Stellaghost

What a carry on this morning... Fitted rear tub, that sounds so easy.......not First off I set chassis level, happily this was achieved by jacking up one corner at the front, need a drive that does not have a slope it then took me quite a while to get tub sitting level, I think it distorted a wee bit when it was removed and also due to vast amounts of corrosion Tub outrigger positions adjusted slightly and Welded into position Two extra rear body bolting points added then had to adjust for sideways alignment, as you can see there is a bit of a difference Better now top shot of tub finally in position For those of you with sharp eyes you will have noticed bulkhead needs a wee bit of adjustment also. Regards Stephen

I kinda meant the whole project slow and steady...lol Regards Stephen

I do plenty of full days as well and I really do enjoy fabrication, things like the bump stop metalwork is pretty basic and can be completed relatively quickly..... My good lady is taking the grandchildren to Alton Towers tomorrow and I'm looking after the dogs so I hope to get a couple of full days in weather permitting regards Stephen

There was nothing glacial about your recent 90 chassis swap regards Stephen

Stuff starting to come together and look like it's supposed to be there lol Slow and steady progress regards Stephen

That will be the rear bump stops Welded on, painted and fitted regards Stephen

Built up the single link today Also made bracketry for front bump stops Legs bent back to get might nozzle in hammered back to position Welded in, painted and bump stop fitted also made rear ones but not fitting until I take tub back off regards Stephen

Wet wet wet outside so made rear propshaft So start off with a 24" propshaft and split it then put it in lathe to machine down joint end Knock the end out, shorten it prep it for welding and put it back together Weld Now back together only now 22" long regards Stephen

Not much time over the last few days but managed to make a lock nut for rear suspension rose joint tonight One in the picture is left hand thread, going to make locknut out of the stainless bolt next to it In the lathe and going up drill sizes cut off and Machined to thickness Now for threading, how hard really is it to cut stainless threads And finally tested for fit Champion another little job off the list regards Stephen

I'll take that if your giving it .........lol Regards Stephen

On a windy day the brush is mightier than the welder... looking better regards Stephen

Problems aside what a fantastic adventure, also credit to your good lady, I don't know many that would rough it in a landrover camper let alone in a strange country after one of your earlier unpleasant experiences, keep the updates coming, thoroughly enjoying these posts regards Stephen

So pan hard rod now has a rose joint end Had an M24 x 3mm rose joint but the pan hard rod is M20x1mm so time for a bit of lathe work Rod end does not have a centre hole and will not hold position in chuck to machine one in so out with the centre finder, centre pop and drill Now it holds position out with a die nut and good old 7/8ths Whitworth spanner Sorted Regards Stephen

A bit of drilling and shaping regards Stephen

Some more work on tub More use of recent dies One edge trimmed off fitted More need to order some more rivets dried up now so need to move onto chassis related whilst weather holds regards Stephen

Had not planned on more pressure, looking for 200psi which is factory supplied, my thoughts were a gauge going to a higher pressure would not be at its limit if only scaled to 200 regards Stephen

Cannot wait for part 2 looks fabulous Regards Stephen

A long way off being complete but starting to look a lot better and stronger How difficult is this on your own really!!!! You can see how much I've reduced the width of rear load bay to get shocks outside regards Stephen

I'd like to say its an age thing...... But your still a whipper snapper next to me...... regards Stephen

A wee bit more Regards Stephen

When doing some suspension cycling I released the pressure in the two rear shocks only because the rear of the chassis was a lot lighter than the front Could find nowhere local to get them recharged then I remembered we had nitrogen dampening system at work So made up a rig to recharge shocks tried filling shocks with this end first Got pressure in but losing some when disconnecting, tried tyre pressure connection but still losing pressure on disconnection What I needed after a bit of research was a no loss nitrogen chuck. Only found them on American sites, so a bit of Improvisation required, enter tyre valve angle adaptor had to snap off the little protrusions that press the schrader air valve pin in this then tightened up on the o ring to give me my no loss chuck Best of all it worked and my shocks are now recharged, will need to source a schrader valve pressure gauge that goes above 200psi so I can check pressures to ensure they are identical regards Stephen

If you have a look at my Mog axle thread page 18 you can see where I cut the end off a Landrover axle revealing it to be 6mm regards Stephen

My own opinion but I would not bother galvanising a Defender axle if the vehicle is going to be frequently used off road, galv will scrape away on rocks just as easily as many other coatings and then ultimately harder to recoat whereas paint is easily touched up. Majority of axle is 6mm thick so will take a wee while to rust through, obviously diff pans and radius arm brackets will suffer a bit sooner but again rock rash will get these also regards Stephen

This might be helpful if you need to make a drive shaft regards Stephen

Great believer in this "If it's not broke don't fix it" Regards Stephen