[how to gear down........]

This'll be what i need instead then is it?

http://www.ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=201

[how to gear down........]

you could always re mortgage!!

http://www.ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=10

Oh my gawd!!!

[how to gear down........]

Thanks for that, i'm glad I asked!

It would have been embarrasing to say the least to spend ages swapping the T boxes over the find that the ratios were exactly the same!!

I appreciate that changing the ring and piniins would lower the gearing, however, I do wonder if there are any specialist companies that make a set of lowered ratio T gears. I feel a search coming on.......

Dave

[how to gear down........]

Hi all,

I recently finished building my trialler which I am fairly pleased with.

The engine, gearbox and axles were lifted from a 3.9 discovery and as such I find the gearing quite high. I have been offered a transfer box off an early diesel 90 (1.4 ratio?) as compared to the higher geared Disco one, and assumed that this would lower my gearing nicely.

However, I have since read in a magazine this evening that this transfer box will only lower the high ratio gearing and will leave the low ratios as they are (if that makes sense?) I can't see it somehow but if someone can enlighten me I would be most appreciative

I was under the impression that that 1.4 ratio t box would lower ALL the gears not just the high ratios ones?

Dave

[Fiddle Brake woes]

I think your problem is the series 3 master cylinder. These are designed to drive shoes, not callipers - the pressure to drive a calliper is many times greater than that required for shoes (smaller breaking area etc...)

If you replace the series 3 cylinder with a 90 or 110 cylinder it should perform better.

I first discovered this on a hybrid - I had a series 3 servo/master cylinder driving the rangie brakes. The braking performance was horrendous. Replaced with a 90 cylinder and worked a treat!

Right,

Think I seem to be getting to grips with the whole thing now and getting in straight in my head.

From what I can gather then my first mistake was using the Series 3 master cylinders as a starting point, from what I've learnt this evening they probably have large bores or something that make them not very good at driving the pistons in calipers.

Hows about this for a plan of action;

Take out my fabricated fiddle brakes / levers / series master cylinder arrangement and chuck them in the back of the workshop.

Buy some Milner Fiddle levers and plumb them in, inline but leave the servos in place for that bit of extra help when i've got some revs on?

Put a T-Piece in each side at the bakc so that all four pistons are operated at once - either when the footbrake is operated or when a fiddle brake is operated?

The only other consideration I might have is to put a brake bias valve inbetween the vehicle servo and the fiddle brake levers? However I reckon that I might be able to do without the brake bias as the footbrake is only used when descending and being an auto the revs dies down anyway so the effect of the servo wont be large, but when I need to "fiddle" round something I will hopefully have a bit more power on and the servo would then would maybe have more effect. There was also a vacuum tank present when the donor vehicle was dismantled and I think I'll just put that back on too!

Feel free to comment and pick holes as I dont intend bleeding the brakes for a fourth time after this is done!

Dave

Am i on the right track yet do you think??!!

[Fiddle Brake woes]

For safari racers the most common way to fit them is simply to plumb into the rear brake line and use the same calipers as the main brakes. Mine have always worked perfectly like this.

Hi Steve,

From what I can work out, and now reading various stuff on the internet, it seems that usually a single pair of pistons in a standard rear caliper is not man enouugh to do the job, yours is obviously working tho?

It looks as if I have wrongly assumed that servo assistance would be enough to generate enough pressure to work "half" a caliper but a few people have mentioned on various forums that a fiddle brake to all four pistons seems to work a treat, looks as if I have been ambitious - but rubbish!

I think the best thing I can do as it stands is to sell my new (ouch) servo units and use the money to buy some fiddle brake levers from Milners and just keep it simple I guess. Frustrating though as I was pretty confident that the servo assistance would work a treat but as someone pointed out on another forum, someone they who had this system fitted needed quite a bit of revs to generate enough vacuum. Lesson learned for me I suppose unless anyone can think of a set up that will use my current items. As we speak I am scribbling ideas on a bit of paper.

More head scratching before I go to bed I think!

Dave

[Fiddle Brake woes]

I can only think of obvious things!

If you stop the engine and wiggle the inlet adaptor on the servos off, do they hiss loudly?

Are the slave brake cylinders angled up to allow it to bleed OK?

Have you got the brake lines on the slave cylinders in the right holes?

Have you got the brake lines on the master cylinders in the right holes? Early S3 (non-servo) MS are pull operation, later are push.

I've just tried it now and the hose does indeed hiss when i took it off the servo.

The brake master cylinders that I am using (is that what you mean by slave cylinders?) are level but have been bled with a pressure bleeder and the levers are solid.

There is only one hole on the master cylinders I am using so no chance of an error there, and the levers are working on them in the correct manner.

Dave

[Fiddle Brake woes]

It sounds like the servo assist isn't, but two not working is very odd.

Master cylinder bore will affect the mechanical advantage of the system (big bore shifts more fluid, but the area is bigger so less fluid pressure for a given pedal / lever force; small bore is higher pressure but less flow - which is what disc brakes need). A way round it is to change the lever ratio, so that there is more of your bit of the lever than the master cylinder gets (if you follow). The Milner site shows levers with a ratio of about 10:1?

However, as your servos are remote, they only work on fluid pressure anyway, so they should be doing some good ...

Hi,

It certainly feels as if there is no servo assistance with them. I did wonder if it was the case that the vacuum hose (which runs from the Plenum chamber to the servos which are on the back body and then into a T piece) was collapsing stopping the vacuum effact at the servo but it all seems to be fine.

I used to not very scientific method of putting my thumb over the end and the vacuum on it seemed to be the same as the one on the main brake servo (rest of the system). I also swapped over the pipes in the engine bay and also isolated each of the servos by taking out the T piece and running the vacuum pipe directly to it. I can't imagine that its two duff servos.

I remember that the way of testing brake servos is to pump the brake pedal and then start the engine which allows the pedal to fall slightly. I tried this with the levers but did not get any movement when the engine was started. I am still at a loss.

In my mind the fact the levers did not move when the engine was started and also that it "feels" like trying to stop a disc braked car when the engine is not running leads me to believe that the problem is the servo area but I cant see where.

Anyone?

Dave

[Fiddle Brake woes]

I don't know of any land rover with rear calipers that have anymore than 2 pistons.

My P38 certainly only has this set up and thats alot more than a ton.

The idea of putting front calipers on the back is to to have a pair of pistons each for the fiddle brakes / foot brake

Dave

[Fiddle Brake woes]

...... while i remember the original Milner levers that were on it initially have been sold on so would need to buy new ones!

Dave

[Fiddle Brake woes]

Hi All,

I am looking for some advice with regards to some fiddle brakes on my trialler.

The machine has been mostly rebuilt over the last year or so and the last job was to put some fiddle brakes on it. In its last configuration it had Milner levers directly to some four pot calipers on the back (top pair of pistons for fiddles, bottom pair for foot brakes)and to be honest did not really work, at least not without massive effort and only if the ground was very very slippery.

So in order to get them to work i have the following set up;

New front calipers machined to go on the back as the old ones were mostly siezed, bottom pair of pistons in the caliper for the footbrake, the top pair for the fiddles.

Twin remote servos, one servo for each caliper (ie each side of the fiddles)

Some home made levers where each lever about 18" long pushes on a series three master cylinder.

I was hopeful that this servo assisted set up on new calipers would do the business but not so.

The set up is so poor that when pulling on one of the levers, it wont even slow the vehicle down at tickover in drive and I am pulling so hard on the levers that it is starting to distort the frame that I have made for the levers.

I really am at the end of my tether now as I cannot see any area for improvement. The lever feel is solid and do not believe that there is any air in the system.

The only thing that I can think of at the moment is that I remember someone mentioning that the cylinder diameter on the master cylinder was important but i cant remember much more than that. Would Milner levers be better?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as i'm really P£$%ed off with the whole thing especially after forking out for new calipers.

Hope someone can help!!!!!!!!!

Regards,

Dave

[How Heavy is a P38 Upper tailgate]

Hi,

Don't know if its of any use to you but in a previous job I needed to buy some struts to keep a bonnet cover open on a boat. I found that a local argicultural suppliers had a really big selection at not much money. I guess they are used for cab windows , bonnets etc on tractors. The weight / force in Newtons was clearly written on the sides and were available in loads of different lengths.

If there is a similar place near to you, is the trailer finished enough that you could tow it there and try some out?

Dave

[How to get new V5 for Series one]

Hi All,

Cheers for all the responses. I have the reg number and finally found it under "rover" as opposed to "land rover" on the DVLA website as suggested by one of the guys on the LRSOC forum.

Apparently its an 80", 1953 (fair play on the guessing front!)

I'm hoping to get out to it tomorrow and see it in person and see how much of it is there. It's stored in the owners yard so all the bits are supposed to be there. Chassis is also supposed to be good. I think that best thing I can do tomorrow is to spread all the bits out and see whats there and what isnt. It looks a bit far gone when you first look at it but I remember that it only took half a day to get my old Series Two stripped down like this.

I'm not imagining that its going to be on the road anytime soon but hopefully if its not too bad I can tuck it away in the barn until I can get a decent amount of time to spend on it after the triallers finished / Range Rover's serviced / 90 is restored / Children have moved out........

I will try and remember to bring my camera tomorrow and take some pictures if anyones interested

Thanks again,

Dave

[How to get new V5 for Series one]

oops, forgot the pics

[How to get new V5 for Series one]

Good day all,

After searching high and low locally, i have finally been offered a Series one. I have not seen it in "person" as yet but have been sent a couple of pictures by a friend.

I believe that the vehicle has been laid up for a number of years after being dismantled but I am reliably informed that it is all intact. The vehicle has no logbook / V5 and would like to know where I stand with regards to getting a new one via the DVLA. Although the vehicle has number plates and no doubt a chassis number somewhere how do I know if the two tally?

I am also at a loss to the value of the vehicle because as it stands, in its current condition, I don't know what model it is (unless anyone can work it out from the picture!

I am aware from rebuilding a number of other landrovers, that it is important that all the bits are there - which I will be checking when I hopefully view the vehicle on Monday. Would anyone like to hazard a guess as to how much its worth? This would be my first Series One and would appreciate the advice

Regards,

Dave

[fiddlebrakes and upside down calipers]

Thanks guys,

Sorted it now, you must have been typing while I was getting it to work.

I (wrongly) assumed that with easybleed, the pressure would overcome any problems like this. I was considering taking the calipers off and putting them around the wrong (right?) way but as I am pushed for time I unbolted them and swung them up throught 180 degrees and then bled them. The way it is plumbed up at the moment, i simply bled the top/bottom one and got a solid pedal.

Bizarre thing is even though the other two are in the middle I had a go with those and it brought the fiddle brakes online aswell! Must be something to do with the way the innards of the calipers are. I might well get to the church on time after all!

Cheers,

Dave

[fiddlebrakes and upside down calipers]

Hi all,

Long explanation for a relatively simple problem.........

I am in the process of trying to fit fiddle brakes to the back of my trialler. It had fiddle brakes before and have re-used the calipers which were on there, i think they are 110 ones (ie 4 pot ones with 3 bleed nipples on). The idea is that each pair of pistons in the caliper is independent, one for the fiddles, and one for the foot brake.

Anyway, i know they worked previously and the last trial i ran without fiddles as I didnt have time to fit them, and the brakes were fine, and the pedal solid.

However, in order to fit the fiddles I have turned the calipers upside down (although they look "right" for the back) with the hoses pointing out of the top. The two bleed nipples are on with one each side and the third one is now at the bottom.

However I am now finding it impossible to bleed the brakes. I have a Gunsons easybleed and I have done the entrie system twice, starting from the the wheel furthest away from the master cylinder and I am not getting any air out.

I notice that on the front calipers, the third nipple (should nick name the machine Scaramanga! lol) is at the top. My understanding is that the two inlet pipes relate to each of the circuits in a dual circuit system and should be completely independant.

my question then really is would the fact that the bleed nipple at the back make it impossible or at least very difficult to bleed? I need to get this resolved today I have at least another day of reassembly to get the rest of the trialler back together and the trial is on Sunday, so i'm very pushed for time

Hope someone can help!

Regards,

Dave

[V8 air flow meter]

Cheer Nige,

So will a 5198 work with my engine? It has been de-catted with a different resistor by the way.

I was confused by the engine specific / minor changes thing. I'm easily confused mind!

Dave

[V8 air flow meter]

hi all,

I have been out tinkering with the trialler this afternoon in an effort to sort out a "wheezing" intake on the trialler. I suspected that it was the raised air intake but instead I traced it back to the air flow meter. Basically, whenever i opened the throttle there was a squealing noise almost like a whistle.

Anyhow, i pulled the airflow meter to oneside and the trialler started playing up, failing to idle properly and stalled a couple of times. I thought that i may have pulled a wire off or something similar but checked everything and all is ok. Its had some running issues in the past and i think now that it may have been the air flow meter all along. I will try and borrow one off someone to test it before I buy a new one but i cannot seem to find a definative answer as to whether the part number on mine ESR1057 can be replaced by the more common ESR 5198, generally these seem alot cheaper! If any part number geniusses are online I would appreciate it very much!

Thanks

Dave R

["heavy duty" steering wheel for trialler]

A piece of 1" box section with a knob on the end ?

There's already a knob on the end of it; at least there was the way I was driving on Sunday!

Dave

["heavy duty" steering wheel for trialler]

Hi all,

I competed in my recently rebuilt trialler at the weekend and all went well and in general I was very happy with the machine.

However, it soon became clear (second section) that the Mountney wheel was not fit for purpose and folded over an inch or two! Unfortunately once it had "gone" it flapped around pretty much for the rest of the day. I found that I was even having to straighten it out mid section by yanking on it between gates, not ideal.

I've had a (very) quick browse this afternoon on the internet and I know that Motalita are strong but are too expensive for my tastes really.

Bearing in mind that the trialler will only be used once a month and in pretty horrendous conditions can anyone suggest an alternative at a reasonable price? A standard landrover wheel will be out of the question due to the fact I can't stand them!

Regards,

Dave

[P38 tailgate won't close]

Hi all,

My Range Rover, obviously concerned that my life is too boring has decided that it won't shut it's tailgate for some reason. I havent used it for a couple of weeks and and it did this once before but i think its had it now.

The lower tailgate shuts fine but when i go to shut the top bit it won't stay shut. Unfortunately i have so repeatedly slam it to get it to stay shut, and i mean REALLY slam it shut! I'd say about 20 attempts to get it to close, and stay shut. I had to slam it so hard this evening that I thought the glass was going to break.

Any ideas?

Regards,

Dave

[Corroded chassis number]

I bought an old 90 (B-re)sometime ago and have been looking to start work on it now the current project is finished.

Close examination of the chassis has shown that its not in bad fettle at all and a new couple of outriggers should have the bulk of it back in good shape.

However, the chassis has corroded (quite strangely) where the chassis number is stampted on the drivers side chassis leg. It will obviously need to be repaired but then the original chassis number will be obscured. I have tried and failed to get some sense out of the DVLA but have as yet failed.

In the meantime, does anyone have any ideas how I will get round this?

Dave

[General Grabber AT2]

Hi All,

I'm trying to find the best price that I can on a set of 255/55 or 60 x 18s. I have searched locally and the prices seem to be hovering around the 110-120quid mark plus the VAT. Does this sound about right. I expected to find some cheaper prices on the net but as yet, by the time you take into account the postage and whatnot I may aswell get them nearby and give the trade to the local guy. I always feel guilty taking tyres that I've bought elsewhere to my local tyre dealer to fit!!

The other question of course, is a suitable alternative. They are going on a P38 which only does about 4000 miles a year, knocks about back and for to work and will tow my trialler off road once a month. The vehicle has 16" rims on it at the moment, which I hate, and I think they RR looks much better on the 18" Mondials that I am in the process of refurbing, I think that they really suit the car.

I have looked at alternatives but its only the AT2 that seems to have the right mix of off and on road ability for me, unless of course anyone can suggest an alternative 18" tyre that at least has a modicum of off road ability.

Regards,

Dave

[TIG welder]

Thanks for the advice, I will have a look at the mig welding website when I get a minute this evening. Its not something that I need to do but something that I would like to learn to do. As mentioned in the initial post, all of the welding on my trialler was done by me except for fabricating the fuel tank and the radiator, maybe next time I'd have a go myself. I am realistic to how diffucult it is. But I now have a decent heater in the garage so have no problem putting the hours in