Steve 90

Between Kris and I we bent 3 HD track rods and two HD drag links on the TFC. We now both run HD bars still but with a Gwyn lewis track rod guard. Brilliant bit of kit that allows you to treat tree stumps and rocks like they are not there

I run allied rock-a-thon beadlocks, Really nice wheel and you really need bead locks with the boggers as they are at their best at low pressure.

Boggers, The only choice.

Yep, I hold my hands up, I thought the T system was for real although I also thought it was c**p and pointless but did post my reservations slightly more politely. Didn't see the penguins on the telly but I didn't turn the telly on till the evening. In my defense ive been house bound for 10 days now and didn't even realize it was April the first! Probably wouldn't have made any difference if I had. Doh!!!!

Yea, That bolt. No mater how much of a hurry you are in dont think "I'll rattle it up with the air wrench quickly" :blush:

Thanks Tony.

Also because the ram does not have equal bore size in both directions the fluid level would vary quite a bit from one extreme of lock to the other and the std reservoir didn't have enough capacity to cope with it. I used a steel reservoir of a bedford TL which would be ideal and has a filter inside it. If you can find one an early RR/90 tin reservoir would be perfect.

I dont have a great deal in the way of dimensions handy at the minute but here's a couple of pic's. This does seem to work brilliantly and is very quick and easy to do. Cheers. Steve.

Need the R/H side axle swivel for a landrover axle with the both arms, one on the front for drag link and one on the rear for track rod. I know the left hookers will have one but they aint going to be too common in this country. Am I right in thinking you will find them on the very very early defenders and the TD5's??? Have no clue which RR's and Disco's would have them. If someone could give me an idea what age range I should be looking for that would be great. Also is there a change point for the king pin setup. Mine has the bearing bottom and bush top, Have some got a bearing top and bottom? Anyone any idea what years would have each type of setup? Cheers. Steve.

As I said earlier, I used to rip valves off regularly before bead locks, I found anything under 18psi was a disaster.

Nice bits of kit, Look very nicely made, just what ive come to expect from their reputation. I too put tubes in because I kept loosing tyre's, then experienced problems with ripping valves off when spinning tyre's on rims (only a 200TDi so maybe it doesn't need huge BHP and torque). now beed locked and all is well. Are you not worried about the "D" tube rubbing through with the ribs inside modern tubeless tyre's or dirt that may get trapped in there? Something we see quite a lot of even with good quality, thick tubes. I also like being tubeless as if you do get something through a tyre you can very quickly vulcanize a rats tail in the hole with everything still in situ and be on ya way rather than undoing all those bolts to change/repair a tube.

Our local landrover dealer had a G4 freelander there for a while, This had a removable winch and a receiver sticking out the bumper front and rear for it to fit in. Didn't look all that great to be honest! only one ive seen.

Ive fitted loads. Put two on two same vehicle in 12 months, Both genuine. Funny thing is every time I ring Landrover and order one they say "we used to have loads of trouble with these but they've been modified now and they're fine" Could have fooled me!

I think as far as pro's and cons are concerned you have it about right. I must say that the hydro assist on my truck is the one modification I really wouldn't want to be without. Its brilliant, You can turn the steering with just the palm of your hand. Soaking wet muddy hands struggling to find grip on the steering wheel to turn the heavy steering is a thing of the past. The latest version running on the top of the pitman arm is fantastic. The truck even drives nicely on the road now. The previous version with the ram on to the axle end of the drag link worked fine off road but I was always worried about damaging the ram or hoses as they were down in the line of fire a bit. Also the drag link would flip flop as you went from one direction to the other, Not only resulting in a slight bend in the end of the ram but on the road giving a horrible feeling where everytime you turned the steering it was normal at first then the ram would catch up causing it to go very light. Believe me, Its not nice. This is the third version. It still needs a slight alteration, when I steer left handed at full lock it destroys the lock stop. I need to move the ram about 45mm so it runs out of travel just as it hits the stop which sould solve the problem. For some reason (maybe because its not an equal cylinder in both directions) I don't seem to have any touble in the other direction. I originally tried to fit it behind the axle on the track rod, this was possible but the ram I had at the time was too big. Looking back I'm glad I didn't as after destroying 3 track rods in not much time I like to run a track rod guard now and this would all get a bit complicated. Plus the ram would be back in the thick of it again just waiting to get damaged. I have fitted a ZF74 pump, The original P.A.S. pump off the TDi seemed to have plenty of power but was quite slow. If you went to swerve around something the steering just wouldn't keep up, Especially at low engine speed. You could live with it but its far better with a better pump. Just one word of warning, The ZF pumps you find on a lot of german cars use the same housing but don't have anywhere near the same figures as the ZF74. The people who do our hydraulic, P.A.S. stuff say that ZF use the same casting for 95% of the pumps they do (including the 300tdi I think) they said the ZF74 must be for some sort of industrial application as no car P.A.S. pump has anywhere near the rating given for the ZF74. I'm not saying the P.A.S. pumps found on these cars are not good enough tho, They may well be, definitely better than the V8 and 200tdi ones. I will fully recommend it, I am tempted to go full hydro, but just because I want to get rid of the steering box so I can cut the front off the chassis.

Also I was planning to move both the pipes on my std intercooler from the middle to the left hand side (when I can be bothered to put a new gas reg on the tig that is) to make way for some stuff. About an hour ago I was sat drinking tea with Pikey and he tells me the 300tdi intercooler has both pipes on the left the same as the radiator! He is some use after all! A quick look through Eblag and bingo, 300tdi intercooler, £15, What a brilliant day

You have to tuck the rad behind the intercooler, Then you can move it over to the left and avoid the box!

200 and 300 engines are very similar length. The LT77 box is fine, The R380 is without doubt a better stronger box but with the power of either TDi (even uprated) it will cope fine if you find a later (think its H suffix) box which is what I and a lot of the other challenge trucks are running. Even with the longer R380 if you use a pair of 200TDi props it will still give enough room to move the rad back and keep the winch tucked in. Biggest issue with this is the steering box being in the way means you have to place the rad behind the intercooler so you can move it to the left of the vehicle and clear the steering box. Mog axles are very very heavy and very strong. Not sure if they work out cheaper than ashcrofts, depends how much fab you can do yourself. They (in my opinion) must have a disk brake conversion. You need to change the diff offset to suit a landrover, which involves cutting the ends off the axle and swapping them then setting them up right to get the steering geometry right. Then you have to buy a special half shaft to allow the front locker to work once they are modified. None of this is rocket science and straight forward enough if you can fabricate a bit but certainly time consuming. Some people I believe make them a narrower track also. Ive not done any myself, This is just info ive picked up while looking into portals myself.

Nice.

Nobody do the Lardy flip this time then?

BTW, the prop on my challenge truck gets done every time I use it ! But thats usually just to be sure its not got water standing in the joints.

We grease props and check the U.J. and for sign of them being loose as I think everyone should do at service. If I found that one of the lads working for me had missed something like this out of a service he'd be put right. Its part of the service no different to checking anything else be it gear box oil level, diff oil level, checking the brakes whatever. I increasingly see people coming in and asking for a quote for a service, When they are talked through it and depending on what service and car it is there's between 2-4 hours labour on the quote they seem horrified. Then go on to tell me that some bloke down the road will do a full service for £80 including parts. Even at the cheapest labour rate they are not doing much for that. Funny thing is, a couple of years down the line when these people have been having their car serviced on the cheap and the cars falling to bits round them they are the first to complain about the poor work they were getting for their £80 service but in the end its their own fault. The other thing we often see is stuff thats comes to us for the first time after its warranty period, having been serviced by a main dealer for 3 years. The first time we service them its obvious that half the cars never been touched. So much for "full main dealer service history" More often than not you get what you pay for,If they are too cheap beware and if they have a big flash show room and waiting area id also be careful, Who's paying for all that! At the moment were ok because we are very busy, Were in a small community and I cant remember the last time we were not fully booked at least 3-4 weeks in advance and hope that is due to a good reputation for good honest work but if one day we did go quiet, What should I do? Cut quality of work to be competitive? Id rather sell up to be honest. We arn't expensive (£30 an hour), We just do a decent job which there seems to be less and less of these days.

Yep, Grub screw and lock nut on the top, Be careful tho when they wear its mainly in the straight ahead position, if they wear a lot and you adjust the slack out with the wheels pointing straight they will sometimes bind/go tight when you steer either way giving you horrible steering.

Im not sure if were gona let you over the border yet Mr Turner ! Then again, If your map reading for the Travel lodge is anything to go by you'll never find us!!!! :lol: :lol:

Ere's mine! Its about to loose the front bumper and part of the front wings though!

I think ive done the same to mine with the hydro assist! Eeeeekkkkk! the last two event the straight ahead position has gone from bang in the middle to about 15 degrees to the left stopped there for a bit then went about 25 degrees to the right. The steering box had gone through some serious abuse before I did the hydro assist so maybe the damage was already done. Think I might get a new box to convert and replace it. Atleast that way I know what sort of life it has had.