nickwilliams

This bearing is on the rear of the differential and is removed by taking the whole differential out from the other (front) side of the transfer box. Nick.

I don't think you'll get RTV to work as anything more than a very temporary fix unless the shaft and the hole it fits into are scrupulously degreased before you put the silicone on. Personally, I'd try a thicker O ring before resorting to RTV. The trick with the string is straight out of the Landrover service manual, but so far as I can see it's only necessary if you have removed the intermediate shaft and gears without taking out the input shaft and/or the differential. If both these are out and the box is in pieces on the bench then it's easy enough to get the intermediate shaft in just by hand. I started taking photo's of my re-build last weekend but as I discovered more knackered parts (differential gears, rear output spline and the flanges are worn out and/or suffering rust damage as well as the output bearings being loose) I forgot about the pictures, but I'm expecting to get the bits ready in time to put mine back together this coming weekend. I'm afraid I won't have time to do a comprehensive pictures and text guide a la Les, but if anyone wants any specific pictures please say so here and I will try to take and then post them. Nick.

TIG welding would be the 'correct' way but silver solder will do it if you don't have a significant gap to fill. Silver solder fluxes are usually pretty corrosive, so make sure you clean it up well. But you probably knew that already! Nick.

To get the nut off mine I used a pin punch to push the indent back out of the grove and then one of these: http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=783. I'm not convinced you need to worry about the pre-load shims for the input shaft bearings - just put the ones that came out back in again (unless they are damaged). The bearings themselves will be machined to tolerances way tighter than anything you can manage to measure in a home workshop, and the ground/milled steel components will be pretty good as well. Besides, there is a gasket between the PTO end bearing support and the main body of the case anyway so that's never going to hold really tight tolerances. I think shimming is only required to compensate for variability in machining the box casting so if you don't replace any of the cast aluminium components then re-shimming should not be required. But I could be wrong... Personally, I think the LT230 construction is pretty crude (single race ball bearings supported in place by circlips in a machined aluminium casting for the output shafts being a case in point) so I'd not get too excited about micron level tolerances in the bearing assemblies. Nick.

There's a Britpart kit for the swivels, about 70 notes + VAT from Paddocks. Bear in mind that for some strange reason it does not include the gaskets for the lower swivel pins (FTC3647). I've just comprehensively re-built my front axle, including replacing all seals as well as fitting new pistons and seals in the calipers (although I have not changed the half shafts). I've been keeping a spreadsheet with a list of what I have spent on my project, which includes a list of all the part numbers. If you'd care to PM me an e-mail address I'll send you the list of parts for the axle. Nick.

Thank you very big, sir! Nick.

Please can someone confirm whether there is supposed to be a gasket between the gearbox and the transfer box on a Defender? I can't make enough sense of the parts book to be certain. Thanks a lot! Nick.

This link contains some good information about requirements for trailers: http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/vehicles/vssafety/requirementsfortrailers as does this one: http://www.ntta.co.uk/law/ A bare chassis only weighs about 150 - 200 kg so it's well below the limit for an unbraked trailer on pretty much any car. So long as it has a trailer board with lights on it and the wheels are securely attached (and have mudguards) then it's the same as any other light trailer. The principle is true for a complete vehicle as well, except that it is much heavier and so it must have effective brakes if its weight exceeds 50% of the weight of the towing vehicle (which it almost always will). There are systems which allow the service brakes on a towed vehicle to be activated by the hitch over-run (basically a hydraulic cylinder which braces off the seat base and pushes on the brake pedal inside the towed car) but keeping the steering under control for more than a very short distance is tricky which is why professional recovery operators use a dolly with wheels (or a spectacle lift) to raise the front wheels of the towed vehicle off the ground. The biggest single problem with lash-up arrangements is that anything which does not meet the Construction and Use Regulations is not legal for use on the road and unless you have a fully fledged motor trade policy will almost certainly invalidate your insurance. Apart from the fact that most clued up traffic fuzz (and VOSA) know this and driving without insurance is high on their list of things to catch people out for, the consequences for your wallet if something does go wrong do not bear thinking about and will rapidly make a trailer look like a very good investment. Nick.

Sorry, my mistake - that should be PNP101251 Thanks for the annotated picture - a great help. Nick.

Thank you, Tony, very helpful, but what I was hoping for was the pages from the parts book the same as Western posted in response to my questions on the engine mount so I can see the part numbers. I realise that the electronic parts book is available on the net somewhere, but from what I have read it's a big download and not entirely foolproof to get working, so I've not plucked up the courage to tackle that yet. Thanks Nick.

Please could someone post the electronic parts catalogue drawings showing part numbers PNH102082, PNH102092, ESR2120 & PNP101251. These are apparently parts of the intercooler pipework for the 300tdi but they don't appear in my (printed) 1987 - 2001 parts book. I'm trying to make sense of the bits I need to plumb my 300tdi to the intercooler and back. Thanks a lot Nick.

Further investigation indicates that I'm probably looking for KQB100170, which (according to Rimmer's) has now been replaced by KQB500560. Does anyone have a picture of which is definitely of either of these? - all the ones I can find leave some room for doubt as to whether they are of exactly the right part. Nick.

Thanks for that info. It's helpful because it identifies a possible part number, but in fact I don't think this is the right one. On your Discovery drawing (and on a 'P' reg Defender which I had a grovel under on Sunday) the gearbox mount is attached to the removable cross member underneath the gearbox, whereas on my chassis the bracket is attached to a fitment which is welded directly to the main front - back chassis member (and the removable cross member is commensurately smaller). This means that the distance from the mounting point to the gearbox is greater by about 5mm on mine than on yours, which is the thickness of the cross member. This is compensated for by making the lower surface of the rubber mount the same distance further from the inner edge of the downwards facing flange (which hangs over the edge of the bracket) to the centre line of the threaded attachment stud. So, what I am looking for is a the part number for a bracket in exactly the same place as this, but for a later model of Defender than 'P'. ANR1808 is definitely not right - these mounts are what was used on the original 2.5TD/LT77 combination which was originally fitted to my vehicle, but I'm re-building it on a late 300tdi chassis and the mounting points on the chassis for the engine and gearbox mounts are all completely different, being horizontal rather than at an angle as they were on the 2.5TD chassis. Nick.

I need the part number for the flexible bush/mount which goes between the gearbox bracket and the chassis. There appear to be several versions of this type of mount which have varying combination of a threaded stud, a threaded hole, a spigot to stop them being put in the wrong way round and a different distance from the centre line of the mounting bolt to the edge. I've got three different varieties already and none of them is the right one. It's not the same as the one which goes on the other side from the transfer box bracket to the chassis. Nick.

Here's one wot I made earlier... The sides are 6mm x 100mm channel, the top and bottom are welded up from 12mm thick plate. The strengtheners in the base (top is the same) are probably overkill for a 10t ram, but that's the way I like it, and I have access to a 50t ram as well if I ever want to use it. The design is such that none of the welds are actually load bearing. I decided to bolt it together rather than weld it, partly so I could dismantle and store it to take up less space, but also because 4 x M16 8.8 bolts are quite likely stronger than any welds I could easily achieve, and having decided to make the top cross piece movable, it made sense to bolt the bottom one in place as well. The holes for the bolts were drilled with a mag base drill, and the only thing I would do differently if I made another one is that rather than mark out and drill all the holes in the side channel independently of the ones in the cross-pieces, next time I would drill the cross pieces first and then drill the holes in the channel through the cross pieces. As it is, I had to re-drill some of the holes since the precision with which the mag drill can locate the holes is not high enough for them to all exactly line up. I'm sure that the resulting oval holes don't significantly alter the strength of the frame, but the fact that they are not round irritates my tidy mind! Nick.

In response to the OP, and for the record when someone wants to know the answer to the same question and it comes up in a search in future, my 90 was first registered in October 1990 and came with the 2.5TD fitted. It may well have been one of the very last ones built, but it's not 100% reliable to say that if it was built after the end of August 1990 then it will definitely have a 200tdi engine in it. Nick.

The jack is at the top for a simple reason - so that you can load the press with the workpiece and it then does not have to move before the force is applied to it. If you have the jack underneath the work then the workpiece has to move up with the end of the jack until the press is closed before any force can be applied to it. It basically makes the difference between being able to use the press with only two hands or needing three. I've recently made a press frame to enable me to press the suspension bushes out for my 90 re-build. I'm using an ex-RAF rescue kit as the basis of the hydraulics, but a Machine Mart body straightening kit would do the job. I'll try to post some pictures later, after I've finished stripping down the LT230, which is this afternoon's job. Nick.

Having stripped down the front brake calipers from my 90, it's clear that they are going to need some new seals and in more than one case the chroming on the pistons has rusted through. I notice Paddocks sell replacement pistons in stainless. Has anyone got any thoughts or opinions on whether or not these are a good or a bad thing? I had to use my hydraulic kit to push the pistons out, so I'll now have hydraulic oil mixed in with the brake fluid. Has anyone got any magic cleaning tips or do I just wash them through with Gunk or Jizer, rinse in water and then dry carefully (I have an oven for this) before putting them back together? Any other tips or recommendations for caliper service while we're at it? Nick.

On my Marsland galv'd 90 chassis (which I am told is actually an original GKN chassis which Marsland have had galv'd) the distance from the inside edge of the front chassis cross member to the centreline of the engine mounting bolt holes is 565 mm, give or take a mm or two. I'd expect the 110 to be the same. Nick.

Nothing wrong with this idea at all. These guys know all about it: http://www.mecwash.co.uk/ But probably best not to tell your local sewerage company unless you decide to invest in a water re-cycling plant! Nick.

If you buy the Britpart kit (FRC2644DEFKIT from Paddocks), be aware that it does not include the lower swivel pivot gasket (FTC3647) which you will need to re-assemble it all properly. Quite why they don't include it, I don't know - it costs 20p to buy separately. It was definitely not just missed out accidentally, it was not in either of the two kits I purchased, and it's not on the parts list for the kit. Nick.

In my case the problem was caused by the hinge end of the door being bent, not helped by the amount of corrosion in the door's steel framework. The cure in my case was to jam a broom handle inside the hinge end of the door and try to close the door. This bends the door back to something close to its original shape and the door latch then works properly again. The process needs repeating on a fairly regular basis. I've stripped off and thrown away the door lining panels since I'm not in the least bit interested in the aesthetics or the sound deadening properties and all they were doing was acting as a moisture trap. This means I have a full view of the state of the steelwork in the door. If you've never looked inside the lining you may find that the fact the door is no longer closing properly is an indicator of the corrosion hidden by the lining panel so it could be worth taking a look. Nick.

I hate to think how much I've spent on stainless fasteners for my re-build. I've put together kits of M6 and M8 and M10 in various lengths and head types (typ. 25 mm, 30 + 40mm set screws, 50 mm bolts, all with full nuts, nyloc nuts, plain washers, mudguard washers and spring washers, and also purchased some extra long (120 + 170 mm) M10 and M12 bolts for bolting the rear shock mounts to the chassis and for the rear axle A-frame. I've also bought pop rivits and nutserts for doing the body work. Paddocks do kits of the bolts for the front and rear suspensions (includes all the trailing/radius arm bolts, replacement M20 nuts for the chassis ends of the trailing/radius arms, new bolts for the panhard rod, etc). These kits are reasonable value for money at GBP 7.50 each - you need two kits, one front and one rear. (The kits are not stainless, but you don't really need stainless for these bolts, and since some of the originals are 10.9 tensile, stainless would not be a suitable replacement anyway.) Nick.

The parable of the Truetrac diff... I'm posting this in the hope that it might provide some useful information for anyone doing a similar exercise to me. I've got a 1990 90 and I want to put a Truetrac diff in the front axle. This is vehicle built with a 19J engine and drum brakes on the rear. The front axle number is 22L2915x and the half shafts have got 10 splines at the diff. end. I bought a 10 spline front Truetrac from Paddocks (their part No. DA5706). On trying to fit it, I found that it's going to be near impossible to get the carrier bearings off the old diff without damaging them, so I then ordered a new set of bearings. The number for these is the RTC2726 (bearing number LM501310) but when they arrived I found they do not fit the Truetrac (the ID is too small: 41.275 mm on the bearing, 45.32 on the Truetrac) although they would be direct replacements for the ones already in the diff. However, Paddocks seem to know what's going on, and on being prompted supplied a pair of RTC3095 bearings (a.k.a. LM102949) which have the correct OD for the diff, and the correct ID for the Truetrac. I see this has been covered before, to some extent: http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=8226 but to summarise for the benefit of others: - If you are fitting a Truetrac, you should expect to replace the carrier bearings so buy these at the same time as the diff; - Truetrac carrier bearings are 45.32 OD so if your original diff carrier bearings are 41.275 then you will need 2 x RTC3095 instead of the RTC2726 which are the correct replacements for the original diff. Nick.

Have just done a complete re-build on my 90 front axle (new bearings, swivels, seals, and a Trutrac diff) and put it all back together. Just putting the last 1/4 pint of oil in one of the swivels and realised that my 25l can of EP 90 has water in it. I missed this before 'cos I thought that filling the axle was a good job for my 10 year old lad, which proved to be the case except he does not know when to spot there is a problem with the oil itself. So, I've drained the swivels and the diff, and left them dripping over night. The axle has only been turned over by hand (no engine on the chassis at present!) What do I do next?: a) take it all to pieces again, clean it, put it back together again; b) Fill it up with freshly bought oil, run it for a while, then drain and replace with fresh oil; c) Fill it up with freshly bought oil and forget about it; I really don't want to have to take it all to pieces again if I can help it, but I also really don't want to waste a week's work and risk damage to a new Truetrac either. All the bits (including the Truetrac) were fairly well oiled during assembly, so my inclination is to go for option b, but what say the forum? Nick.