tony109

[ Biggest problem with them is finding tyres, decent 9.00x16s are scarce and the six stud rim is quite narrow. They look silly on anything smaller tham 35" tyres. I have a Brand new set of 5 9.00x16 NDMS bar grip tyres.. They're made by MRF are of a hard compound so low wear rate.. Im selling them at £95 per cover..

I have a set of Brand new 9.00 x 16 tyres.. These are 35.5" dia but will fit onto standard rims 5.5 - 6.5" wide.. The NDMS bar grip pattern works damn well in the Mud and unlike the wide bog trotters cuts down to the hard ground.. If anyones interested I could sell a set of 5 at £95 per cover.

Keeping the exhaust out of halms way is not that easy with some systems.. The standard exhaust on the series 1 and 2 went underneath the front bulkhead outrigger. The later series 2/3 goes down beside the engine but still dips below the engine xmember, the lowest point and very easy to ground. I passed my down pipe through the bulkhead outrigger.. In this location its been completely safe.. I incorpoarted this mod into my new chassis.. The exhaust exits infront of the rear wheel.. Ive seen exhausts that exit through the rear body and Im sure you can make or have made a body insert.. Look in the LR mags and Im sure you'll find plenty of aftermarket kits or firms offering what you want. But what have you done with the downpipe end.. Does yours pass under or above the engine crossmember?

Polybushes aren't that much easier to change.. Changing the original bonded rubber/steel bushes were very simple to change, and with the tool I made I could draw them out in minutes.. The Deflex bushes were chosen because their fancy advertising gave a price i really liked! The main reason why Deflex bushes were chosen and fitted was on account of having a Galvanized chassis. Fitting bonded rubber bushes would have ment honing out excessive zinc from the bush eyes in the chassis in order to fit them. I was not willing to do that as it would defeat the object of the galvanising. I was not fooled by the fancy colours available either.., although I must say the fancy orange and greace colours do match my finger nails. The RM springs on mine have the bonded rubber bushes in the spring eyes as the spring eyes on the RM springs are unique to the springs. So I had to buy new bushes from RockyMountain for this. Not expensive. Since fitting the bushes Im happy with the ride, which is as good as it was before, and no drastic change noticed. However, Flexing the springs and seeing the bushes unstrained is very reassuring. Axel location is possitive and even though the bush center eyes are not bonded there is no room for the axel to move sideways as it is physically stopped by the spring shackles running on effective thrust bearings on the sides of the chassis bush eyes As I said before, only time will tell what the real advantage with these Polybushes are but for me the advantages have been very clear.

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As standard the pillars are welded to the sills.. The original sills are pretty flimsey items but with the roof support the pillars and sills are tied together.. Without the roof support the doors and pillars would become jelly like.. I have new sills made from 3mil box section and the pillars bolt to these, so both half and full height pillars can be interchanged. The barrel side effect was produced by profiling the shape on the side faces leaving the outer edge to follow the profile shape.. Both bulkhead door pillars are made the same way with the addition of the vent panel angle on the side profile

A bent propshaft will cause the same symptoms.. Mine vibrated at speed, so I checked UJ's etc. The bend was so slight it couldn't be seen on the bench, but was clear to see when the vehicle was moving.. your new prop will be the answer

Those Bearmach bushes look the part.. I'd fit them as only then will you know if the tubes are correct length, etc.. I'd assume they are looking at the pics. The b-frame (b-pillars) in the above pics are bolted to the sills, which are no longer the light 'U' section original, as this had rotted away years ago.. Instead the sills are box section and the Pillars bolt onto this.. As standard the pillars were welded to the sill

The original middle center pillar is full height. With the roof removed the center pillars remained sticking in the air, so didn't look particularly good. I didnt want to cut these pillars, . so I made my own half height pillars. These tie to all the orignal mounting points as well as having a sturdy base which bolts to the center sills. Dispite having no roof support they are rigid in all plains, and the rear doors hang from these. The rear doors are made from a rotten full height rear passenger doors.. The door skins were used and I made new steel Door bottom frames. All steel work has been galvanised along with the original full height pillars which can be easily refitted to the galvanised box section sills when required.

Poly bushes simply press into the chassis by hand.. A steel center tube for the shackle bolt then passes through the center, although this is a tight fit.. The shackles clamp the center tubes tight and any movement made by the shackles will be on the center tube which, unlike the bonded rubber bushes arefree to swing inside the poly bushes.. With lots of spring articulation, Rubber bushes do suffer and are torn where as the polybushes are free to move as required. As the bushes are in two halves, which don't meet in the middle, the gap remaining acts as a grease resovoir for the tube and bushes.. You could make a bolt with a grease nipple and drilled channels, but you'd also have to drill the inner bush tube.. Drilling a sufficiant size oil channel in the bolt could weaken it, 'but it would probably cope' under normal circumstances.. At the end of the day, with the polybushes running on a very smooth steel surface and with the bushes packed full of grease during instalation, this may be the more reliable option.. I did concider drilling to make greasable, but dicided it see how well the 'polys' performed first.

The fact that the center tubes are not bonded would in theory allow them to move sideways in the Bush.. As standard, shorter bush tubes are provided meaning that as soon as the shackles were clamped tight it was the bushes being squeezed before the center tubes were clamped.. The bush flanges would then take all the side ways thrust until they wore away.. Since every time the shackle moves would place a shearing force on the flanges, their life would be limited. Adding longer center tubes means the center tube is clamped tight before the bushes are.. As the New bush tube is 'slightly' longer than the bushes when tight in the chassis this allowed half the thickness of a washer to be sat onto the tube ends each side. When the shackles are tightened to clamp the center tube, the washers pinch the bushes tight in the chassis and act as a rubbing surface between the shackle sides and the bush, and any Sideways thrust, from steering, flexing of the springs etc, is taken between the bush tube in the chassis and bush flanges. Spreading sideways thrust over a large area and should extend the life of the bushes. Front Axel location is solid and should remain so as long as the rears... Only time will tell

Mine are Deflex Bushes also.. I did have to get longer center Bush pins, otherwise the shackles would clamp on the Bush flanges before clamping on the center pins themselves. This leaves the center bush pins are free to turn inside the bushes. I added washers between the swinging shackles and the bushes to prevent cutting by the shackles and spread loads. Polys' should last alot longer than the bonded rubber bushes, but the ride is virtually the same. I went for the poly bush (Deflex) option as with a Galvanized chassis, fitting the original bonded rubber/Steel bushes would have meant honing of the bush tubes in the chassis, and I didn't want to remove any galvanizing and compromise the Zinc protection with rushing steel bush sleaves.

When I mensioned fitting Poly Bushes to the series 2A landrover I was told that this is advised against. Well with the poly bushes I bought i did ned to mak a few minor alteations to the center tube lengths in order to allow the bushes to work as I imagined intended. After a few months running with them and rocky mountain parabolics they have been seen to work very well. So what are the views or experiences had by people who've fitted poly bushes to leak sprung Land rover?