discomikey

before i changed to windy-window-lifty-handle doors i used to resent this, and always considered a subtle wind deflector type thing riveted to the side of the windscreen frame to direct air away from the shutline

I may be able to offer a voice of experience here. DISCLAIMER: SPIRITED DRIVING DOES NOT NECISSARILY MEAN DRIVING DANGEROUSLY FAST OR SPEEDING - there is a time and place and you don't need to be on the limit of handling to feel the characteristics of a vehicle! with regards to oversteer, i have a private drive which is tarmaced. NOT public road. and therefore not putting other road users in danger. from time to time (as many other drivers may do, and equally many may disagree) i have the urge to go a bit giddy and speed up a bit. I live on a road which is corner after corner in both directions all the way to town. my setup: Its a truck cab 88" with spare mounted to swingaway carrier on rear 235/85R16 Cooper Discoverer STT mud tyres (previously same sized Wranglers) Rocky mountain 3 leaf parabolics on the rear, 2 leaf on the front 50.5% front 49.5% rear weight distribution with total weight of 1680kg standard shock absorbers on front Gas charged +2 shock absorbers on the rear Rear wheel drive only on the road (previously fitted with Ashcroft ATB, currently on open diff waiting for ATB to be pegged. No anti-roll bars front or rear highly tweaked TDi Castor angle increased by ~2° BRAKES THAT DON'T FADE (anywhere near as much as drums all round)!!!!! handling characteristics: Understeer/oversteer characteristics: extremely (And surprisingly) neutral steer with a hint of oversteer if you really go for it. And if its what you really want you can get the back end out quite nicely even in the dry. I CANNOT get it to understeer. (understeer is good for the everyday driver, its a "failsafe" characteristic. its not so great for spirited driving. body roll: It does roll a bit, but surprisingly flat even compared to a standard 90. you can tell the front roll stiffness is much lower than the rear roll stiffness. the same story with bump stiffness. I believe this is why it handles so well (look up relationships of roll stiffness to handling characteristics) Straight line stability: for a Land Rover, and a short wheelbase at that, surprisingly good. 85MPH is far from scary and will sit like that all day long on the M6 Autobahn in germany Noddyness on bumpy roads: Horrendous! obviously. but even when cornering on an undulating road surface the thing will still corner surprisingly well. In the wet: If you don't go steadier in the wet then you are a complete moron in my opinion. things get much more unpredictable much more quickly. That being said, for a Land Rover it still inspires confidence at normal speeds Fast Off road: see noddyness. What i would do to improve?: a front Anti-roll bar, maybe calculated spring and damper rates. and my ATB back in. and it could be a bit longer. Nothing else. Hope this helps. P.S. i have always wanted to enter into a fast event with it to actually compare to other vehicles, however most require a roll cage and i really don't want to bin it!

Is that SD1 Lights on a... Oh God.. just... wow... in the words of the local youths: "dem rimz doe"

whatever you uncover, im sure we would all be interested to know!

Likewise my rear is a shortened 88" rear prop. I shortened it myself using lathe and welder. Many miles Complete since ann zero signs of prop imbalance even at 80+mph Front will be a standard prop mounted to an intermediate shaft which will attach to the front output via a 300 tdi style rubber donut and be supported by a range rover or discovery 4 rear props haft support bearing.

if you have access, try whacking 2 other wheels on the front to determine if it is the wheel/tyres or not. with the risk of sounding stupid, have you checked the lower swivel pin and upper swivel pin bolts for tightness? a similar thing happened to me randomly one day and i found that the lower swivel pin bolts had come loose on one side. only vibrated in the speed range you are experiencing it in. not sure how they came loose as i never touch the lower swivel pin bolts!

I shortened them myself using a lathe, for those interested, it seems standard halfshafts (from a coiler) are NOT CASE HARDENED AT ALL, except from where the splines are. the horizontal band saw ate them for breakfast! Once welded i stuck them back in the lathe, polished the welds back and heated the HAZ up using oxy/acet and let cool again (to dissipate stress), whilst using a hammer to ensure they were as straight as possible. end result theyre straighter than standard shafts!

Cheers Bowie, yes that's how I did it. Good news, I have now got some shortened shafts. I just need to get round to fitting them now though! To date I have no complaints at all. In fact the wheel bearings seem to be lasting much better than series ones ever did, and the pads, 60-80k miles on still have loads of meat left. I did change the master and servo for an early (non g-valved) 90 master for a little better brake balancing.

Gutted i'm missing this. Do I really need to graduate? Haha

me too

I regard John Richard Surplus in Hinstock, Market Drayton way as the best for customer service. Its a small, family run affair, but prices are competetive too, and they have a massive selection of decent quality genuine New Old Stock parts!

https://m.justworkgloves.co.uk/#!/Cut-Resistant-Sleeves/Kevlar-Cut-Resistant-Sleeve These are the ones. Be sure to buy one that goes all the way up your arm. I weld in a polo shirt and this on my non-torch arm.

Anderzander, Firstly I agree, (besides the gas) being able to see the puddle is important. Being comfortable is even more important. You'd be surprised at the difference. Buy yourself a proper flow meter rather than a regulator (you want the floating ball type) And get some Kevlar welding sleeves, I love them. Not too hot and your arm can breathe but welding and UV burn is no longer an issue

don't get me started on Craddocks! No issues with Paddocks on the other hand, and its close!

It seems there may not be a massive demand for security specifically designed for a series motor, not at least for a company with overheads etc. however. I have recently got my welder running properly, and am keen to create something for my own truck. If at the same time, anyone on here wants something to protect their series, or at least put off potential thieves, drop me a PM, and ill see what i can do! I don't want to descuss the design or specifics of anything security wise on here, hence the PM. I will happily post up a few pictures of anything i might make along these lines to show the general gist of things, but nothing that may comprimise security Anyone interested? I'm keen to make things which suit individual vehicles and their owners rather than one thing repeated over and over.

watching with interest!

Make : SIP Model : Topmig 150 Turbo How Long have you had it / How old is it : 1 yrs (second hand must be 10 yrs old?) Typical Current Price : Paid £150 (plus £70 for a Eurotorch) Maximum Welding Current (AMPS) : 150 Output at 60% Duty Cycle : Duty Cycle unknown, although it manages 15 minutes welding at full power before cutting out Welding Wire range in mm : 0.6-0.8 Small Large or BOTH re Wire Spools: tiny and 4.5-5kg Euro Torch (Yes / No ) : Not normally. I retrofitted one Argosheild Bottle - max Size that will fit : I have a Hobbyweld bottle although larger will fit Weight : 25kgish?? What is the most typical things you weld with it - thicknesses etc : 0.8-6mm (up to 10 at a push but push, triple pass it and weave!!!!!) Other standard Features : Crappy 1m torch lead. Good Points : Once modified it will weld as nicely as any of works' ESAB or Oxford welders. but just doesn't have the duty cycle! Bad Points : Standard SIP wire feed issues, easily sorted. Standard torch lead at 1m combined with it being a floorstanding unit makes it pretty useless. 4m Euro torch (type 25 i know, overspecced) was the best thing i could have possibly done to it. Will never buy a welder without a eurotorch from now on! On a scale of 1 to 10 1 being very unhappy with it, and 10 being "Its perfect for me" rate it: 8.5 Once modified it is a cracking welder. Couldn't ask for better at the price! 150 amps is a tad low for what i do, ideally could do with something upto 250+ amps. but that's not the welder's fault! The duty cycle is a tad low, although its price reflected that at £150 rather than £1,000+

was just starting to sketch up ideas for a sheetmetal brake of my own. i dont need anything massive, however i know full well that when i come to use it i will want it bigger/with more configurational options etc. so at the moment it looks quite elaborate (almost as much as a full on proper brake) This looks quite a neat solution. one i have used before at my previous job and it also results in an excuse (finally) to buy a press!

Fridge. Consider you're anti-wrap bar stolen (in principal) if that's okay with you? Have you found any negatives with having one fitted?

Have you got Ash Witty on Facebook? He's on here but cb chat would get to him quicker. I believe he milled out an adaptor for his cummins conversion he may have the measurements somewhere

Discounting increased pad wear (not an issue for me apparently) is there any advantage to drilled and grooved disks? My front brakes could benefit from being a teensy bit sharper. I was wondering if they would make a difference?

As Ross says, it fits to the rear eye of a spring in place of the shackle. if you were to fit one to each end of the spring the axle would wibble and wobble all over the place, and your wheelbase would become "variable"

My greenstuff pads have been less than impressive. Never had a problem with minted pads. Ive been waiting to wear out the current pads to swap to minted but they just aren't wearing. They squeal constantly St the moment such an annoying trait

As above, a return along each longer length would increase the stiffness dramatically. I would add the gussets into this as one piece. Cutting out a big square hole in the middle and adding in returns in all 4 edges (using a filler piece to tie the corners together) would add , ore stiffness weight whilst opening up the option to reduce plate thickness (stress concentration permitting) With regards to the fairlead brace brackets, I would consider moving the angle stiffeners to the inside face of the brackets rather than the outside. There is currently nothing stopping the brackets squish at each end where the bends are if that makes sense. How does the bracket mount to the tank guard thing? Looks a neat solution so far. And good to see someone designing in strength rather than using 10 mm plate for everything. Cough, nige, cough.

Thanks Reb, I contacted him and he has been very useful a few times!