discomikey

the golden question... has it stopped that darned annoying leak??

im referring to the total weight when weighing the trailer axles on a weighbridge. so in esscence you are correct, i just find it funny that you can get away with/get done for overweight just by moving that last few kg from the middle to the front of the trailer some trailers do account for this and the nose weight does vary depending on vehicle but 100kg is (IIRC) one of the higher ratings?

If you load the trailer right you can actually tow a trailer of 3.5T+ just by adjusting where the weight sits. a mate was pulled over to a public weighbridge with a load of bricks on the trailer, the trailer itself if unhitched would weigh more than 3500kg, but as he used his nose-weight allowance to his advantage, a portion of this was transferred onto the rear axle of his landy. he weighed in at 3497 or something over the trailer wheels IIRC. the VOSA man told him that he knew there was more than 3500kg on the trailer but he couldnt be done because of the way this weight was transferred to the towing vehicle. (he had set off from a weighbridge equipped place and used this to balance the load out) he was just told to be careful with the load and sent on his way! this is the same reason that lorries can tow a lot more, because a large portion of the load is put down through the rear axles of the tractor unit, due to the position of the 5th wheel this has a better effect than that of a car which has a tow hitch acting as a cantilever out behind the rear axle, (affecting the steering if not careful) Like So? I had a blowout setting off from the farm to ludlow, i was not leaving the trailer parked up at the side of the road to go missing while i went to get the tyre repaired. (the spare had a nail through it damn builders merchants) so i just pulled the wheel to avoid firther rim damage and continued on my way to the local tyre place albeit more carefully than usual (which is of course very careful when towing) i wasnt heavily loaded, probably only had around a ton of hay on board, and wouldnt like to drive it like that fully laden as it must add a twisting force to the chassis which could affect fatigue etc. but you hear quite often of how a blow out has caused a trailer jackknife occurance, and if you actually look into it, mostly these are twin axles. (you could argue that the shared load of all 3 tyres puts less stress on them overall therefore less chance of any blowouts, and you could argue, that if a third tyre does blow out. the trailer is still going to be pretty stable, especially on low profile tyres. just my 2p

have you looked at P38 mirrors? IIRC they are probably the biggest and might fit fairly simply onto the disco door anyway

cant imagine it being too hard to be honest, might look a litle odd though haha. if its a 200 disco have you considered upgrading the mirrors to the 300/td5 type? these are bigger and IMHO probably stick out as far as a defender one. i have never considered the later disco mirrors too small. although i do agree that the 200 mirrors are a little on the dinky side. what do you use mirrors for anyway? Edit - ignore most of that, i have just read your sig... :doh:

your truck in the USA would use an electronic trailer brake system for towing that amount, not sure its entirely legal to use an electronic trailer brake system in the UK. These electronic systems are adjustable for braking effort depending on the weight you have on the trailer. you would need to run coupled brakes i.e. air or vacuum to tow anything over 3.5t, also i would suspect a C+E liscence (not sure without looking that up) would be required as you CANNOT tow a trailer with a mass of over 3.5T with a standard B+E no matter what anyone says (and some poeple do think they can tow more) can i ask why you need to up plate it? you have to use a larger tow coupler too, the 50mm ball is only rated to 3.5t max! lots of red tape for a vehicle which in one country can tow a load and one can only tow 3.5t

Would love to get his views on the box especially after coming from snap on I have been eyeing up the 42" stack set

Surely that means someone's been in it! I usually find myself organising them when I arrive back to the farm on the Friday, and by the next week a certain father has managed to spread them across the farm! Most frustrating. I spent hours the other week looking for my no.2 copperhyde and then dad said, oh that... Yeah its in the middle of the yard I used it on Tuesday. Grrrrrr!

Ross, I'm a huge fan of tool organisation haha I spent ages sometimes just moving things around in my box, still not big enough. It would be if I took the sockets and spanners out of their presentation trays but they are just so useful and look perrty. Mind, a set of sharks teeth racks would probably save more space but look nice. The idea isn't to have tools.in boxes all over the shop I would prefer all in one but this seemed to be a good solution. Although I do like the idea of all common service tools being ready in the cart to wheel over and go.

That is an extremely smart series one!!!!

i normally go to Brit-Car for my part number search based parts

P.S. i wouldnt mind it if the top drawer was as deep as the top drawer in the halfords rollcab too, then i could fit my 1/2" windy gun in there!!!

Hi All, for a while i have been umming and arring, looking at a larger toolbox to replace my (good, but full, and not manly enough) halfords pro rollcab and topchest. one of the brands that kept popping up over and over again more than any other brand, was US Pro. not to be confused with U.S. General pro, or sealey's American Pro. I had, however never, ever seen one of these toolboxes in the flesh, at any shop or workshop i have ever visited. loads of great ebay reviews, but not even any youtube videos of the brand. The prices seem extremely hard to beat. SO. to cut a long waffle short. i decided to dip my toes in the water by making this purchase - a service cart with a couple of drawers (which is the correct spelling by the way, but still looks massively wrong to me). i wanted a service cart for a while now because i was fed up of doing jobs on opposite sides of the car and then forgetting the tools, or not having enough hands to move them all from one side to the other. i looked for a short while at these on ebay, origionally at those red 3 shelf tin things which IMO would do the job but be very rattly across my very bumpy cattle shed spec workshop floor so something with a bit more quality was a MUST. These go for around £130 on a buy it now, but i got mine in an auction from the same distributor for £80 including shipping- there was a blue one for less but i wanted it in black and DEFINATELY not red as the red on toolboxes just seems to fade so fast. so i got a little over excited towards the end of the auction and ignored the blue one because i didnt want blue, and i wanted it to arrive home before me at the weekend. (i had let one the same go the day before at £97 as i didnt want to pay that) ANYWAY - thats me cutting a long waffle short. I paid up all excited, and got home at the weekend to find it had not arrived, i suspected it may not but was hopeful, meanwhile my £30 brand new engine stand had. but thats a different waffle. but that was a bargain!!! upon opening (the weekend after) i had to assemble it partly. the legs and undertray needed fitting along with the castors and the handle. only 10 mins work. the castors are the hard plastic type and not the greatest ever, also only 2 are swivel which i expected, as thats what most come with, although 4 swivel castors would be nice. - one day i may replace these castors with some decent quality all swivelling castors purely because it will follow me round the workshop and needs to be manouverable but smooth(ish) i dont like unnessecary noise. so some nice soft rubber castors would be good. The drawers (Still doesent look right) have a little catch on the right hand side of each pull, which is really good and there seems to be a rubber buffer behind the drawers so there is always some tension on the catches meaning the actual drawers themselves cant rattle. I really enjoy these features! although they dont come with the thin foam liner like the halfords box did, it did have a rubber mat for the top, which has raised edges (by about 1") which are a great idea as they arent too deep but stop things rolling off!!! ball bearing runners (of course - i cant be dealing with those friction slides they do my nut in!) and it is really sturdy, especially considering the legs and undertray are bolt-on. Pictures: overall view: top view: the catch thing which is awesome: having now removed my 1/2" drive socket set from the very top of my (now pink) top chest, i have a permanent space for my workshop laptop (before i was moving it out the way every time i wanted 1/2" driveness) this now lives in the top drawer of the service cart, along with the drain plug key set and some other tools will follow when i work out what is best living in which box. - waffling again - i drilled a hole, then cut the top out as a slot for my laptop power cable, which i glued a grommet onto so now it is a nice tight fit and cant be "pulled out the laptop" when you inevitably trip over it! (it was wrecking the plug before) im sure you wanted to see that pic!!! and finally, a background pic of it in use. only done an engine stripdown and already LOVE it, and how handy it is to have there as a storage space!

microcat says its this: TDB103520 to VA999999 and : a few different part numbers from then onwards. here is a link to an onlne version of microcat :http://lrparts.net.ru/

Make : SIP Model : Tarde Weldmate T150p How Long have you had it / How old is it : 3 yrs since new Typical Current Price : 375ish Maximum Welding Current (AMPS) : 150 Output at 60% Duty Cycle : unknown - 113a @20% 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 ) : No Argosheild Bottle - max Size that will fit : crappy disposable things 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 : auto wire speed - (does it actually work???) Good Points : portable and once set right can lay some rather nice beads! Bad Points : origionally had wire feed issues with it, new decent liner and gun parts cured this. power settings confusing and too "steppy" no fine adjustment. absolutely DRINKS those little bottles for fun. push fittings on the cheapo regulator leak like a sieve and are THE bane of my life!!! On a scale of 1 to 10 1 being very unhappy with it, and 10 being "Its perfect for me" rate it: 6.5 despite its issues once you get to learn how it works as a welder, it will quite happily do nice jobs, however you will spend more time setting it up for the thickness steel than you will actually welding with it. (this is not me as i can jump on works 3ph rock weld 60 odd year old machine and set up for 0.8-20mm thick steel happily - but that is an absolute beast with an awesome water cooled binzel torch!) as a starter MIG i would say go for something with a power "dial" rather than the 3 inline switches. but learn to adjust your weld to the "closest" possible setting and you can lay some nice beads, flat, uphill or even upside down its not actually bad at all. just bought a slightly older SIP mig same power but bigger and more "proffesional" will post a review when i get a gas bottle for it! the torch lead is surprisingly short though may convert it to a Binzel torch

werent the early coiler (mushroom halfshaft type) wheelbearings designed to run in oil? im sure they were, not that they are any different to the later or earlier series type haha

massively reccommended!!! battery lasts ages super bright and because its bright orange you dont tend to accidentally leave it on the vehicle when you are finished! magnets are super strong too! seen here too: bought a couple of years ago from HGV direct on a whim. certainly worth it miles better than any of the cheap ones was about £40 though edit: looks like just fount it online too! http://randccomponents.co.uk/products/240-vision-high-vis-magnetic-folding-led-inspection-work-light-ehl180r

just learn how to twin stick. majorly advantageous for driving awesomeness, thats what i do! ill try get a vid one day. my overdrive lever is extended to the same height as the main stick too for ultra awesomeness!

surely thats a disdvantage? no?

if only i could afford peggage on my rear diff! im not afraid to mess about with the carrier bearings and backlash but when it comes to the pinion i try to leave well alone if the diff is set right to start with. if i needed to have one completely set up it would be shipped off to mr Nige, along with a few mr bump plasters for him just in case! Edit: i have "lashed" together diffs in the past and none have broken as of yet (well only some of the planet gears but thats a different story) but for putting behind much power and abuse i would want it "right"

doesent RAVE cover the HP22? im sure my copy does, ill check tonight

you will most likely find yourself fitting the overdrive shortly after the diffs anyway if you do a fair bit of motorway driving

70MPH @ 2047MPH seems perfect to me

Welcome, great choice in motor too! any pictures and details on the way?

drilling slower drills faster with a general hand drill like my makita 18v Li ion type thingy i wouldnt really consider drilling a hole in speed 2, always drop it to speed 1. our pillar drill isnt slow enough for anything above 8mm if you ask me too! i avoid cutting pastes or lubricants, but rarely have a problem with drill bits blunting off, but the best thing you can learn if you "share" drill bits with a moron (sorry dad) is how to sharpen them properly! i tend to always tickle a brand new drill bit before first use too. but thats just me.