moore101

I know of the vehicle and have helped a friend cut up an old scrap matador chassis using the rangie to move the various chunks/axles etc. Can't comment on how it drives but it's a fairly solid well built truck, chassis being massively strengthened at the back to take the HIAB and legs. Biggest problem with it is the HIAB pump is battery powered and the 6 batteries are all old and knackered. Could do with being driven off a pto from the LT95.

I know of the vehicle and have helped a friend cut up an old scrap matador chassis using the rangie to move the various chunks/axles etc. Can't comment on how it drives but it's a fairly solid well built truck, chassis being massively strengthened at the back to take the HIAB and legs. Biggest problem with it is the HIAB pump is battery powered and the 6 batteries are all old and knackered. Could do with being driven off a pto from the LT95.

Try 101 ball joints, they're bigger.And bearmach sell the nuts for a couple of pound.

Malcolm Whitbread used a LHD defender style steering box so the input pointed forwards and then a 90 degree bevel box at bottom of column. The 101 relay is larger than a series unit so should survive having power steering through it and adds an element of further damping so should help improve steering box life when offroading. Cutting and vee-ing the chassis isn't a terribly messy way of doing it, rebuilding the top of the rail over the v would add strength back in and might make it a tad neater.

Managed to break input shaft before but not that spectacularly!

QT ones here They do the replacement bushes, any idea if they are standard series spring eye bushes? Thinking of making some up as my budgetwibt stretch to £120 just for engine and gearbox mounts. Also does anyone have any comments about whether they increase vibration or not?

Ring insurance companies direct, price comparison sites are rubbish! They can't deal with any modification and any crash history seems to put the quote up by a lot more than insurance actually increased by.

Nige what MOD site is this? Might have to arrange myself a visit there through work!

What sort of dimensions are you after? It's not very clear from your original post..

A trick with triallers is to put 2 push to make momentary switches on the steering wheel to start the vehicle in the event of a stalled engine. This is relatively safe, especially if it had a seperate switch to send power to them, as you have to deliberately press both wanting to start it.

I prefer the old layout!

Cheers for the responses. In the end I bent out the chassis mounts slightly (almost cried doing that to a new chassis!) pulled it all together with ratchet straps, the bushes got wedged halfway through doing this (they were deforming into the bolt holes in the chassis), so I gave up, pulled the bushes out of the springs, threw them into the depths of the garage and just put it all together without any bushes. When it comes to putting it all back together once the chassis has been galvanised I will be pressing original fitment bushes into the front of the springs and just using polybushes for the backs of the springs where they're easy to fit as the shackle splits so theres infinite space for it to go in. Thought the bushes were too good to be true with how easy they are to fit into the end of the springs initially. At least it looks something like a vehicle again now though! Even managed to start cutting out plates for engine mounts

cheers for the replies! Landy V8, they're straight as a straight thing, the chassis only got delivered today. Meccano, just had exactly the same idea, gently jack the chassis mounting apart, doing the bolt up will pull it back into shape. But it's a new chassis so i dont really want to do that and I definitely don't want to be doing that once i've had it galvanised..

AAAAARGH, I buy britpart because i'm an apprentice doing a rebuild on a very tight budget and I end up with the rubbish parts! Just tried to fit my springs to my brand new chassis and they wont fit. The ones i'm trying to fit are the front of back springs so I guess the front of front will be just as hard. It seems the flange of the bushes is too wide and I can't think of any way to squeeze it all up and slide it in. I bought 'polybushes' because I thought they were easier to fit, apparently not! Pics attached, not brilliant as I was holding it all with one hand while taking the picture with the other but I think you can understand my problem. Also, red oxide and chassis black is a rubbish combination of paint that chips of way too easily! Trusty old hammerite straight to rust for the rest of the rebuild!

Would it not be better just changing the diff ratio or putting rangerover high ratio gears in for high range. I very much doubt we'd miss first gear being stupidly low. If towing a really heavy load I guess we might miss it but there's always low range if needed.. Would be nice to see it done though I suppose

Just incase you didn't find the answer: On a series there is no centre diff, the locking mechanism is literally just like a locking dog clutch. And to solve your transmission wind up problem drive 2 wheels of the same side onto soft ground which should let the wind up release itself. Or if its just at home just jack up any one wheel. Front's best as handbrake acts on rear.

That's brilliant! As long as it does deform the centre of the wheel properly and not the nave plate.. Still much better than beating them in to shape with a hammer which is very loud work! Is there an easy solution for getting them to fit over freewheeling hubs? (For someone who hasn't got a big lathe) A method that would save the effort of 'chain drilling', knocking out with a hammer and then filing for what felt like days!

Cheers for the info fridge. There used to be pictures of a tray backed lightweight on gon2fars site which I used to love the look of but don't know what happened to these :-( I think for my uses, may be down to only being used one day a month for trialling with fuel costs as they are :-(, the procomps will be my best option. I think I'll get the ones from RM as they'll have the steel shield and don't seem to be much more than from paddocks.

Richards chassis are currently making me a lightweight chassis with the powersteering mod done. My other landrover is effectively a swb stage 1 which has had the standard relay mounting brackets off and the rail drilled and sleeved for a PAS box and is how I was going to do the powersteering conversion on the lightweight. When richards told me thats exactly how they do it I couldn't believe my luck and thought it'd be daft to not let them do the work for me! As for whether it's an essential mod or not. If the vehicle is just used on road then I don't think it is unless it was used for a high amount of tight city driving. As I trial mine I feel it's justifiable.

I'm watching this with interest as i'll need to be putting some new shocks on to replace my worn out procomps. Are procomps really that bad as they do seem a reasonable price. I noticed rocky mountain supply them with a metal shield as per original landrover instead of the rubber boot or no shielding at all. Fridge, you say the dampers can't be pushed back in by hand. Do they try to extend themselves? If this is the case would they assist in pushing the front suspension downwards as I find that leaf springs will happily move upwards but not droop very easily.

Right. Just to update this. I got some more bleed screws off ebay. These have a much better thread on them (they dont wobble when put in the calipers!) and are exactly the same length as the originals. The only difference being they have an undercut under the 'head' which if anything will be better than the originals as that bit of thread only ends up corroding. See attached pictures. Just had a thought, I wonder if the bleed screws I got before were 3/8" maybe. Will check and send them back if so.

Laid my hands on a 4pin today, now to either find myself access to a hefty lathe, or £125. Being a tight apprentice I think I know which'll be more likely. Swarf to follow :/

5 grand and I'd be slightly tempted to sell mine when I've rebuilt it! Price really depends on what you're after but for £5 I'd be expecting one with a galvanised chassis and bulkhead, galvanised vent panel, straight bodywork with decent paint, complete rewire, etc. This one didn't sell and I believe it's still available, possibly even on autotrader http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1969-LAND-ROVER-GREEN-/260779464179?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item3cb7aad5f3 It's a tidy truck with an original chassis and I dont remember it having repairs on it (it's still got military underseal on it). As for things to look out for: -Chassis, as with any other landrover, if an original then it could well have military underseal which keeps the chassis solid where it sticks but look out for any areas where its started to lift as it creates huge moisture traps. -Bulkhead, footwells and end repair pieces are available and its all square so not too hard to repair but nice to have a decent condition one to start with. -Vent panel (upper bulkhead). The lightweight bulkhead is in 2 pieces and the uppers rust out along the bottom of the vent flaps (can't normally notice it until you pull the seals out and find theres nothing left! But they will rust from the inside out.) Pattern ones can be bought for ~£300 or you can repair it with plenty of mig wire and the good old grinder -Engine and gearbox I don't think are too important to you if you're after a V8 one but if it's already converted watch out for dodgy ones with stray wires all over the place and poorly welded engine mounts etc. -There are a few other lightweight specific bits to look out for such as under bonnet and under arch toolboxes as they're nice originals to have but if you look at it in the same way as a normal series you should be ok. Lightweight landrover club forum is probably a good place to put a post on as it's a very helpful community,

Would I be correct in saying these units can only be used with 24spline halfshafts? If so what's the easiest way of getting a strong front axle as I've read that the 24spline CV joints are weaker than the early 10spline ones (without spending lots of money on upgraded CVs and halfshafts)? Or would I only have to buy strengthened shafts to go between the diff and the CV? (do both the independant CV and the integral with stub shaft ones have the same spline count on the inner?) And can someone give me a little bit of help regarding back axles as I've trawled through the net and confused myself. I want to fit one of these 4 pin units on my vehicle but currently have a 10spline back axle. Can I swap over the stub axles and hub assemblies from a 24 spline back axle onto my case or are the casings a different length or different bolt pattern? And if I can just swap 24 spline ends on, then would the front stub axle and hub assemblies happen to be the same? (struggling to find any complete 24 spline axles at the moment)

A series with standard engine shouldn't need power steering for a youngster like yourself. I'm only 20 and by no means strong and I used to manage with standard steering. The only reason I'm changing to PAS during the rebuild is because my 14inch steering wheel, insa turbo special tracks and V8 led to me not being able to turn due to so much torque steer (straightening it up) which resulted in me falling in a hole and rolling. I'd concentrate on other things before you start messing about with power steering. As for all this arguing about being competent to carry out the work, carbs are much more simple to sort than trying to do a P38 PAS conversion, that as far as I know isn't documented anywhere if done at all, so might be worth sorting something a bit more basic first. I'm not going to get too involved in insurance but I pay £1680 fully comp on my lightweight with 3.5 V8, defender gearbox and rangerover axles (still on leaf springs) with NFU.