ldtopham

Try David Holmes Coaters, Treefield Industrial Estate,Gildersome Gelderd Road,Morley, LEEDS, LS27 7JU Tel: 0113 2527663 I had him quote me last week for x4 ex military 6.5J steels blasting and coating. £120 all in was his price. I have used him for many parts in the past and he has always done a very good job. If you have already blasted them, then you should get it done even cheaper. HTH, Lee PS. I can't help on the PAINT options

Terry has a couple of 235/85/15 AT2's in stock and expecting more soon. He was the best value also at £90+ Vodka And Tonic. I have found another supplier who has plenty but I would end up payying delivery on top of £110 per tyre. I enquired about the rims at VASS and they require tubes, so; x4 tyres at £423 fitted and balanced, all in. x4 Michelin Airstop tubes £30 x4 6.5J steel rims £134 inc delivery Blast and powder coat the above rims £130 Total for a refurbed set of rims = £717 That's a lot of brass to keep it looking Defender like! I may have to consider a set of repro Boost alloys after all What kind of price would I expect to fetch for my v.good 5.5J's with Avon Rangemasters fitted?

Cheers, I'll drop them a line this morning.

Thanks Ralph. Any one in the West Yorkshire area tha can recommend a decent 4x4 tyre fitter?

So potentially I may have an issue in that tubes may be required to seal the rims and the tyres I'm looking at may be too coarse on the internal surface for use with tubes?

Thanks Ralph. I've just searched and I don't think the At2's are available in 255? The extra dia can only be a good thing as far as clearance goes? Is it the rim design that permits the use of tubes or the tyre design, and should or shouldn't I run tubes?

Now I know this subject has been done to death and I have done a good search for previous recomendations and views. I am looking to replace my rims with something similar but with a much improved tyre. I am not bothered for the original Boost alloy style and much prefer the steel white rim that is common to a lot of Defenders. Current spec; Current vehicle 1997 300tdi Defender 110 CSW. 5.5Jx16 (dated 2002) LR steels with 7.50 Rangemasters fitted. Bearmach TuffBack dampers and HD springs all round. I'm looking for a decent all round tyre. I do a little off roading, and about 5000 tarmac miles per year. I would keep the Rangemasters and 5.5J rims and I also have another set of steel rims with Continental tyres that I could use through the summer if better suited. I would like to know if there are any problems that I have overlooked with the use of the following such as backspacing, body work clearance, tyre avaialbilty etc: I am considering: x4 6.5J 1 ton steel rims (Vass) to blast and powder coat x4 General Grabber AT2's (If I can get hold of any) The questions are: Would the AT2 235/85/16 be best suited or should I be looking at an alternative size such as 255/85/16? Will the 6.5J 1 tonne rim cause me any fitment problems? Will I notice any difference over the Rangemasters? If anyone has any 6.5J steels that they are looking to sell or maybe deal on 5.5J's please get in touch or even a set of AT2's. Cheers guys.

They sound just like what I was looking for . I hope you find what you need. If not please post a reply with your findings to warn other DIY'ers of the potential £££ for aiming to do a job thoroughly Cheers,

The old adage 'buy cheap, pay twice' rings true in this case! £50 down on carp parts and now a trip to LR Dealers in the morning to spend probably another £50 Thanks for the reply.

........a decent quality water pump for my 300tdi Defender. This is the 2nd pump to fail on me within 5000ml. I drove home tonight with no alt, power steering and more importantly no coolant flow. I stopped every 1/2ml to let the temp drop before making the final 2 mile home. This was supposed to be an 'uprated' pump. The supplier has not been true to their word so I will not be going back to them for a third time. Who sells or what brand is a quality item? Regards, Lee Pics here; http://s645.photobucket.com/albums/uu178/ldtopham/?action=view&current=DSCN6115.jpg

Mo, Is it the rear calipers? I ask because I split one of mine when refurbing them last year and could not get the seals from anywhere. Mine were the ruber cylindrical type and not o'rings. I ended up buying a replacement caliper from Keith Gott and retro fitting stainless pistons to the new caliper. The cylindrical seals were used on my 1997 110 Defender 300tdi original rear Lockhead calipers. I didn't split the other 3 after the finding of no replacement seals. If yours are defintely o'ring type seals ignore all the above. Regards, Lee

In case it is of help to anyone else I have now sorted this problem. It was the the seals within the master cylinder. I put a genuine seal and primary piston kit in the original master cylinder as the bore was good. A 1 hr job. It now drives great again. Thanks for you assistance. Lee

Ay, summet like that

Reet then, after tha's teckin whippet ahht in them there fields al get a seal kit sorted tha naas and hopefully Bob's your fathers brother

AFAIK it is the original MC. There are still what appear to be factory witness marks on the brake fittings to it. I'll check the cap too in fact I may have a new spare one that I can swap out. I re-flushed and bled the system again on Friday. I also checked that the rear pistons were free to compress back in to the calipers. The idea there was that maybe I had fitted the wiper seal retaining rings a little to deep and causing stiction to the piston. It wasn't the case and all is well there. I really need to study some schematics of the MC and servo operation to decide where to start after the cap vent check. The servo or pedal have not been adjusted in anyway. It may be some carp got pulled through the MC when pulling the new fluid around. I did the clutch fluid on Friday, it was 'as black as the fire back'

Following my original post http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?app=forums&module=post&section=post&do=reply_post&f=9&t=46210&qpid=424593 I have further diagnosed the fault. From cold the brake pedal feels good. After approx 2 miles of steady driving on applying the brakes the pedal feels a little firmer, after a good few miles on a couple of occasions it becomes so firm that the brakes start to grab without any pedal effort and the pedal is right at the top. It appears to be the rear brakes that are causing the problem. If it is a wet day then the symptoms occur much earlier and I can actually hear the pads starting to contact the discs followed by high resonance screeching. Here is what I have done prior to the fault: 1. All calipers removed and cleaned up. 2. All discs and pads replaced for new Mintex items. 2. Replaced all the caliper pistons for a stainless set inc new seals 3. Bled the system/ replaced the manky fluid. 4. Wheel bearings were replaced too. Adjusted correctly with a dti. I went to my local motor factors this weekend and noted that there are 2 different Mintex pads for the Landrover Defender. Both share the same mounting pad dimensions but the pad is 14.5mm on one set and 18mm on the other. The set listed on my receipt are the correct number for my model and year but I'll physically check the dims tonight in case the box set I used was incorrectly sent. This is my next check to see if I have the thicker pad fitted. After that I'm stabbing in the dark. The servo test is fine (ie deplete vacuum start up pedal drops a little) and the vacuum pump has a healthy draw on the feed line. The NRV works ok and the hoses are in good condition between the servo and v pump. Any pointers? I'm wondering if the master cylinder has a fault which is not letting fluid return correctly and slowly allowing the pressure to build up with each application of the pedal and driving distance? Anyone had anything similar or ideas? After the above works we did approx 800 miles with no problems, only the morning after the return motorway journey did this fault appear?? Thnaks in advance.

I have another vehicle which has high cranking amps (6ltr V8 high compression American motor) and as the price difference wasn't huge for the amount of cable I needed just went belt and braces approach. I fitted 70mm2 flexible cable and never have had any supply or voltage drop problems. For a pure battery isolator (not for isolating a running engine) I can recommend the Durite Part No. 0-605-20 designed to cope with 500 amps for 5 seconds. It also has a removable proper cut key. again I've run one of these without problem on the same vehicle with 70mm2 cable.

I think your spot on with the adventure journey's as I don't think it will see a great deal of off road work whilst I own it but either way the kids and the missus love it and as I'm into all things mechanical it gives me an excuse to get out the house an into the workshop on a regular basis! I had the foresight to add x3 12v power sockets before we set off so the kids were set up for DVD's and the DS console........don't know how we'd have lasted 6 hours on the journey without those in any vehicle!

I just had a week away with the Defender and it was faultless. However the morning after my return when I got in it to do yet another tip run the brake pedal had more than twice the travel I previously had. It wouldn't pump up but didn't go to the floor. I checked underneath for any signs of leaks as I recently replaced the brake fluid and caliper pistons/seal. There were no leaks. As I still had a pedal I gave it a drive and withing a quarter of a mile the pedal was back. While the travel was excessive I didn;t need any extra pressure to acheive the previous braking performance and it held firm all be it with more travel? It remained fine the rest of the day, 2 days later and I had the same symptoms. This time I held the brake pressure as I started the engine and didn't feel the usual drop in pedal pressure associated with a fully working servo? By the time I got to the end of the drive it was back normal again? I have checked wheel bearings as I replaced all these recently too, the brakes are new Mintex discs and pads with about 1000ml on them. I have checked the vacuum pump hose and there doesn't seem to be any splits etc. Any ideas. I'm hoping it's going to be a cheaper fix than the rest of the recent work I have carried out It has always happened after reversing back into the drive but I can't think this would be the cause of anything other than engine rock???confused?? Cheers,

Well, just returned from an excellent week away in Somerset. The Defender didn't miss a beat, not one issue. Considering the amount of work I had done prior to this little jaunt I was well chuffed. It had all the ingredients of a disaster waiting to happen, wife, 3 kids under 4yr and the mother-in-law meant any hiccups would be the least of my troubles I managed to fill the rear to the roof with kit and also half the NATO roof rack. Cruised at 65mph no worries, EGT's never went above 608 deg c (bit of room for pump tuning) and returned 21.7mpg when laden. Did a total of 800miles in the week and had a blast. The Exmoor seats made a big difference to the comfort in the rear I fabricated a step for the mother-in-law to manage getting in and out with(she has mobility problems and there was no way she was getting in with the standard step) to save on having to take two vehicles and that worked great, you can just see it in one of the pics. HD springs may be the order of the day as it's too soft as it is. Since returning home I have acquired a new fault which I will start a separate thread about. Oh and I do seem to have one serious problem.......there doesn't appear to be any leaks any more is this normal Looks like my little Audi may be up for sale soon as the LR now has it's seal of family approval and is loaded up again tonight awaiting tommorows tip run! I haven't asked a lot of questions in my short time on this site but have gleaned plenty of good info using the search facility. Many thanks, Lee

If it's any use I recently measured the current draw when cranking my 300tdi (summer weather) just short of 400amps.

I thought I would just note that I have had some excellent service from The Huddersfield Land Rover Centre today I've had my Defender nigh on 3 months now and have gone through allsorts of repairs and modifications carried out by yours truly. After overhauling the front and rear brakes/ swivels/ bearings/ drive members/halshafts etc etc, changing cambelt, de-coking cylinder head, rebuilding brake calipers, re-build turbo, remove egr, t/c manifold, fit new wheels, underseal chassis, fit galv roofrack, fit 12v power sockets, paint wheel arch eye brows,fit new carpets (a little embarrassed as I know they're a bit sofftie for a real LR!), Exmmor seats, fabricate a steps suitable for disabled entry to the passenger front sea but to name a few jobs I've done ........Mid week this week my steering box dropped it's guts . I found a recon the same day and finished fitting it last night, on the drive in the dark......set off to work to give it a 6 mile shakedown this morning as I been down to the wire on getting it completed only to describe what could be best described as towing a bag of spanners behind me type noise. I phoned the HLRC at 15:00 to check that they had a couple of front prop U/J's in stock as this was all I could find after re-checking all the abvious. I promptly raced over to get them. As time was real short and I wasn't sure that this was the only source of noise (sure it wasn't but they were in dire need of replacement) they found time to change them out for me. I took it for a quick drive and the noise was still there. At this point most of the mechanics had gone home and locked the place up. Without any issues the chaps still left got my Defender back on the ramps and took the rear wheels off. All we could find was slack fitting pad retaining pins. We tire wrapped between the 2 to diagnose if they were chattering and after a quick drive down their lane all was well. I got home and fitted a spare kit I had and all is now perfect. I have always done all my own work on my vehicles and as I was so pressed for time and needed to diagnose any further issues felt like the Huddersfield Land Rover Centre came up trumps. Thank you to Mark and Michael (I think it was Michael ) Now ready to fully laden it for our hols in the morning! BTW I have no connection just felt they deserved a mention. Lee

I bought the same set. I couldn't find cheaper elsewhere. I measured the dimensions to the an original set I had and they were identical. I replaced all the seals for genuine items. I have the front set fitted and working fine, the rear set have just been built up this afternoon. Purchase at least 4extra wiper seal retainer rings as you will damage at least 1 whilst fitting the new seals.

Quick update if it's any use to anyone else: All accessories turned off = 0.1amp current draw (radio memory/ clock) Arm the alarm = 5.3 Amps Alarm sounds horn/ siren and indicators flashing 14.2 Amps Ign on 42Amps reducing to 30 Amps over glow plug heater time. After heater relay times out 2.5 Amps with Ign on. Crank/Ign =394 Amps Interior light draws 1 Amp I measured on the battery positive cable beneath the passenger seat. So for the battery isolator bypass fuse I reckon a 20Amp fuse will do just fine. The radio memory, clock, alarm (activated) will all sound without tripping the fuse and as soon as another accessory is turned on or Ign is turned on the fuse will break. I know this isn't the best line of defence and could easily be worked around but every little helps

I've borrwed a clamp meter from work and will measure the current draw with the alarm armed and with it sounding with everything else switchwed off. The interior light and radio memory feed are the only other accessories I can think of that will draw current through my bypass. If I inadvertantly tried to start the vehicle without turning the main supply on I guess removing the cover to the repalce the 20amp fuse would soon prove annoying. With this in mind I am going to fit an inline fuse to a location that is easy for me to access, not so obvious for others and hopefully less than the 20amp rating of the one you mention....I'll know tonight when I have metered the battery cable. Thanks.