tony109

The 2.25 diesel, depending on its current performance, can be made to perform better. Swapping the 2.25 for a later 2.5NA engine would hardly be worth the effort, as it produces little more power or torque. But the biggest disadvantage is with the later 2.5 engine is its rubber timing belt. Instead, I'd look at improving the 2.25. Injection timing can make the most difference. Wear in the bush below the pump, the scew gear and in the timing chain will add up to a great loss. Replace the timing chain alone could make a big difference. The injection timing can also be advanced by turning the fuel pump on its three mounting studs. One way advances, the other retards. If the engine has been got at in the past, you'll probably find the pump is Hard Up against the slots holding the pump. This is were a well hidden Bronze bush that suports the fuel pump could be partly to blame. But for further advance and finer tuning, the camshaft drive wheel can be removed, then rotated on the splines, to gain/lose a few degrees. . I suggest you look at a detailed workshop manual and it'll give you all the details you need. Of course pistons, rings, valve seats and ensuring sufficient fuel is reaching the engine is a good start.

Use a water proof grease, stern tube greace is ideal.. Sorry or the late reply

The axels are stamped MOWOG. The diff and banjo are Sherpa. So the front axel is a narrowed rear case with flanges for the swivel housings to bolt to. The actual swivels themselves could well be Dana items, they're not land Rover, although some vital land rover parts fit. The Salisbury axels fitted to some landrovers are again Dana Items. Dana Salisbury. The American Dana 60 axel is very similar to the Salisbury axel. Diffs are the same/similar, which is why American Detroit Lockers can be fitted to Salisbury axels. Salisbury/Dana axels were used for a number of British cars during the 50s/60's, Jaguars, etc used. So Dana could well have been supplying axels to BMC.

On the 4wd sherpa Im referbing at the moment, I found the letters N.A.M on the cast aluminium transferbox carrier. I tried to find out what these letters stood for. Like MOWOG being a BMC term, I looked on the Austin Rover web site, etc. without success. Returned back to this thread and saw 'NEWTON ABBOT MOTORS'. Sounds like THE ANSWER.. Thanks for that. I wonder if they're still around? The axels are not Land Rover, though the front swivels Im glad to say use the Ralco bush, tapper roller bearings as used on the landrover. Also the Swivel oil seals are the larger series 3 type. Shims, kings pins etc are also easily sourced Land rover items. The front axels use CV jointed halfshafts, so steering lock is very good. The Dana 300 transfer box used has a good reputation. It was used in 70's/ 80's jeeps, International scouts, etc and has a repution as a strong box. A huge choice of parts and aftermarket upgrades are available. The stock 2.6:1 low ratio, while quite reasonable for most, can be upgraded to 4:1 using a 'Tera low' aftermarket gearset. I'd love such an option available for the Land rover.

The concept of fitting sticky tyres to a 101, so that it drives and handles like an average modern car is at complete odds with the point of owning a 101, or classic vehicle in the first place. Its not the 9.00x16 bar grips that are dangerous but the attitude of the idiot behind the wheel.. If you need to drive with caution it means your aware of the vehicles limits. If a drift occures at low speed it is easy to control. All tyres come unstuck eventually so if the stick is lost at 60 instaed of 30 how can that be safer? You'll not be aware of the lack of grip until it catches you out, and at higher speed you'll have a much less time to react. So dont knock the bar grips on saftey grounds. If you drive with understanding and respect any tyre is safe in any condition.

The galvanise coating becomes sacrifical when steel corrodes.. If rust starts the galvanise depletion will spread

You need to hold the bushes firmly in the chassis and then press the center pins in.. Poly bushes prevent the need to ream the bush eyes in the chassis to remove the galvanise.. You'd need to remove most of the galvanize from the chassis bush eyes in order to fit the standard bonded rubber bushes.. An option I would not advise

If you drive off road side steps are vulnerable from being wrecked.. A Land Rover is hardly tall enough to really need them anyway?

Take what ever option you like, but as with most things its probably quicker and easier to do the job properly.. Cutting the floor out is surely a harder job than unbolting the body, keeping all things on one piece. Plus all the chassis will be exposed and easy to work on.. The rear SW tub is a solid unit the size of a SWB tub.. Lift it off and everything can be got at. With the tub in place and just the floor out, you could end up working by feel and unable to weld at the angle you need.. We all know you can by off the self 1/4 and half chassis, and I didn't suggest you made it yourself, but It did because I could.

Years ago I had the same problem.. Triyng to get to the chassis with bodywork in place is impossible.. I have a 109 SW and once the roof is off the rear tub is a large one piece affair and it didnt take that much time to do.. I then found the rot went much further and I had to re make the entire rear 1/4. I fabricated the chassis legs and rear x member.. Basically the problems were bigger than expected, but with the chassis exposed, all the rot could be cut away and repaired properly. The same rotten chassis once properly repaired lasted me a further 10 years and included a drive to Kazan in Russian and another drive to Syria in that time, before I went for a new Gal chassis

================================================================================ ========== Think of the situation first.. Add longer shackles to the rear of the front springs, with a standard chassis, you will increase the castor angle with the front axel king pins having a greater possitive castor and better self centering.. this will result in a better steering feel. If you do want to alter the castor angle with wedges, once you have the correct angled wedge, theres nothing to stop you from tacking the wedges to the axel case.. adding wedges to reduce the castor angle may help Prop shaft angles but the angle you'll have will not be beyond what the standard yokes can deal with . If you fit 9.00 tyres, you wil reduce your steering lock, but fitting off set rims or even worse, wheel spacers to deal with this will cause you further problems. King pins, wheel bearing will suffer, body work will fowl and your steering will become much heavier and kick back at every bump on the road... Dont do it.. If you want 9.00's Go for narrow 9.00 x 16s and you'll have light steering, good lock and the ground clearance you want.. Plus no bodywork fouling Oh FWH are very useful and I have benefitted many times from having them.. Used correctly they are a god send.

I haven't seen the whole picture of what he has done, but it appears that if the axel drops low enough his tramp bar will foul the steering damper... remove the damper is the best solution to that.. The axel case backets will soon tear the axel casing if the less then perfect geometry has to rely on the flex between axel and springs.. Have any of you checked the axel seats on the spring are flat and wide enough? Its typical for slight movement to have made the edges round. Weld Slightly wider saddles to the axel giving more support on the spring.. You do want as close to perfect geometry as you can get, or if there has to be a compromise, support the axel on somthing more solid than the light wall of the Axel Casing.. Support the axel on the spring plates which are heavy enough to repeatedly take the strain.. The axel Casing isn't up to it.

From your picture.. when the axel drops It looks as though you anti wrap bar will fowl on the steering damper.. The range of movement you have will be very limited..

Well it looks the part, but what does it fit to at the front.. How does your anti tramp bar allow the axel to move backwards? It looks to me that it will work well while the springs are not compressed, but when you want the springs to flex, you'll be forcing the axel to rotate on its springs seats putting a great deal of tension on the 'anti wrap' bar and the mountings, which will effectivly stop the suspension from working beyond a curtain point, and will strain everything. When the spring is compressed, the spring center bolts - to spring eye distances increases and decrease, aswell as the fact that the axel moves backwards in an arc around the spring shackles as the springs compress.. The only fixed point is the front spring hanger eyes. The axel can still move away from these when the springs flatten. None of the anti wrap bars Ive seen on here allow for this movement and so will cause a bigger problem than the original axel tramp they were trying to cure.. Perhaps if you had a damped link between the top of the axel and the front or rear spring eye you could allow all the movement required and dampen the effect of axel tramp.. If you look at whats available for the Custom/Drag racing cars, where axel Tramp is a problem with leaf springs, you may find an off-the-shelf idea to buy or copy. Because there are many variable changes in geometry with leaf sprung set up, making a fixed anti tramp bar will need careful thought.. Remember Simplicity is still the ultimate sophistication..!

You must be on another planet if you can spend 5 hours attacking the realay with a lump hammer and damageing the crossmember in the process.. With credentials like that, you now recommend the scientific, By your book, method of loose bolts, a bit of oil, a drive down the road and Hope? Ill leave you and Rusty the Clown to it. Good luck

You can buy shim steel in a roll from a Fasteners shop or similar.. however I think this method is crude and difficult to sort when installing, hence why I machined a collar.

The bottom plate is only a Mud shield, but I have replaced this Mud shield with a much heavier and correctly machined collar that properly holds and locates the relay at the bottom.. Therefore it is a better solution of holding the relay in place, and no need to shime the base of the relay as is intended.

I think my point was missed.. The relay will press out of the chassis, even if stuck provided the jack or press is held in place against the vehicle.. As most people dont want to hack out their chassis or convert to a new steering arrangement, fixing what you have is the name of the game.. e.g Secure the jack underneath the vehicle with a bridal, so not to Bug.er up the crossmember, and this way the vehicle cannot raise or move away from the jack. All the force is placed on the relay. I never suggested whacking it with a hammer, this causes damage. The amount of force you can apply will be far greater than that caused by driving it around or Steering at standstill which will also strain steering joints before taking much effect on the relay.. FWIW:rolleyes., My vote is to repair what you have and do the job correctly. Series steering can be very good when correct and you dont have to hack out the chassis or convert to PAS each time you need to replace the steering Relay

With a capstan using a block a tacle will muliply the pull many times and reduce the load on the winch. Land rovers Range Rovers used for the 1971ish Darien Gap expedition used Capatan winches, So they can be/were used for recovery as well as any other jobs required

As the relay sits in a larger hole, how have you located your relay??? Have you used shims or something else? The point Im making about removeing a Relay with a Jack or press arrangement is that the weight of the vehicle is not enough to allow jacking from underneath.. You need to prevent the vehicle from raising away from the jack, so Use a HEAVY DUTY sling, strop,etc around the relay crossmember and the relay can be carefully pressed out the chassis.. The 'Driving down the road with all the bolts undone' method isn't in the early workshop manual.

Capstan winches are not popular with the new Rav off road set.. But as for the max pull.. If you use blocks and good rope you can multiply the pull to as much as you need.. Doing this with a drum winch isnt as simple.. With a capstan you dont have to carry weighty steel rope on a drum around with you when not in use.. Steel rope can fray, then becomes sharp and dangerous especialy if you catch a glove in it, (no gloves should be worn for this reason) and if you dont correctly feed the rope back onto the drum this causes further chance of rope damage.. A capstan winch is easily controlled, but if you havent used before is not as simple as the more fool proof drum winch.. I prefer a capstan winch myself and as it spends 99% of the time not in use Im not needlessly carrying a heavy winch drum.

Axel tramp really isn't that much of a problem on my vehicle, thats with 9.00 tyres and parabolics. When climbing loose steep inclines there can be an element of hop but nothing that would make the inclusion of anti tramp bars necessary.. I assume 'fridge' has portal axels fitted.. Is this a portal hub, added to the landrover axels or are these portal axels off a volvo 303 or similar? With Portal axels there will be additional leverage around the spring seat leading to a more noticable amount of tramp. I made new axel seats, as the original axel seat edges had started to 'Round', so even with the U bolts tight, play could still take place potentially allowing the axel to roll slightly. Firstly with standard landrover axels/parabolics I do not see the need for anti tramp bars.. Even with 35" tyres on mine it has not been a problem.. If you fit Portal axels and 37" tyres as 'Fridge' appears to have, then this mod would be more of an issue.. If you dispenced with the "anti wrap" bars completly and went for slightly wider axel/spring seats would this be enough to reduce the spring wrap effect? If you really want to go the anti tramp bar route, the amount of fore and arft movement the axel makes can be conciderable especially when fitted with longer spring shackles.. Standard shackles will reduce this effect, so you could get away using two straight tubes pivoting from the axis of the front spring eye, then back horizontally to the top of the axel case, using the spring plate mountings to give you a solid fixing point and if you used a shock eye arrangements with bushes, any changes in geometry could be allowed for. There must be many arrangements easily found on the net

I can see the S shape is a result of 'spring wrap' but I question the quality of the spring.. For a correctly tempered spring to bend like that I would expect it to crack long before.. Then again, if you go past a springs elastic limit it will then become malleable so if you are using low rate springs for soft ride and maximum travel they will eventually flatten or bend into an S shape instead of resisting Axel wrap. The standard land rover Leaf spring front/rear suspension design is a very simple conventional design and works very well at locating the axels in place.. Unlike designs with front mounted shackles the rear mounted shackles are done to give better steering reaction on the road. With front mounted shackles, as the vehicle leans while cornering at speed this causes the leaning side of the axel to move forward, effectively increasing the turn-in on the front wheels.. The opposite effect happens with the rear mounted shackles, as the leaning side of the axel to moves back slightly, reducing the effective steering angle, so working as a kind of fail safe for high speed road use.. One on the best, simplest designs for axel location is Fords transverse leaf spring method.. An A frames locates the axel and a transvers semi eliptic spring provides the absorbsion

Your almost there.. A Jack, a tube to press the relay out... So what happens when you try and jack the relay out??? You simply jack the vehicle up, Right??? What you now need is a way of keeping the vehicle held down as you jack up.. The weight of the vehicle is not enough to Press the relay out. The safest way of doing things is.. Soak oil around the relay the night before then press the relay out with your jack, a suitable tube and a chain or strop around the chassis to prevent the vehcle from lifting as you jack up. My relay simply drops into the chassis and is then correctly locked and located with a collar ensuring there is no relay movement in the chassis.. If needing to be removed, Ill undo the collar and bolts and the relay will simply lift out by hand..

If you look at the WW2 Willys MB jeep it was fitted with anti-tramp bars as standard. I have 9.00 tyres and when they spin, they did use to cause noticable axel tramp with my the original Multi leaf springs., But this effect has been reduced with the parabolics.. I have found many cracked leaves during the time I had multi leaf springs.. The original multi leaf springs are easier to manufacture, compared with parabolic springs.. Parabolic springs vary in crosssection so in theory should be less prone to cracking from concentrated loading.. If they are made correctly, surface peening prevents lines of stress forming and will help to reduce the risk of cracking, correct tempering will allow the spring to retain their arch and resist bending.. From the S shaped spring picture to the Cracked leaf shown, this suggests that some vital flaws in the heat treatment and variables in the steel used has to be concidered. Remember theres a fine line in heat treatment between tempering and hardening.. If the steels alter slightly in their material and composition it would be very easy to over harden when tempering or not evenly temper the material at all.. This why we see examples of a cracked springs, they've been overharded, and a banana shaped spring which is soft and is below the state of being tempered, It hasnt been treated enough. Those springs should be covered as a fault in manufacture otherwise it becomes very expensive.