Ian_Fearn

Thanks for the replies. I hear what you’re saying about being suspicious of aftermarket stuff. Normally I feel the same but originally this thing was downright dangerous to drive, like a sailing dinghy! But after I fitted the Extreme kit, it was truly outstanding for such a big vehicle. Just a shame the dampers haven’t stood the test of time 😩. I’m convinced enough to get a new set of dampers.

I'm trying to trace all the clunks and bangs in the drivetrain on my 97 300TDi 130. I've got a strange subtle 'pop' noise when pulling away from a standstill. I am 80% sure its coming from the rear. I've been through everything I can think of now including: Transfer box input shaft (good) Drive flanges (good) Half shafts (rear are good but not stripped far enough for the front) CV joints (no issues when wheels are at full lock so I'll assume these are good) Props are new Gwyn Lewis supplied and all good Handbrake was clonking but now that's been stripped and adjusted its fine Brakes are all good, not loose callipers, discs and pads in good condition. Wheels bearings stripped, greased and rebuilt A frame ball joint replaced and new upper A frame arm bushes SO, today I moved onto the suspension and have found some free play in the rear shock absorber shafts. You can grab hold of it at the joint between the shaft and main body on both sides and feel noticeable movement between them. The bushes are fine. I did a similar test on my 90 which has Koni Heavy Tracks which have no play whatsoever. The 130 has Extreme 4x4 supplied dampers and are approx 5000 miles old. The vehicle is a camper, weighing 3200kgs fully loaded. So my question: is there any allowable play in this joint? If not, what should I replace them with? I've noticed Fox now make dampers for the Defender and are fairly well regarded in other circles.

Thanks a lot Western.

Thanks for the advice, I’m going to call Turners in the morning to order it all. i’m sure I could have got away with it for a while longer but it’s used solely for long distance travel and I don’t want to be dealing with garage repairs in a country where I don’t speak the language. Does anyone know if it’s advisable to replace the valve caps or reuse the originals. Nothing obviously wrong with them.

Well there was only 1 way to find out...... No obvious sign of issue. Am going to stick one of Turners gas flowed heads on. Anybody any thoughts over which style head gasket to go for?

Anyone seen this before? 99% sure it’s coolant and seems to be weeping between the block and the head. Definitely not core plug failure. No other signs of head gasket failure and coolant loss is barely detectable in the expansion tank.

Thanks for all the replies. It’s been very helpful. I’ve ordered a couple of used arms and I’m going to go with the standard parts. If the ball joint ever needs replacing again, especially if I’m away from home then having standard parts will just be much easier. I’m still on the hunt for the clonking noise through!!!

There’s plenty available that’s for sure! It’s just most are advertised as the later part number and I just want to make sure they’re compatible.

Thanks for all your comments. I am 99% sure i’ll replace the arms now with standard ones. Having scraped the paint from my 130 and rust from my 90, I can confirm they both have the HRC1705/6 arms so no difference between 90/130. It looks like this part number is long gone now though and been replaced with NTC2706/7. Can anyone confirm that?

I’ve sanded the arms to find the part numbers, HRC1705/6 so the arms and ball joint have definitely been drilled out. I’m the first owner post military use. Why would the military drill these out? Did they have some fail? The 1/2” bolts looks reasonably substantial for their required use

I did ask Gwyn about that option (hoping to use the wide angle greaseable joint) but he said he’s had feedback that people struggle to remove or fit his joints without damaging them. I am favouring returning it to standard LR by getting replacement arms but I could do with some reassurance the standard 1/2” bolts would be ok?

My existing ball joint has 16mm holes, the new one has 13mm holes. Just spoken with Gwyn, he thinks someone has drilled my ball joint and arms and I have 2 choices. 1. Drill the new ball joint to 16mm (all other dimensions are identical) 2. Replace the A frame arms with standard ones. It’s a 130 at 3500kgs so I’m wondering if the smaller bolts would be acceptable???

I’ve removed the ball joint again, its stamped HRC1197, I can’t find this part number in the catalogue.....??

I wasn't clear, the picture I originally posted was from an ebay advert. The ones from euro4x4parts still look to have the smaller hole but i'll check tomorrow and probably give Gwyn a call as he's always been really helpful. I'm at least 80% convinced there is something dodgy about mine. The fact there is only 1 bolt part number really does suggest mine have been opened up in some way. No idea why? I'll post back when i've got a solution. Thanks again.

This is so odd...... From what I can work out, NTC2707 & NTC2706 are the only arms available. The ones pictured are labelled with genuine parts labels as such. Do you know if yours are genuine parts??

Sorry, when i say 'bush', what I really mean is there appears to be some metal tubes pressed into the arm. I wonder if these have been removed. I will check tomorrow. The bolts supplied with Gwyns ball joint are correct to the parts he supplied.

Thanks for the reply. I've been through the parts catalogue and can only find 2 versions listed for the bracket but all the bolts are the same. I'm going to take it off again tomorrow to properly assess whats going on. I wonder if somebody (ex military) has removed the metal bushes in the arms and drilled the bracket out.

I've just removed the A frame ball joint on my 97 130 to replace with a Gwyn Lewis ball joint ready pressed into the bracket. The issue I have is that the existing bracket/bolts have 24mm heads with corresponding shanks and the replacement bolts are 19mm head with smaller shank. Hence, the existing bolts are too big to go through the bracket and/or the new bolts are too small for the existing A frame arms. I cant find any alternative ball joint brackets listed.... Can anyone help?

Western, thank you, much appreciated. I did think it odd that it would be incorrect.

Thanks for the replies. Western, this the rear axle i'm looking at here and it has disc brakes. Do you know the end float for a disc rear axle?

In an attempt to cure a rear end clunk i've noticed there aren't any spacers between the drive flange and circlip on my rear halfshafts despite there being a gap. (130 with Wolf axles) Is this correct?

That’s great thank you. I’m rarely going above 600. I’ve not got a boost gauge so I’m not sure, it’s just as set by BAS who supplied the turbo. I was hitting a steep motorway down in Spain yesterday and noticed it at ~650 and realised it’d not been that high before.

Does anybody know what is considered a safe max EGT temp? It’s a 300tdi with bigger intercooler and VGT turbo on a 3 ish ton Defender motorhome.

I must admit, I was dubious this would work but would you believe it, slid over an old drinks can a treat! Thanks a lot!

Does anybody know if you need a special tool to fit a front CAMshaft oil seal? the seal lip is too big to go over the camshaft correctly. something similar to that supplied with a rear crank seal??