Ed Poore

I agree if it's going to be a permanent install then compressor is almost certainly the way forward, particularly in James' situation where he doesn't have neighbours. The farm is OK but at home in Surrey I think the neighbours would be a little annoyed if I had a compressor running in the garden shed... If I had the option then I'd have a fixed compressor (I have a little one but not plumbed in yet) but given my situations I'd still stick with the battery ones because even if I'm not on the farm I do chuck them in when on trip around the country / Europe and they've proven useful so far. Cables / hoses are just annoying when I can grab it and go straight to work. We only had a cheapo Machine Mart impact hammer but inevitably the only time it came out was when I failed to crack them off with a breaker bar. This was even with new V-Twin 200l compressor that we replaced the old 50l one with and even then it usually struggled if it did succeed at all. Re: tyre fitters - I can see if you have more people using them then battery operated tools become quite expensive as you don't just have to buy the tool but a new set of batteries for the new guy. Whereas with a compressor you only really need the tool and perhaps a bit more pipework. I had heard things about people switching away from Milwaukee but they tended to be the brushed motors whereas the brush-less ones appear to be a bit more robust. We had the recommendation from some rally friends and given the abuse they give them then they should stand up to what we need them for...

I'm just throwing it out there James but I haven't had much luck with air powered impact tools. I'm sure part of it has been that the tools themselves haven't been the best but the only time one actually succeeded over a breaker bar required a V4 belt driven 3 phase compressor and a 1" impact drive... The setup at my parents usually involved having to move the compressor into the barn to work on and then I found (in hindsight) the pipes are just annoying. After the saga with wheel bearings on the way to Scotland a few months ago I had the opportunity to play with one of these, I was so impressed I ended up buying one. Given I was buying into the batteries as well it wasn't a cheap purchase but it's proven useful as I can chuck it in the back of the 110 easily enough. I've subsequently bought a drill to replace my old Makita and Dad has a smaller impact hammer, circular saw and previous gen drill. He actually wanted to drop the tow ball on his Shogun down a bit but couldn't loosen the M20 bolts holding it in place. I put a socket on the nut, impact hammer on the other, pulled the trigger and simply got dragged under the vehicle by the wrench to much hilarity. Once we found a bit of scaffolding pole to wedge against the floor it cracked the nut off easily. I'm not saying a compressor is a bad shout but I've found the battery option to be invaluable as you can use them anywhere. On well under a single charge the drill (with Dad's 4Ah batteries not my 5Ah ones, they do now do a 9Ah) comfortably managed to drill something like 12 1.5" diameter holes through 10" posts in the fields when I was putting up a fence on the farm. I know Dad managed to clad almost all the roof of a 20x8m barn roof and walls using the small impact hammer and hex headed screws. Sure you can't spray paint and you're a bit more limited on tools that are available but for me they trump the compressor option because they're usable anywhere which is a big win for me. One you've got a set of batteries though the bare tools aren't too bad. And there are 3d printed designs now to let you use batteries in different brands of tools...

When I bought mine it was a private sale but had a years warranty from that company (Warranty Wise?). They covered the fuel pump (lift) but for that price I'd put the money aside. It'll likely take you a while to sort out niggles but once you've sorted those then (touch) wood they tend to be pretty reliable. So keep a slush fund but just keep an eye on things. If you're at all DIY focused then you can save a great deal by doing services etc yourself. Gearbox flush for example is about £100 for the parts and oil but you're looking at at least treble that for someone else to do it. There are a few tricks to learn but it's not bad.

Added to that they have a fewer emissions related bits of carp to go wrong. Given I've now split my mileage between two vehicles and cut it back a bit I have the occasional thought that I should have gone for a petrol. But the common "issue" that's brought up is more the frequency of fill-ups with the petrol. At least I can easily get 500+ miles out of a tank on the TDV8 and can pretty easily get 600+ miles, the best so far was Stirling to Surrey on 3/4 of a tank.

Well I've owned my FFRR for about 3 years now and whilst I'm not going to admit it's been cheap I've still got it. I bought it (2007 TDV8) with just under 100k on the clock it's now over 155k. It did have a years warranty when I bought it (aftermarket) which was part of the reason why I went for it at the time. The original intention had been for it to replace the 110 as both an everyday vehicle and off-road toy. First thing to go wrong was the lift pump in the tank died - recovered and garage fixed it and claimed it back on the warranty. The next thing was the alternator which as said isn't an expensive part but was a ***** to do and working for a couple of hours each evening took me the best part of a week to sort out. I've had a few sticking calipers which I feel is inevitable at this age of vehicle. The front air-bags developed a leak on the way back from Wales and ended up getting Challenger to sort that out - was ~£600 for both bags and then about £150 of labour but I'm glad that they sorted it rather than me. The most expensive repair was after finishing Strata Florida it felt like I'd blown a diff or something, after a lot of time spent trying to find the issue it was narrowed down to the transfer box. Then transfer box and gearbox had to come out to basically find that there was water in the transfer box causing the clutch pack inside to lock up. I've also replaced the EGR valves but did that myself and was a fairly simple job. But - by a long shot the most expensive thing (side from fuel given how much it's used) has been tyres, I'm sure some on here will remember me exploding one in the Lakes, over the three years it's been about £3k of tyres - but I have been using the FF off-road. After the transfer box incident I was pretty convinced I was going to get rid of it but there were two incidents which prompted me to keep it. One was hearing it when my sister borrowed it to go hockey and it didn't sound bad at all. The second was heading off to my folks for Christmas and despite the thunderstorms and torrential rain it didn't skip a beat and I just sat back, hit the cruise control, turned up the radio and relaxed. Put a trailer behind it and you hardly notice it - even if it's the 2 tonne milling machine that Dad won in an auction. Similarly I just got back from a weekend trip to the Highlands and it didn't miss a beat, was superbly comfortable and quick on the roads. So cheap maintenance, definitely not, but it is perhaps "all the car you could ever want", to quote a certain Mr. Clarkson. (Oh and if I had to pick between which is the most capable off road, the Defender or the FFRR, then hands down the FF - apart from the sodding thin walled tyres!).

It's a bit more comfortable driving position being higher up. For reference I'm 5'10". It is a tight fit under the steering wheel but not too bad, only really find it when turning around quickly I might clip my legs with my hands. In terms of getting in most people needed a step ladder before so who knows now. I don't find it too difficult but used to do a fair bit of climbing so perhaps an unfair comparison. The seat is a bit forward but much further back and I'd struggle to push the accelerator all the way down without stretching. In terms of seat height at the front lifting the back might help in that the seat would become more level, currently lifting the back on the motors will inadvertently lift the whole seat up a little as well. Part of the thinking behind a new box would be to reinstate the front motor brackets, in the FF I find it quite nice being able to drop the front of the seat further when on a long drive so I can stretch out my legs. Although I can get stuff in and out of the underneath storage it's a bit of a pain so I'd also make them side entry. If I don't like it then I've always got the original to fall back on. Plus inevitably things won't get done as quickly as hoped so rather than having a cut up box I can always reinstall the old one quickly!

Finally had some time to not do chores and tinker with the 110. Both front seats are now fitted in a fashion. Unfortunately it's now dark so only got one photo when out for a test drive. They're still a little high compared to normal bit it can be driven quite nicely. And boy what a difference in comfort. I slightly regret chopping off the back of the rails now, I changed my mind about where I mounted them and could do with the extra to get the runners back to a more substantial bit of the seat box. I took the plunge and drilled some new holes. I've relocated some of the captive nuts to the new holes to make removal easier. But haven't moved all of them yet so they're held in with nuts, bolts and washers at the moment. I think when I get some time in April and a barn then I might build a new seat box to drop them lower again. In the meantime the next job will be to wire in the electrics so they're adjustable without having to plug in a temporary loom and battery.

Right I've finally had some time to revisit this after several months fencing in Wales, a few days off roading in France (was an incredible weekend) and finally the FF deciding to leak gearbox oil all over the road, but managed to sort that all yesterday. Not much time mind, simply removed various bits underneath to see what could be done to reduce the height of the base. Just removed the brackets and motor that adjusts the height of the front of the base and it looks like that might drop it enough. I'll probably need to build a little replacement bracket to fix the front down rather than adapt the motor bracket as there'll be no need for it I think. Unfortunately it's decided to rain so that's curtailed further work. Next chance I get I'll find a way of fixing it down. The bonus is that it looks with a little modification I might be able to adjust the rails so they are the same spacing as the Defender's. Then a bit of test driving to see whether its actually going to work. I think I might go for a smaller steering wheel as well.

Agree it's a bit easier on the vehicle. However might be worth checking the condition of the socket. I replaced mine to get through an MoT but the lip that holds the gaiter was fubared and the socket pitted as well so replacing the arm is on the cards.

Sorry to be late to the party but I've had this idea burbling along in my head for a while. Owning both a 110 and L322 with the 3.6TDV8 have the two components... I've started doing most of the work on the 322 myself now and the most recent involving changing over the EGR valves prompted me to read into the whole engine management side of things. My approach, had I the space, time and money would actually be to ditch all the electronics from the donor vehicle completely (my background is in electronics and typically of a far greater complication / speed than this). Reading through the workshop manual and having a reference vehicle available it wouldn't be too difficult to figure out the basics of what the engine would need to run. The complication would likely be in the fine tuning of the timings. Spin up a custom PCB with probably a small microcontroller and an FPGA to take care of all the timing critical stuff and away you go. Personally if I was doing this route with the TDV8 then I'd keep the 6HP26X behind it. Hadn't got down to the axle side of things but there are are more knowledgeable people on here than me with regards to that topic.

I have a 5ft Hi Lift and the best space I've found for it is to take off the base and show it under the seats. It slides in nicely, the base I put under the bracket that supports the corner of the seat.

I've got one lying around but it's a 110 one unfortunately

Haven't tried them welding but we acquired a set of what turned out to be Maxiflex gloves from hivis.net. (They were branded promo gloves from Wera). I've been using them when working on the 110 recently and they have the wonderful property of not becoming slick when covered in oil. Genuinely impressed with them for the dirty jobs. Will have to order some more.

Where are you based? There might be someone local with a welder who could help out. With regards to the levering - we did it a few times until the caliper was rotating as freely as we could get it. If you have someone to help you could ask them to apply pressure to the bolt extractor whilst you wiggle the caliper up and down, that should help it start turning. Hopefully then you'll get the threadlock cracked off and you can then spin it more readily with the extractor. Once you get a faint crack then keep applying some penetrating oil.

I had a similar issue recently when the bearing went on a rear caliper. Plenty of duck oil, Irwin bolt extractor (we removed spring to gain more clearance) and a very useful trick. If it's only one stuck see if you can get a pry bar under the caliper and lever it up / down. Whack with hammer to return. Do that a bit and it helps to start undoing the bolt. I never used the bolt extractor but it really just needs one really solid hit to seat it and should work its magic. But twisting the caliper helps break the threadlock.

Funnily enough Mum and I commented on the drive south from Scotland that most of the Scottish areas were overrun with Land Rovers. Both Defenders and Range Rovers.

Well made it home at 1am with no issues. Picked up some toys from gti-90 on the way. So now the fun begins changing everything over. Thanks for all the offers of help, wonderful credit to the forum.

James you were right. It's been a bit slow but I'm glad we haven't been heading North. Every pinch point where it goes from 2 to 1 lane has been bad. Missed the usual turn off near Perth because we went to get fuel but currently heading across to Glasgow and, touch wood, nothing's happened yet...

Donald (and others) thanks very much for the kind offers. Ducking underneath it this morning before breakfast revealed the blocked breather. So I think with a fluid change and a few check ups on the way south everything will be ok. I've drained the oil but we only managed to source 2l of EP90 locally. Mum and Gran have popped into Inverness to see an old friend and have some bits and pieces to pick up from various places. Including 5l of EP90 to finish off the top refill and have some spare. We did manage Kendal to just down the road from Invermorriston with the repair so I think it was mainly the blocked breather and extra "water" from my foray into the hill that caused the leak. If the seal was going to get damaged I cp would have thought the sat on the motorway at 70 would have done it. You've got to bear in mind I'm in the 110 on muds not the TDV8 so sitting at 60 is actually quite pleasant! And I wouldn't want to put you out, it'll be an adventure anyway. We're planning on setting off tomorrow.

Blocked breather pipe main culprit, there was some water in the oil as well. First bit of good news is that Land Rover in Inverness have some caps so can pick up those this afternoon.

Snagger I think you've narrowed it down, clarified my thoughts. I did go rather deep in water on Tuesday and I hadn't realised but I don't think the previous owner had extended the rear axle breather so that may well have dipped under. The oil is only coming out of the end cap so most likely just too much oil (and water) in causing it to seep out. I'll drop the oil tomorrow morning and change it. The front axle isn't leaking but it's breather exits at the top of the engine. We'll also make a call to Land Rover in Inverness in the off chance they have some new end caps to supplement the 6 I ordered but that got delivered to Surrey. James - apart from axle stands I have the tools I need. Just lacking parts which I had tried to rectify but the supplier scuppered that plan. If I didn't have Mum with me I'd stop by anyway but we may still take you up on that if things go pear shaped!

Well preliminary investigation is its only the cap that's leaking. The face that was scored badly from the bearing collapse was the outer surface of the stub shaft which corresponds to the inner face of the oil seal. The hub faces themselves were fine (i.e. the outer surface of the oil seal). So what I suspect has happened is the inner face has become damaged which means oil leaks through from the diff to the splines on the half shaft. So once we find some sealant (and I'm going to swap the hub caps around as this one is pretty poor compared to the others) then I'll just change the oil, check the breather while I'm at it, seal hub cap and check on the journey south. If only the parts had been delivered up here...

I was going to say it's an earlier one but it's an early 300Tdi 110 (M reg) with Salisbury axle so might be a later one? I haven't yet taken the wheel off but it looks like it's weeping from the rubber cap but I'll know more in a couple of hours. If I can survive the pesky midges... Sourcing RTV sealant will be the next fun bit...

Funnily enough we did have RAC relay but this year it wasn't renewed. Haven't quite got to the bottom of it. I was going to stage the drive. It's leaking a bit more than I would like, but haven't investigated fully yet. I might even resort to some gaffa tape around the hub cap (it's on alloys so protected) as an added measure.

So following on from the escapades to get up here to the Highlands (see Hats off to Steve @ Lakelands) I've just noticed the stub axle we repaired is leaking EP90. I had ordered a load of spare parts the intention of at least having them in the car for the journey south. Was on the ball and ordered them on Sunday, paid for express delivery considering its normally two days to get here. Only to find out this morning that they've delivered everything to a neighbour in Surrey... At least they refunded the shipping. Unfortunately I went through some deep water two days ago so I'm likely to have got some in the diff. Mum and gran have gone for a drive and to see if they can find some so I can change it. We couldn't source a stub axle last weekend when effecting the repairs (had ordered some) so the one that was damaged we smoothed as best we could. Unfortunately looks like its not as smooth as it needs to be. Plan of attack (with limited tools but luckily probably enough) is to change diff oil (Salisbury axle), check the breather, pop the hub cap off to check things but then try and seal it back on as best I can. Does anybody have any other ideas that might help in our 500+ mile journey south? Really beginning to wish I'd brought the FF now. Our at least chucked in a couple of axle stands like I was thinking to.