moose

two things you might want to try... make sure the bleed nipples are on top on the wheel cylinders. put a g-clamp on each wheel wheel cylinder and make sure the cylinder is fully compressed while bleeding, This should mean there is no chance of any air in the system. I had the same problem and you describe while helping a friend. it was on a s3 88" with a non-servo assist system. should be the simplest system in the world But I replace every thing shoes, flexes, copper wheel and master cylinder/s, and still could not get a good pedal on the first pump second it stopped a dream. Lots of people had a go at fixing it but never got to work properly my mate then got bored and sold it on ebay.. good luck.. will be watching this thread with interest as to how you get it fixed... Paul

what about this ... okmap looks good but not had the chance to play with it yet... the bit that drew me to it was the "Conversions" tools handy if in a comp the road book throws a distance on a bearing at you

This question is a bit like which wheelbase should my challenge truck be (101 inch BTW ).... Its really down to personal perf i guess, what works from some might not work for others. I use Kam parts in both axles on my truck and i am happy with them. my reasons for using them. One stop shop for my axles every thing cv's, shafts, lockers, ring and pinions all made by them so one phone call for parts support etc... there location is not far from me so i can save on shipping I like the removable diff pan as it gives quick easy access to the diff esp on useful on the front axle. These are just my reasons and at the end of the day arb and kam lockers do the same thing, but iam not sure i would get the same level of support from arb. Last year i did have a go at the TAT in Romania and kam sorted me out with a good sale or return package on any spares i might have needed. With my challenged truck i am not bother about "shouty components" as with the roll cage, chall wings, multiple winches tyres etc.. you hardly notice the axles

Did you check/redo the bushes on hockey sticks? get some one to rock the truck side to side while you check all the bushes you soon see which one/s are the problem as i had a problem like you describe and it was a loose radius arm to axles bolt. would be very surprised if was the lift that was the problem.. might have just helped accelerate wear ... hope this helps.

Mine do at the moment and i guess will stay that way.. Not being a structural engineer i was just idly wondering if having a node where lots of tube meet was weaker than the spacing them out as Nige had done. I am sure it doesn't make any difference in this application, didn't mean to dilute a nice tech write up, some days i think of going tray paul

Nige, Looks very good, strong and neat One question tho i would have terminated the rear stays on the tray where the lower supports also meet the tray. would this be weaker or not matter, just thinking about redoing the rear of my cage. Paul

I have done this lots of times on my drive with no ramp. you will need an engine crane tho... it could be done using trolley jacks but would be real hard work. i have four car ramps of the same size (but have used axle stands) drive it up on and strap the wheels down to the ramps so there is no way the car can roll off. then its a case of center console out, disconnect the prop shafts, hand brake, speedo and wires for diff lock light etc.. Then remove the center of the exhaust. Support the gearboxes using the engine crane through the front doors and down through where the console was. remove the center Xmember then drop the gear box on the crane abit so you can get to all the bell housing bolts, wiggle it free of the engine and drop to the ground. it not that complicated (just follow the haynes's manual ) just work methodically and carefully as the gear boxes together are quite heavy as some ones already said. I think two people who know what there doing could do the whole swap in 6 hours, get a mate to help you and you should be able to do it in a weekend mating the engine back up to the gear box is far easier with two people and while you have the Gear boxes off change the engine rear main oil seal (behind the flywheel) and put a new clutch on. hope this helps

yes both batteries have a common earth.. can be any thing In my case its a cable between the two (and the car main is earthed in the normal way) I have this setup so if loose an alternator i can very quick connect the two batteries in parallel and crack on. I also have setup two battery charge lights for each alternator, they come on with the ing and go off when the alt's start charging. Best to have common earth so you dont end up with 24V some where by mistake

Does this help? Its a disco 200tdi (engine ). I machined up a bracket to hold the alternator, and all the other bits eg the extra parts (tho would not be too hard to make) like the idler pulley came from an disco with air con. I not a sparky But from what i understand you can not have two alternators charging the same battery, for long periods of time, unless both alternators are perfectly matched output, speed etc.. they end up competing with each other and one will cook. I have two batteries each with its own alternator. One battery is for the winches the other is for the rest of the car. The alternators are standard 75 amp disco ones both charge at 14 and bit amp. (I have volt meter that i can swtich between the alternators). Very pleased with the set up works a treat for what i need and gives me redundancy.

Needed studs in my tyre's today Not snow here in the forest this morning but freezing rain.. diff lock and low range was the only way to slow the truck down. if you touch the brakes round you go It was like people had magnets on there cars.. watched a few just slide into each other.. just up the road from where i am a lorry went into the front of the local pub was going there for lunch, but would be a bit cold sitting at the bar now. In fact walking was just if not harder than driving. be safe every one and Merry Christmas.

Morning PB my thoughts Fueling? Do TD5s have a lift pump? also did you check the sedimenter after the laneing trip where things got abit wet could be full of ice... if its any consolation my is 300 doing almost the same thing takes quite a few turns to get it to just catch..

Following on from other thread (and not want to pollute that further ) about anti virus software which has got me thinking.. Is there any one here that uses a liunx base system for navigation? as far at i can see there are only a few options of GPL sofware. Two that i have started having a look at are "gps drive" and "viking". The reason for looking at linux is the you can pick up very cheap second had netbooks (linux versions), in fact probably get 3 for the price of some old creaky tuffbook job. these netbooks also have solid state drives and the linux os could be striped right down giving more rooms for maps etc... There are i guess going to be some skilled IT people on the forum so i thought i would see what (or if) had been done.

nope not natively.. and taking this even further OT noggy as its "Ubuntu" what do you run on car pc. its just for multimedia or mapping?

Name any widespread Linux malware threat? the danger is when people leave there linux box open to attack and get it cracked... ---- This is getting way OT (but hey its friday) so i will leave the windows/linux bunfight there

The best way not to get viruses is not to use windoze in the first place.. But if you must then i would vote.. Avast! antivirus and the windoze defender (free from microsoft) as this can give you a really good in depth view of what process are running so if you think you might have some spy wear running its easy to spot.

Be very careful getting "cheap" winch rope of ebay as i have see some snap very quickly... there is probably going to be a time that you will end up with your truck hanging by it and in those situations you dont want to be let down. I consider rope as a consumable and an important bit of kit that needs looking after.

that would be telling but here's a spy shot of his truck just a touch smaller than my team mates transport last year... powered by a 200TDI of course are you going to enter?

Its a week later in July than last year...so It will clash with the Billing show If the registrations were any thing like last year try and get in early, as the "extreme" class was over subscribed Hopefully this time round i will get a few more days of actual competitive driving A lot of lessons learnt last year so looking forward to another crack at it.

Yes but in the time it takes that truck to climb a massive cliff,rock etc.. more "normal" trucks would have found another route and be two pages further on in the road book My truck works out about 101" wheel base and is on 35" tyres and 90 truck cab body, having a wheel as close as it can get to each conner of the truck makes for a very stable machine. very good approach and departure angles. I do some times get hung up due to the break over angle, but taller tyres, a re-design of the rear link mounts and good belly skid should sort this.. just my 2 pence worth..

Just thought i would drag this thread up again in case any one was interested... I see that see now some one sells theses link to the devon 4x4 website for the use in custom suspension link joints guessing they are imported as there is only one size and its a imperial....

Thats bad luck and lucky every one was ok, Wurz(el)burg to me sounds like it should be a place in Somerset traveled this road towing 3(ish) tonnes this summer to Eastern Europe didnt find it that bad sat at 55 on the cruse.. What got me was the constant amount of traffic same at 3:30 in the morning as 3:30 in the afternoon... oh and the 1/2 euro charge if you want to have a pee at the services

How is your current winch earthed? when you say it would not put you out of the ditch was the winch stalling out? any smoke or was the motor warm/hot to touch? does the winch feel "normal" under no load, no grinding ill sounding noises etc .. a bigger battery will only help so much what are the amp ratings on the cables to the winch motor? does sound like you were a bit stuck did you try a double line pull with your winch?

Tony, Quick question How are you going to wire the batteries? I have a twin alt setup on a 200 tdi (disco engine type) comp truck running two Numax CXV-X 1000 Amp batteries, three winches, electric lockers and spot lights etc.. wried all the winches to one battery with is own alt , and the car, lockers, lights etc.. all run off the other battery with its own alt. Both batteries have a common earth. found that i couldn't use both alternators to charge both batteries at the same time, because unless they are perfectly matched, they compete and one will cook. I am happy with my setup at the moment as it gives a good redundancy if one alt gives up it's a case of unplugging it and patching the batteries together until you get back to service/camp and it can be swapped out. I have one volt meter on a switch so i can keep an eye on the output of both alternators. Will try and take some pics for the thread. paul

Don't trialers use them because the wider front axle gives a better (than an older standard axles) turning circle? I am probably wrong but i remember hearing it some where maybe from a bloke down the pub

Hi, what type of warn is it? have a read here A thread on the subject and here should help....