. For a vehicle used on as well as Off road, a few hundred % would be really useful so the soft part is fully compressed most of the time and you get stiff suspension and good bump response at speed while getting the extension and over-damping when you need it.

You can probably see what I'm leading up to with this. That's where the idea came from!

Si

What about fitting a central air spring, like the Boge units on the classic's but use an air spring, my thinking is if the air spring is carrying some weight then it effectively makes the vehicle lighter in respect to the rear coils and therefore stiffer. Its another thing I'm planning on the Disco , its adjustable so it can be inflated for heavy loads or towing.

Andy

[rims for 37 x 14.50]

I'd agree with Jon, why pay for beadlocks when you won't really need them.

Pit bulls are a little wider and they reccomend 10x15, Straightforward supply these also at £33+vat, black modulars.

[propshaft induced rollover.]

Well Andy, My top link angles down at a slight angle from the diff to the chassis, so in theory it is not idealy positioned to counter torque lean. Having said that I can drive along a deep trench with almost sheer banks 4ft high, and articulate over the walls at the most oblique angles without losing stability, although left side exits initially feel more unstable than right side exits. Whether it is the top link pushing the right side of the chassis down that is causing this I cant say, but the link certainly wouldn't impart a positive lifting force like it would if offset to the left, but doing that would have placed the link in conflict with what were my future engine plans.

I don't know how to calculate the downforce, or upforce for that matter of a top link with say 2000lbs of thrust pushing back against the chassis at a say 10 degree from the horizontal angle. Can anyone help?

Bill.

Thanks Bill.

Just to try and clarify my earlier post, if the top centre link slopes down from the chassis to the top of diff and the diff is offset to the right ala LR will this have a negative or positive effect on roll torque?

I understand that the position of the diff has no effect on roll torque, but obviously the top of the diff is a good place to put the top link so is this offset the right or the wrong side.

My feeble brain is having a hard time visualising all the different forces going on

Andy

[propshaft induced rollover.]

Bill,

Did you arrange your 3-link with this torque induced roll in mind?

As per Bush65's post, is your link running up or down and did you try any other configurations before getting to this one?

The offset of the link, is the LR diff offset the correct side to counter this torque, or would it be better the other side?

Andy

[Beam axle suspension]

I'd just like to pick some brains that are superior to mine.

If you had a rangie chassis and rangie axles, and a blank canvass for suspension, what would you do?

modified stock? (pivoting hockey sticks etc..)

3 link both ends?

4 link? (i confess i dont know much about this one)

The vehicle will be used purely for challenge/trial events so i'm looking to get the maximum articulation out of it. I know that the engine causes trouble with some set-ups (3 link), but im already moving it backwards for other reasons.

Although it will be road legal, it doesnt have to pass any form of testing...! (MOT/SVA etc) I have reasonable engineering skills and am not afraid to put them to the test.

Im not looking to steal anyone's ideas, i just dont know where to start...

thanks

Hedley

I'm not in possession of a superior brain......However you could have a read through this

http://www.4wheeloffroad.com/techarticles/...pension_part_1/

I have grand ideas about basing a system around the standard A-frame and arranging all the lengths, angles etc. around that, using the above link.

Its a start.

Andy

[Diff-specific bunfight thread]

A picture is worth a thousand words ........ http://performanceunlimited.com/illustrations/gears.html

http://performanceunlimited.com/illustrati...frontaxles.html

[Shall we have a nice friendly thread???]

There was a SWB late 2a truck cab in a nearby village, one of the ' lights in wings ' models, it had 8 spokes with 7.50 SAGS and a few dents in the panels and it looked the dogs danglies, whenever I see a series with some decent tyres on I think they just look so right, coilers look good but always look as though they're on steroids .

For a day to day vehicle I think a Disco TDi takes some beating, practical, just as happy at 70 mph motorway munching as mudplugging.

I've driven Defenders And I'm pretty sure 'I' couldn't live with one as an everyday vehicle.

If I had the money then I'd have a RR sport with TDV8 and a matching D3 for the wife B)

[Diff-specific bunfight thread]

Which D44 - for christ sake there are so many it would take half a wet weekend to count them and then you would miss out the hybrid versions and the amalgamations. Same goes for D33,35,60, 70, 80 and whatever.

As this topic is about diffs not axles I used D44 as a generic term, I suggested the D44 as a compromise between weight and strength, it is available in the uk " stuffed under the back of diesel Jeep cherokee" , this was suggested as part of a hybrid axle so what vehicle it came off is not important as the diff centres and driveshafts would be upgraded.

The BMW option has me a little puzzled, on one hand there is talk of portal box's reducing torque to the axle shafts which I can understand, but then some suggest 300bhp capability through a BMW axle that runs on about 22" tyres, what happens when you stick 36" tyres on them?

[Which suspension kit would you go for?]

300BHP/ton. yes it can be changed around. It's just metal fabrication after all. On a previous thread on the same subject I described how you could easily and cheaply experiment with the concept before committing to the fab work. When this splitting headache that I presently have clears I will try to find the post or rewrite the description later on.

Bill.

Bill.

You put your feet up and relax Bill.......... this is the thread he's referring to http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=7572

[Diff-specific bunfight thread]

Yes, sure the D44 is a possibility. Personally I'm a bit iffy about its ability to take the heat. I think most would recommend the 60 or the Ford 9 for this.

There's plenty of room to offset - they're not THAT big!

Al, when you say iffy about its ability to take the heat do you mean 'heat' or are we talking about strength?

As I understood it they were pretty strong diffs but let down by the ability to only take 33 spline.

Regarding the width, I meant the axles, cut one end off, was the other side longing enough with the portal box's to make up the offset without having to extend the tube.........if you see what I mean

[Diff-specific bunfight thread]

SOA - I could maybe hook you up with a set of 404s if you are interested? Just the portals for hybrids, or the whole axles?

Al.

Just the portals.

[Diff-specific bunfight thread]

That's why the Ford 9 was the favourite - nice and light weight (can be had with ali or magnesium housings etc), good and strong, has lockers, good range of ratios, freely available, great support.

Hmmm, maybe I have already found the ideal?

Did you see the thread, on pirate I think, relating to Hybrid axles there was some discussion on the pro's and cons of Ford 9" v Dana 44's.

Other thing I forgot to say about D44's is the 35 spline ARB is only available for 4.10 and up R&P's so you'd have to have a spacer made for higher gears.

Are Ford 9" available this side of the pond or is that immaterial.

If you have a plentiful supply of Mog portal box's I could find a home for a set

[OT - building construction]

that I think is what I'll have to do; would you say the beam could be one of the original wooden ceiling beams [very solid] or should I try to put in a new metal beam [a bit beyond me as the load-bearing walls have got a window [one way] / a chimney [t'other] that make them less strong.]

cheers

Depends where the window is, you don't want the new beam directly over the window unless you have a fair bit of brickwork above the window, off the top of my head I'd say 50% of its width, to the side of the window is ok. On the chimney side, you are not supposed to put a beam into a chimney for obvious reasons.

You have a PM

[Diff-specific bunfight thread]

I've dreamt about hybrid axles , my choice would be Dana 44 centres on unimog portals, the 44's are substantially lighter than the 60's but ARB make a 35 spline locker for them, excellant choice of ratio's although they don't go as high as the Ford 9", stuffed under the back of diesel Jeep cherokee they are quite available. As the axle tubes are just that, tube, makes it a little easier to cut and shut.

Only question mark is whether they are wide enough to allow for offset diffs, don't know the width of the axles or Mog portal box's.

Anyone care to share how wide the Mog portal box's are? Dan, Lewis?

Andy

[OT but i don't care]

Congratulations, good feeling isn't it.

She looks very healthy, I have a similar hair style.

Best wishes and well done.

My wife takes no interest in this Forum, but she suddenly took an interest when that picture popped up,

We are due an addition around August so she' s very oooooh and aaaaarrrr at babies at the moment.

Andy

[OT - building construction]

I should forget about connecting into your stair string.

The pillar woud need to come from something load bearing underneath.

The lower beam does not have to be directly under your stud wall you could cantilever it a little, and put some diagonal strutes in.

Could do with a side elevation showing the bottom of the stair strings, head room, thickness of floor etc.

More complicated/expensive is to put a beam across above head height and then drop a column down to pick-up the end of your joist.

In the uk lots of people have a bedroom over the stairs and many have a large box directly above the stairwell at low level, you could do some thing similar and have the lower section of your wall sloping out, before going vertical.

Andy