Ed Poore

I did wonder about suggesting it but kept quiet...

Just for some inspiration Mike - I really like this idea where stuff expands out so whilst on the road it's "normal" sized. What about a 6x6 Range Rover? There was one of the icecream ones up for sale near me for not a huge amount of money. Coupled with an expanding body like the 110 above... I've thought about this for a while on the Sandringham and if that stays as a truck cab then there's actually enough space for two without having to expand things like the 110 above.

I can't really comment on the Makita stuff to be honest but the two "impacts" I have are the Milwaukee's M18FID which is actually a 1/4" hex driver but rated at 203Nm and the M18FHIW12 which is 1900Nm. I've made do with both of those quite happily - there are surprisingly few nuts that the little 1/4" won't undo and it's nice and compact for getting into places. Those that it won't undo (wheel nuts, cranks, etc.) then the big one handles those with ease. There have been very few situations (and even fewer actually on Land Rovers) where I haven't managed to get the big one in. What am I trying to say?! Well basically I'd say go for the most compact one you can - it's handy for just whizzing on and off nuts. Then go big for those that are really stubborn. Recently there have been a few instances where I'd be tempted by one half way in between but ironically what's putting me off is that they're almost all 3/8" drive and I have decent sockets in 1/2" and 1/4". @Retroanaconda - if the Makita is half as decent as the Milwaukee one you won't regret it. I find actually because the batteries tend to be at the opposite end to the spinning disc of death they're much nicer balance wise - the Milwaukee one is very easy to use one handed. Not having a cable getting in the way is wonderful too and worth it just for that.

When I get my arse in gear with the 1UZ I could probably get away with only one . Factory redline is just shy of 7k but with swapping out a cam (as I recall you have done) then reportedly good for 9k. It has been slightly insane generating some theoretical gearing plots - 5th low range good for >70mph

I've had the same one on the battery grinder for about 4 years now and it gets pretty heavy usage. Only once had to get a pair of pliers out to undo it and that might have been on the 9". They're definitely easier to undo if they do get seized on slightly as the flip up lever is easier to grab on. Can operate them with gloves on as well so in my opinion they work well. I have tried them on the 9" as well and seem fine.

Well until it wears out then it's not quite whenever you like.

With regards to the grinder nuts - might I suggest buying some Milwaukee Fixtec Nuts? Not the cheapest of nuts @ £7.50 on Amazon but oh so worth it. Friend saw it on my battery Milwaukee Grinder then went off an ordered a couple to try, a fews later I stopped by and saw a box of 50 of them on the bench . OK he has a fair few grinders but he liked them so much he was giving them away to his mates as well!

I'd say its a 1 in 3 my 1400 lbft Milwaukee would undo them. It'd also be a 1 in 3 that the bolt would round off and a 1 in 3 it would snap . So I doubt a Chinese copy would manage it. It definitely wasn't cheap but so far it's not failed on any of the three counts above.

It can be even more flexible if you wanted... I've got a mate who had a bunch of 0.7 ratio LT230 boxes made up a number of years ago not sure on the exact dimensions of the gears but they were shoved behind lots of different engines from ranging from 6.2 and 6.5 GMCs (with and without turbos) through to big blocks. There's still a few of them festering around in his yard.

Sikaflex? After all @miketomcat glues boats together with it In all seriousness the floors / wheel arches were a bit ropey on mine and I just cut a new sheet of ali, painted it and stuck it on with Sikaflex (maybe 221) and it's been fine for 6+ years.

Depending on how much current your charger is capable of dumping out you might be able to get it back in through the trailer socket (caravan if you have one ideally).

Wasn't that the weird situation where they introduced the AT and renamed the old AT to AT² and the new one was called AT - if you followed that? Regardless it was the newer pattern (with respect to time introduced), I'd seen some 16" wheel ATs and the pattern looked significantly better than the 19" pattern. In my experience airing down on the L322 in the UK ended up in even worse situations due to the sidewall not really being a sidewall and more a smear on the side of the wheel.

Short version - they were much better than the Grabbers the only other tyres I ever had on it were some Pirelli Scorpions I think which is what it came with. With the traction control systems on an L322 the tyres really only come into play on wet grass / muddy ground in my experience. Rocks / sand etc., the Terrain Response really does work wonders when you work with it - I'm not saying tyres won't help but they're a smaller improvement than you'd expect. Longer version, I had the L322 about 5-6 years ago if I remember correctly. It was the 3.6TDV8 so had factory Brembos which meant the only real option was 19" wheels for it. The only smaller wheels were the set made by Compomotive for the Bowler Nemesis for the Dakar at 18". I enquired with them about a set and they were actually a very reasonable price but back then there was almost no tyre choice for 18" compared to the 19" wheels so ended up sticking with the 19s simply because I could get tyres for them. Since then with the fascination for lower profile tyres / larger wheels means that there is a much greater selection of tyres available. Even BFG make some I think. Once the Pirellis wore out the only semi off-road tyre was the General Grabber ATs so I bought a set of those and chucked them on - they were better than the road tyres but I basically viewed them as a baby all-terrain. The only places the L322 struggled on (apart from it's girth) was wet grass / mud where tyre choice is all that really matters, the Grabbers used to fill up with mud quite easily. Shortly after fitting the first set (500 miles or so) I drove up to the lakes for a forum laning trip and proceeded to destroy the front driver side tyre on a rock above Coniston Water (@Retroanaconda heard the explosion from his 90 about a hundred feet behind me). On returning home and dropping in to get a new tyre we found I'd also cut the rear on the same side badly - it looked OK in the Lakes but by the time I got home had bulged from the damage. Not long after (about 15k total I think I had on the set of tyres) I was servicing the Range Rover at my parents farm with the pitt and noticed the inside wall of the tyres cracking up. So ended up having to replace all the tyres - again for a set of Grabbers. I proceeded to write-off another one on another laning trip in Surrey - again a puncture (well the first was technically an explosion) through the sidewall. After getting fed up with the Grabbers (I wasn't wearing them out, they either got destroyed through sidewall damage laning or the sidewalls would start cracking up <20k in) I looked at alternatives and Goodyear had just launched the Wrangler Duratracs (literally a few weeks before I started looking) so had a set of those fitted. I did slightly less laning over this period but the tyres survived and I got >30k out of them before I hit a sharp stone on the A31 and wrote off one tyre. The others were OK but starting to wear out when I sold the vehicle with them still on - but the new owner put a new set of rubber on them. General grabbers when they were fairly new: Unfortunately the only photo I can find of when it had the Duratracs fitted - but as you'll see I did use it off-road more than most. You can just about make out that the sidewalls have a bit more tread than the Grabbers. I certainly didn't suffer any sidewall failures like I did with the Grabbers but as I said I didn't use it as extensively off-road as I used to because I got my 110 back and that was used for the more hard-core stuff. But the Duratracs did work well in several feet of snow off-road through the Scottish Highlands with four people in it, a couple of dogs and a couple of beasties in the boot. I might have sold it still with some deer blood on the inside of the rear tailgate...

Local trailer place to me (CLH Trailers) uses either aluminium chequer plate or Buffalo Board. Chris doesn't compromise on quality so the Buffalo Board holds up well - the only thing you must do is seal any cut edges - doesn't really matter what with but they've just got to be sealed.

I had General Grabbers on the L322 largely because when I had it it was the only option available for a semi off-road tyre. Seemingly everyone on the fullfatrr forum was ranting and raving about them, I found them to be 💩. Useless off-road , OK on road but only managed at best 15k on a set of them. Eventually Goodyear came out with the Wrangler Duratracs and boy they were an improvement - yes technically rated lower than the speed of the vehicle but still good for >100mph if I remember correctly. One thing to remember, which I discovered when in a similar situation at getting frustrated at not being able to spin wheels to clean the tyres, is that if you engage one of the Terrain Response modes you're meant to turn off the DSC as this overrides it and prevents too much engine power going to the wheels.

I spoke with a local garage about this when I get around to upgrading the 6x6's engine and they were quite happy to drop the vehicle off, they'll check the engine number and write a letter stating that yes it's been installed safely. MOT guy would do the "inspection". Mind you - does help he's a Land Rover nut and really enjoyed seeing the Sandringham.

Bugger that - I've just been out to my (in progress) workshop and is about 4°C and I was in a t shirt and that was fine. Mind you I was pushing the Defender around on the floor and lifting 4.8m 12x2" beams onto the first floor...

Nige (@Hybrid_from_Hell) does. Bumped into him at the Southern Manufacturing Show a few years ago and he'd been speaking to someone about one. Said he had to be a good boy and not buy one, cue a short while later and he'd bought one.

Simple thing - have you made sure that the panhard rod bolts are done up to hernia giving tightness? I had a wobble just before the last MOT and was fairly sure I had a knackered panhard rod bush, took it off and it was fine. Realised that the bolt just wasn't tight enough - there was minimal play but tightening it up made a world of difference.

If only - this one is only a hire one that the sandblasters have brought in to blast the house. But I might get to keep it for a day or two longer if I want.

I thought his was big enough, but after seeing these I need bigger... In all seriousness a bigger one wouldn't go amiss, it does reach the roof but can't reach inboard of the eaves.

If anybody wants some free media then I'm going to have a few tonnes of used stuff available current estimate is 7-8 tonnes... Will need sifting and drying * Certainly not the cheapest of setups but it is bloody impressive watching it demolish the paintwork and in some cases evacuate large chunks of render off the wall. I think he said this was his baby compressor at 280cfm (at pressure), the blast nozzle is about 1.5" in diameter. * Oh and collection only, can load bulk bags with the pallet forks on the JCB

They do come in lots of different temperatures although almost all of mine are for high ceiling floodlights so don't notice it too badly. They are the brighter white, I haven't tried the warm white side of things. As all of my work areas are stone walls at the moment the extra white helps a bit but maybe once the workshop is rendered and painted I might try some warmer ones.

If you can get ones with Samsung LEDs in them they tend to be better quality. My father and I have been using a fair few V-TAC flood lights and they've held up well to West Walesian weather (outdoors). Dad's had one light up on the tallest barn for about 4 years now and it's still going strong. I've had them up for two years and no issues yet. We've had the same lights but non Samsung LEDs and they've failed within 18 months.

Since lockdown finishes on Monday the only "lockdown project" will be the Defender's MOT. Plenty of other projects on the go such as workshop first floor, sandblasting the house. Once there's some spare time then a little 1UZ engine shall be being worked on...