MudAllOverIt

Excellent. Couldn't have happened at a better time -- gearbox is sh****d and is due to come out soon anyway Thanks,

I'd like to get my hands on one as well. Have sent PM. Cheers,

When we had the Freelander we ran it with BFG MTs at 30 psi front and rear. No problems with uneven wear. Never had ATs on the Freelander so can't comment.

Organised by West Argyll 4x4, with permission of West Argyll Forest Commission Lochgilphead Forest Discovery, 28/29 July TWO OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE: 1. Guided track drive with some difficult terrain -- note that scratching and/or damage is possible Vehicle should preferably be equipped with a minimum of good mud terrain tyres. This option is available on Saturday, Sunday or both days. Our guide vehicles carry all recovery equipment, which more often than not will be required. 2. New to off-roading or own a shiny 4x4 and want to keep it that way You can also join the weekend but your drive will be over different routes and in the company of like-minded owners. The drive for this option will not be a boring gravel forest road outing. Special permission has been given to allow access at some part of your drive to explore the Ardcastle Forest in addition to the huge Kilmichael Forest base. You will drive our mountain route and many other superb tracks over the weekend accompanied by one of our guide vehicles. This is a superb family weekend and with a little care no damage of any kind will be sustained. COST: (applicable to both options, payable on the day at the meeting point) One day: £20.00 per vehicle Two days: £35.00 per vehicle All drives are run under the supervision of experienced club members. The event meeting point is the forest entry at Birdfield Wood on the A83. This will be clearly signposted on the day. Birdfield Wood is 1.5 miles beyond Minard, driving towards Lochgilphead. Turn in at the cottage with the St Andrews flag, follow track uphill until you reach our quarry control point. Please aim to arrive no later than 9.45am both days. Please drive slowly when passing the cottages at entry. The meeting point grid reference for all GPS buffs reads NR 96202-94560 FOR FURTHER DETAILS PLEASE CONTACT: Myself via the forum by PM or e-mail OR IAN HAMILTON either by e-mail: ianon16@tiscali.co.uk (note that Ian is on holiday until mid July so best to contact myself in the meantime for any info) Proceeds from this event, as with all past events, will be donated to a local charity. Details of the charity will be agreed with Argyll 4x4 club and the Argyll Forestry management team. For the avoidance of doubt please note that this event is not related in any way to the AndyT's Tay Forest Challenge or previous Argyll Forest Challenge events. On the other hand, although this isn't a challenge event don't assume that it's a namby-pamby drive on gravel tracks -- it ain't

FFS -- oops indeed. Looking at the extent of the deformation to the back the tow bar should have been OK I would have thought -- if it was a genuine one and used all the fixing points. Can't figure out from the pics if the tow ball is still there or not?

Yeah -- no problem there. Lets you get the seat reclined as far back as it will go. Another vote for the MudStuff one -- very easy to install -- well, I managed it -- and looks good when done.

It's certainly not a common problem. I'd mention it for sure at the next service -- it's a sign that something's not right somewhere. The obvious suspect IMHO is the rear wheel alignment -- not sure what would knock that out other than a servere kerbing. If it was mine I'd be tempted to get the four-wheel alignment checked before worrying about more exotic possible problems. A locked VC or rear diff problems could also cause this but that's unlikely in a 55 car IMHO and I'd also expect it to affect both rear wheels rather than just one.

Or lots of reasons not to bother turning up -- just depends on your point of view.

Not getting a set like Gordon's then Phil :lol: Cheers,

How heavy is it? Cost £35 to get my Superwinch H14W down to PG Winches from Edinburgh using Initial City Link next day service. Weighed 46kg when boxed up

Has anyone ever been able to get the caps out by "tapping" the yolks with a hammer? I keep seeing this method quoted in instruction books etc etc and I don't know anyone who's ever managed it I've been changing UJs for nearly 20 years on various vehicles I've owned and it's never worked -- always pushed the caps out with sockets.

Our continues to get slowly worse, reverse is getting baulky now as well -- something will need done in the not too distant future. Although I do a fair bit of work on the Defender, and both Triumphs, I've never been inside a gearbox in my life so probably best I stay out of an R380 :lol: Not the best place to start I reckon

Dug out my RAVE CD and I see what you mean -- going to give that a miss and go straight to Ashcroft I know there's quite a few still going strong in Oz but don't know if you still see them running about in SA. If it had been sitting under a tarp in the UK for any length of time I doubt if it would be recognisable now...

The 3rd -> 2nd down shift is becoming almost impossible with our R380 box (1997 300Tdi D90, 132k miles) when cold. (2nd -> 1st also but not quite as bad.) When cold it just doesn't want to go into 2nd at all from 3rd -- goes in fine when hot but even then it's still notchy and a bit noisy. This was more-or-less OK, just a wee bit noisy, when the got the D90 a couple of years and 16k miles ago but seems to have deterioted rapidy in the last three months. Have drained the ATF and refilled with the 5W20 full synthetic which so far seems to be have helped a bit when cold. Box is otherwise OK. Whines a bit in 5th but this hasn't got any worse since we got the D90 so not too worried at the moment. I'm assuming the 3rd ->2nd downshift is a synchro problem -- is this right. If so is it an easy DIY fix -- or should I just go the wole hog and splash out on an Ashcroft recon box? Cheers,

Very unusual based on my past experience of them -- but like Jules I haven't used them or spoken to Mark for a while.

We've had a set of 285/75-R16 Grizzlies on the 90 for just over a year now and they're holding up well. All blocks still intact! Pretty chuffed with them on the whole -- good off-road and IMHO you need to pay considerably more to get something that significantly betters the GCs off road. I know a couple of people who recently replaced GCs with the Fedima ET copies and there's no evidence they can get further on the Fedimas than they could on the GCs. (Real Simex ETs are obviously a different matter through...) Got the GCs to replace 265/75-16 Colway MTs that were on the 90 when we bought it. I found the Colway's pretty mediocre TBH. Just about OK off road, not particularly good. And for what they are they're very noisy on tarmac.

If the VC has gone it'll have locked up. Easiest way to tell if this has happened is to put a mark (with paint or tip-ex whatever) on the VC input shaft and output shaft -- mark the shafts in the same position so that the two marks line up. Then go for a short drive. Make sure you go round a few corners or do a couple of tight three-point turns. Check the marks when you get back and they should now be in different positions indicating that the VC is allowing slip between in the I/P and O/P shafts. If the marks stay in the same positions the VC locked. The offical method is to jack up one rear wheel and try to turn it -- but this takes so much force even with a good VC that it's not really that reliable a method.

Our 90 is an ex-utility with the SV factory-fitted H14W hydraulic installation. Ours has an electrical interlock that kills the engine if the transfer box isn't in neutral when the PTO drive is engaged, but it's easy to disable this and it is theoretically possible to drive assist when winching. But it just doesn't work cause you've got to be in 4th or 5th gear with the engine at 1500 to 2000rpm min (must be approx 2000 to 3000 rpm PTO speed) to get the hydraulics working and that's obviously not going to work cause trying to drive in low box in 4th or 5th gear when you're trying to winch out of the gloop, well, need I say more... More than likely IMHO you're going to have same problem with an auto -- 2nd gear is unlikely to generate enough rpm at the PTO, and by the time you've got enough PTO rpm the wheels will be wanting to turn far too fast. Could be made to work but would need a hydraulic pump that works at whatever RPM the PTO reaches at tickover in low 1st or 2nd on a manual gearbox I have absolutely no idea if such things exist

It's a bit of PITA but it is serviceable -- they're easy to strip down and if you know where to look the bits are available. Simon Stirley is the chap to speak to about this (can be contacted via the UK Freelander Club mailing list or MAD Freelanders)

Ran an 03' V6 for three years. Other than the fuel consumption -- which won't be an issue with the TD4 -- it was a great car. No reliability problems with it whatsoever -- other than the time I broke it big style off-road but that wasn't the FL's fault Try for an 02 if you can as there were some minor improvements between MY 01 and 02 FLs. I can't remember what they were at the moment but I could probably dig out the info if it would be useful.

I've ordered from D4x4 over the phone and via the website, haven't had a problem with either so far.

I'd reckon so Factory wheels are 5 x 114, 35mm offset. eBay technical archive? Sounds useful :lol: Cheers,

Back on topic Freelander 1 PCD is 5 x 114 (the only Land Rover ever with this PCD ) L322 Range Rover etc is 5 x 120

No -- D3/L322 etc wheels will definitely NOT fit an 02 Freelander. I'll dig out the PCD info when I get home.

Worth double checking just to make sure it isn't one of the hoses in the spill return line that's leaking -- very common and very easy to fix