dailysleaze

It's relatively easy actually. You can lever it out easy enough. Getting it back in is harder but you just need some cord. Another person is helpful to apply pressure More here: http://www.landroverexpedition.com/technical/assembling-the-td5-rear-door/

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=16541&view=findpost&p=170104

Interesting. Thanks Diff I hope it hasn't jumped these...

Well it passed today after a weekend of lying in puddles angle grinding upside down for 5 hours and 2 trips to Halfords. Everything fine except that the steering wheel is oddly 45 degrees off horizontal to the left when the wheels are straight. I'm 99.99% certain I put the drop arm on the right splines, as it'd have to be 90 degrees out to fit the master splines. I don't know whether this would translate to 45 degrees at the steering wheel. All I can think is the steering wheel may have jumped a couple splines when I initially tightened the drop arm nut and realised all that was holding it was the steering lock - then put the drag link on to brace it. Or the panhard rod may have settled in a slightly different place when it was put back on. causing the axle to be in a different alignment in relation to the chassis

The Disco drop arm has hole so that you can fit a normal ball joint from above that screws into the end of the drag link. The only thing is that Discos don't have a steering damper, so there are adapations to be able to bolt a bracket onto the drag link to fit a steering damper for a Defender. Personally i'd prefer to leave it standard. If i copper grease the drop arm splines and keep the ball joint boot in good nick then it shouldn't really be a problem again. More details here: http://forums.lr4x4....?showtopic=8641 and here http://forums.lr4x4....showtopic=70399 My new drop arm arrived today and the boot on the ball joint pre-installed looks cheap as chips. I may swap it with the Britpart one that I already fitted that looks better quality!

Thanks for your help guys. I've come across this thread which explains what Diff was talking about very well - the press fit lip: http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=28361&st=40 I know the previous owner replaced the joint about 4 years ago. God knows what happened to the lip. A lovely bodge. So new a arm it is seeing is mine fairly worn.- Cutting I think will be my method rather than trying to whack or pull it

Thanks That photo was the "before". I've since replaced the ball joint and it's fine - it's just that the boot hasn't stayed down when the joint articulated, so has failed again. I'm particularly curious that there's no lip on my drop arm but there is in the tech archive photo. If there should be a lip, then i'll buy a new drop arm (groan). If it's supposed to be like that, then I'll plug away at trying to get the boot to stay down.

I've had an MOT fail on the drop arm ball joint, and now a retest fail because the boot on the new ball joint hasn't stayed on. Looking at the drop arm, it doesn't have a lip like the one in the tech archive to hold the ball joint seal on securely. Is mine knackered or just a different type? Mine Tech archive

I bought my pistons from them and they're good. I also got genuine seal kits separately. The story of the seals is here: http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=71627. I split the calipers also and used their gallery seals and red rubber grease. I've heard you shouldn't use petroleum based products/degreasers and should only use brake cleaner(!) or meths on any part of the braking system.

I think it was mostly because they were going to donate and leave the support vehicles in Russia afterwards, so they needed to be Russian spec to be domiciled. Lots of people drive across Russia in a diesel and i'm sure a DPF could handle several months. Having said that, i'm not sure i'd do it in a brand new vehicle anyway.

The breather pipe's clipped up in the left hand rear wheel arch

Does anyone know if they're better in anyway or just a different colour? I know the 300Tdi expansion tank is a weak point and can split. There are aluminium replacements available, although i'd worry that something else (radiator) might then become the weak point.

You can rivet from below but you need to create a gap between the skin and the strengthening bar. Not intuitive when the bonnet is upside down pushing them together. I found this out after I had drilled one side through the top. It's not easy to do it underneath but it goes. The spot welding from the factory seems to make sense why it's a pig to do with rivets.

I fitted the Britpart aluminium one about 7 months ago and so far so good. I read somewhere that they were supplied by Rakeway but whether it's true I don't know.

They could just drop the H and call it "The Obbit"

Cheers RILEY, I think you've nailed it with clutch drag. I've replaced the clutch fluid and got this out: The bite point is a lot higher how and hardly any crunching problems. Still a slight bit of resistance when cold (more of a "thhup" than a crunch), but when warm it's pretty much non existent. The gear lever meets no resistance whereas before I would have to put in effort to go into second. The black stuff could either be clutch dust sucked in via the slave cylinder or degrading seals, so i'll keep an eye on it. Nice to know that EVO1 might actually be a decent oil. I just hope that the gearbox synchros aren't too affected by 1800 miles with a dragging clutch.

it's a ruse. He's actually holding up the vehicle up by the winch whilst everyone works on it....

Thanks for a great day Jason + the family's constant food and drink supply. Everyone worked really well and it's quite frankly more fun teamworking than doing it solo. Pity it didn't all get finished but i'm glad to see i'm not alone in having to deal with the same rusty/stuck/fubar jobs that sometimes get the better of you! Plus with a birthday coming up i've now got a list of all the tools I realise should be in my toolbox (difflock propshaft tool, rachet spanner, massive torque wrench) Unfortunately i'm on holiday next week but would have loved to help get the last bits sorted to see it moving again. Will

Actually, i've just seen that this current thread might have some clues: http://forums.lr4x4....showtopic=74807 The slave cylinder was a bit rusty and the fluid's been down a bit recently.

Hiya It's certainly a thought. I replaced the clutch with the gearbox and it feels a little low on the pedal. I need to replace the clutch fluid at some point - it looks a little dark which might have an effect. Any ideas how to tell if it's disengaging properly? There's no grinding noise on fully pressing the pedal or desire to move forwards, etc. The only thing I do notice (and this happened on the old gearbox as well as this new one), is that when pulling off a motorway junction after a long run, coming to a complete stop at the lights and putting it into first gear with the clutch pedal fully depressed, there's a clunk and little lurch, like something in the drivetrain has moved a bit. It only happens in this circumstance and no other time. I think i'll check the pedal alignment first.

Hiya I'm free on Sat and happy to lend a hand if you still need people? Will

Most of the rippling is around where the filler is, but there are slight bits elsewhere. There was no bare metal and the primer is Halfords filler primer. I think that can be said of most LR jobs!

There were 2 on my 300Tdi

I'll have get round to doing a fluid change some time and report back. The more I think about it, the more notchy it feels. Even going into third or fourth there is a little "grate" to get it in, as if the gears aren't quite at speed yet. I did read that the fluid can't be too viscous, as the baulk rings need at least some grip to make the gear clusters speed up

Cheers It seems to have dried alright and would sand down nicer. I guess the fact that it was 10 degrees C didn't help, but sometimes i'm a bit too impatient with painting...