L19MUD

That looks excellent. It was a 2m Winton one I looked at with side shift. The 165 is 60hp so should easily handle that. I topped the paddock at our soon to be new house which was badly overgrown with the 135 and topper at the weekend. Some before and after. It is a 6ft topper so the 135 needs to be in first gear to handle a full width at the height of grass

Whilst we are on this topic has anyone got any experience of using a flail mower around the 6ft size for cutting paddocks? I have only ever used a topper which does the job but leaves the grass in a line if it is left too long between cuts I am thinking a flail with a rear roller will mulch it and spread it giving a better finish?

The 135 is just a 35x in the later 100 series tinwork

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394851095473?hash=item5beef593b1:g:ChUAAOSwTT5k8ahV&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4ISIjxx7pYEtnWsIF%2BlYx2awHl%2F7Ro1tC5xKAg8aHEci8MeV7UA%2FNQECyAoBgD%2FLGoF91EUTH%2FZHKpYpkcYcDnKfrEJgVgRxvx4WJrNXRkloLmve3DBf3%2BEYLNhij6SEGjReaBM2JUr8yRYETwHzA23vmdmw2PabqEQXkF63bTJDf2sBr%2BBTm4j0LCvJK2nBEZWYh%2FD2alz7ZZ93uh1b5LO7IUpZAgIvPsam088BY588Lf8m8Wy9tNG2PNY7ZHPickdFiFIkc%2FFKXuxWPPZQE%2B0ZFHMOiDPw3dFV0yGqRVOS|tkp%3ABk9SR7iI1dreYg A 135 is a bit more money but well worth the extra in my opinion. In terms of needing new tools - assuming you have AF sockets and spanners you are all set. They are more basic to repair than a TDi Defender

I know quite a bit about this and happy to have a chat through if it helps. You really do want a live drive (or dual clutch) tractor otherwise when you press the clutch your mower stops turning which is very annoying. A dual clutch tractor has a 2 stage clutch with gear selection at the top of travel and PTO disengagement at the bottom. I know a lot of people do use the T20's but in all honesty they are a bit long in the tooth and under powered for running a big enough topper. A 35x or 135 will run a 6 foot topper as long as the grass is not too long which means you only drive over the bit you are cutting once. MF35s come in 4 cylinder and 3 cylinder Perkins flavour. The 4 cylinder need a bonfire under them to start from cold. The 3 cylinder start in all temperatures at the flick of the key with no heat - one of my favourite ever engines in anything. This engine carried to the 35x and the 135 which is really just a 35x with the newer 100 series tinwork. We have two 135's at my parents and they have been practically faultless over the past 20 years. Battery, tyres, PTO seal on one, radiator on the other. Parts are cheap and plentiful too I am in the process of buying a house so have been keeping an eye out for a tractor for me, bought this slightly bigger (prob a bit heavy but I wanted it!) MF165 Multipower at the weekend from a deceased estate auction which has been local to me all its life and is all original A comparison picture with one of the 135s It was a decent load for the 90 and Bateson

Can't make it Sunday unfortunately. Know a few people going and would be keen to know if it is decent. Missed out recently on buying a house and farmland that is behind the showground which would have been very convenient!

Reminds me of this from back in 1993 - I was only 9 but I remember some of it quite well. Will re watch when I get a chance. Sorry it is Ford Mavericks not Defenders though

Agreed but a 4.4 is not D3 money

plus 1 for this. You can get a lot of 3.6 TDV8 for not a lot of money now.

Pleased to hear this. Will try and attend next year

I have never seen those before! Genius. How do you flick the top over so it holds and where can you buy them from?

They are not quite the same as the military ones I have as mine have much larger holes in them to operate the locking mechanism at the bottom and then don't have the series style lock at the top Like this

No as when I picked up the pupe from Ben Few (JT Few tippers) he said Stennets always do thier odd stuff and have been fine on price. Will do next time!

I asked for an estimate but they were having none of it as did not know what seals were in it. Local firm and they know me so trusted them to not rob me..... In other great news one of the front tyres has gone down so that may need a new tube

Rams have been resealed at a cost of £460 which feels like rather a lot......

I fished these out of a skip (I mean used a hiab) 8000kg forklift tines that must retail at well over a grand! Why you would skip something like this is beyond me

I will admit that the next stage after this was loading them on a trailer and dropping them off to Stennet's (Local hydraulics place) for them to reseal. I tried to find the right seals and failed so this seemed the best approach

That looks amazing. I think you should retire and start making bespoke engine adapters for people!

The next challenge was to remove the end caps. The idea of keeping them on the machine to remove was a non starter as the mudguards got in the way of the tilt rams and the main ram could not be pivoted down. I tried removing them with stilsons and a chain wrench but to no avail (even with heat) so I then channelled my inner Stephen (OK nowhere near that level) to make some tools to remove The tilt rams were fairly easy. I cut a slot out of some plate and drilled three holes to locate in the ends of the caps and bolted a lever to it. With a bar through the other end that was wedged under the vice these came out quite easily The main ram was a different design. The end cap is brass and obviously quite soft and the holes for a tool are on the outside of the collar. I scrounged a mates scrap pile (owns a quarry) for some 95mm ID pipe and set about making a tool. I drilled holes in the end to line up with the holes on the collar and then welded M10 nuts on the outside. I used bolts to wind in and locate in the holes. On the other end I welded some flat plate and an old socket. Success! 1 hour to make the tool and 10 mins to unscrew it

With the tyres fitted I set about getting the two tilt rams off and the main mast ram. The main mast ram has a pin in the top which was well soaked with hydraulic oil and tapped out easily, at the bottom it slots into place which prevents it from being folded down. This presented a bit of a problem as it is easily 100kg and needed to be lifted directly up for 3 inches before being lowered. We used a noose strap on the digger and carefully got this out Both tilt rams unscrewed easily from the mast and one (which was under the valve block) was easily removed by tapping out the pin with a lump hammer. I was not so lucky on the other side. There is no grease nipple of these and very little movement in use so whilst the pin was free in the clevis it was very stuck in the ram itself. 14lb sledge hammer, heating, quenching, 10 ton puller all totally failed. Ended up cutting it out with a grinder. It took 20 ton in the press with some heat to shift it so I had no chance with it on the machine

Thought I would share a bit of an update on this in case of interest to anyone. Heavier machines bring about different challenges to some of the Land Rover fun we have. I kicked off by sorting out the tyres. I was lucky to find someone in Norfolk (3 hour round trip) with some decent tyres that fitted but only 20% tread which is fine for my hard yard. Best bit is they were free! My favoured approach now to getting the beads broken without specialist tools is to use 2 sections of 2inch angle that are also 2 inch long. Tap one edge into the gap between the rim and the bead with a lump hammer to wedge it and then use the big 14lb sledge hammer to force them downwards. Using both bits of angle and working backwards and forwards over an 18inch section of tyre is enough to free the bead off. Hard work but can usually get them off in 10-15 mins like this depending on how stuck they are. Forgot to get a during picture unfortunately Tyres off I cleaned up and painted the inside of the rims and then fitted the new to me tyres. No major challenges other than the fact they are heavy lumps to manoeuvre. Prob 50-60kg a tyre The new tyres are much better condition with no cracking in the sidewalls

Exmoor trim sell the cloth as a kit ready to fit which may be a better (but more expensive) option https://www.exmoortrim.co.uk/seating/defender-front/single-seat-retrim-kit.html

Interesting read. What that does agree with though is that keeping the heat out of things as much as possible is a good thing

It also reduces the risk of overheating and warping the discs. Totally agree on the rears of a Land Rover though, you will never get them that hot

A stud into Ali sounds a bit dangerous as you run the risk of it spinning when you try to undo x years down the line