elbekko

It's an important thing to get sorted though, so well done on finding that 👍

Absolutely true, but conversely it can also be more difficult to judge tongue weight as the supension compresses much more easily. I actually had that happen last month, when picking up concrete Ls for the garden. The guy loading them noticed the car squatting a lot, and moved them back until it was only squatting an inch or so... way too little tongue weight, and not the most comfortable drive home (luckily small roads and 70 kph max). Not the easiest things to pull over and move forward either On the second load I told him to not care about how much the car was squatting, ended up with a bit too much out front but much more comfortable. I've been thinking for a long time that a pressure gauge on the rear bags should be able to fairly accurately convey axle weight...

I'll always choose to have too much tongue weight than too little...

IIRC you need to make sure the rocker pedestals and shafts are in the correct orientation to not block the oil passages, worth a check?

I don't remember anything but a short remark on that, while it is indeed one of the most important parts...

Been following them on Instagram since you posted, looks like a fun trip

Probably not any more. But when you started out? I took the B+E test a few years ago, and you at least had to show a basic understanding of what you were doing: hookup procedures, reversing, parallel parking. Nothing you can't learn without a test, but at least that test verifies you're not a *complete* numpty.

I guess the extra axle is there to keep the gooseneck not behind the rear axle, while retaining usable cab space. Very special, yes...

Did you rotate your rings correctly (ie not all gaps lined up)?

Can't become any sketchier

I think that calls for a thread in Getting Out and About with lots and lots of pictures!

Is it just the angle, or are the new spiines a lot thinner than the original ones?

Did you have enough oil in it?

Very sticky black residue sounds more like oil being burnt in that cylinder.

Maybe we should change the name from "International forum" to "Facebook".

A standard 300TDi outputs 264Nm of torque, let's say a fettled one would do 300Nm, a standard 4.6 is 380Nm, with a torquey cam in it should see a bit extra too. It'll happily give oodles of torque from low RPM, and rev to 5500+. The difference should be well noticeable. It'll never be a rocketship, but it has a good amount of power with a good amount of torque, especially with a manual.

Drive plate to converter 39 Nm (with loctite).

Pick up a battery charger and plug it in overnight? Should be enough to get you home.

Hoping this can help someone else too. I made up a simple EAS to USB cable, for use with EASUnlock, without the need for an obd-to-serial cable, and a rs232-to-usb adapter. Parts from Digikey, but can be gotten from other sources too: FTDI RS232 "wire-end" adapter OBD male connector OBD connector pins (x4) OBD connector cap (technically optional, but nice to have pull protection) From the adapter, you need the following wires: Black - GND - OBD Pin 5 Orange - Tx - OBD Pin 12 Yellow - Rx - OBD Pin 11 Green - RTS - OBD Pin 1 Brown and Red can just be taped up (separately!) out of the way. Plug & play, FTDI drivers should be available natively on Windows, check which COM port has been assigned via the Device Manager, select that in EASUnlock, and away you go.

Probably heat soak somewhere? I'd guess IAT, but if you disabled that and it's still happening, it's strange.

"Remote controllable height adjustable tow hitch" I'd say? Sounds fancy.

Just be sure you get the torque converter seated all the way before refitting, or your gearbox will be toast! And it'll be a right faff too...

Both the GEMS and Thor talk OBD, the Thor a bit more detailed. For £100 I don't think you'll find anything that can do detailed work on both.

I had that test driving a BMW 3-series, gave it back after 30 minutes because it was pushing into the side of my back, absolutely terrible. No such issue in my Merc E.