twodoorgaz

Hi everyone. Had an offer accepted on a new house. Trying not to get too excited yet as this is our third attempt to move, with the past two having fallen through at the last moment, but just getting the finances ready to upgrade the garage. Its a good size (the equivalent of a triple) but the roof trusses mean the head height is limited so I definitely don't have space for a full height lift. It does currently have a pit installed in the left hand bay - but I'm not a fan of them, partly for safety and partly for the inevitable water ingress (its very nicely made, block built with custom made heavy steel grille covers but it does have water in the bottom already). So, I think my options are: 1) a mid height lift - like a MaxJax. The MaxJax M6k is a 2.7T 2-post lift which can be unbolted and rolled into a corner but it seem quite expensive (approx £2300) for what they are (more then a generic full-height 2-post lift) but it would definitely fit. Being an import from Europe or the US these are hampered by exchange rates. I know that Mike at Britannia Restorations on YouTube uses one in his LR garage and it seems OK. I'm also quite impressed with the changes that Bendpak have made since they took over production from Dannmar. I'd keep it in position most of the time but good to know I can unbolt it and roll it to the side should I ever need to. There's also a number of alternative "short post" lift suppliers like the liftech model at just £1650 for a 4.0T lift - this one is more of a permanent install. Similarly there's an Automotech 3.0T one at just £1550 with a similar design. 2) a scissor lift. these are more expensive at £2.5-£3k but still in budget, would take up much less space and could be sunk into the slab which would be very neat... but the lift would make the sill area of the lifted vehicle inaccessible 3) not possible due to the monumental cost (had a quote for £25k!) but the dream would be an unground 2-post lift like the Slift in-ground retractable unit. 4) I could keep the pit and improve it with lighting, a lifting beam and as an extreme a mechmate pit liner (they are really expensive - way more than a lift at about £3-4k). But it still has many of the small limitations as a basic pit - plus the health hazards. If I went for a mechmate I'd want the longest one possible so that I could get out of the pit comfortably with the vehicle above - groundwork cost would not be enormous given the pit is already dug - just knocking out the walls, extending the hole and backfilling with concrete from a pump - but still, its additional cost on top of the liner. The plan would be to fill in the pit (approx 5' deep and I suspect this has been dug below the water table). However as a bonus option, I could simply part-fill the pit - leaving a recess a couple of feet deep that could be used in conjunction with the short lift to let me stand up fully underneath the vehicle in the centre section. This should be a no-brainer except that this would mean that the pit covers would stop me/a chair/the waste-oil receiver/transmission jacks from being able to roll smoothly over the garage floor under the ramp. An extra bonus for having a lift is that I could park a sports car sized project underneath a vehicle on the ramp if I needed to. So, having never owned one I'm curious as to any advice the forum may offer. My LR fleet does include both LWB and SWB land rovers and I know that the MaxJax unit can be used with LWB Defenders but that the arm/pad positioning does take some thought (Mike at Britannia Restorations has made a couple of custom arm pads that fit into specific chassis recesses on Defender 110s. In terms of usage, it would be a restoration tool (think lifting bodies off chassis - this would only apply to a 2-post) and general servicing too. I do have a backlog of three LRs to restore but also have an interest in 1970s/1980s saloons and hatchbacks so can't make it LR-specific. After a lifetime of working on driveways, on gravel floored barns and in tiny garages... lets be honest, debating which lift to buy is a lovely problem to have 😀

Thank you! really glad to hear it could be something to do with clutch disengagement - that is what it feels like, but I couldn’t get my brain to understand how the clutch could have affected it. the mats are out so an ideal time to try it - I’m away for a week but will adjust when I get back. And will report back.

any thoughts anyone?

Hi - hoping for some advice here. I have had my 2010 Puma 90 for a few years now and have never been happy with the gearchange. I know the MT82 has its complaints, but I just can't shake the feeling that something isn't quite right. It isn't noisy or anything, instead the issue is that when moving from any gear into neutral requires more force than I think it should have - like you're pushing against some resistance to get the gear to release. It then engages the next gear just fine, but it just means that (even by Defender standards), the shift from one gear into the next isn't smooth. There's no slop, if anything it might feel like its an overly precise new vehicle that needs to ease off a bit - but after 50k miles you'd think it would be there by now. I had the clutch changed a couple of years ago (standard to Clutchfix, done by a known-good specialist) and the effect was the same before and after. I later became convinced that the issue was actually in the shifter mechanism itself so I removed the factory plastic shifter and was delighted to find that the white plastic pivot ball had split in two, great I thought - issue found! I replaced the factory shifter entirely with a Shift-R (all steel/aluminium slickshift from TMD), expecting to see both the benefits of the slickshift and the benefits from having replaced the broken ball.... but no. While the shift is shorter, the resistance in coming out of gear is the same. NB: I obviously wouldn't expect a slickshift to fix a fundamental issue, but in this case I was replacing a broken part with a higher quality replacement. So no change. I've recently pulled out all the matting, the foam gasket etc too to see if the gearlever was physically being restrained - still the same. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what else it could be? I don't think its a syncro issue (I've had plenty of those on Series vehicles and with R380s in the past), there's no noise or crunching and given its a relatively low mileage, well maintained vehicle, I don't think the gearbox is faulty... but I've been thinking about the clutch, other than pedal height is there anything there that might not be adjusted correctly?

thanks guys, western while the link to the thread wasn't quite what I was after - your britcar link was really helpful. They list the plate as being 19x15x1cm. If that's accurate I can just order a bit of plate in that size already cut with radiused corners off ebay for about £12 delivered.

Hi folks. I'm just putting together one of these kits - I have the angle piece and all the correct nuts and bolts - so just need the plate which I can knock up with the plasma and pillar drill. May as well just cut and drill this myself - but could do with the measurements if anyone has one on their vehicle? The length/width and thickness of the factory plate would be ideal (I'm a stickler for genuine looking parts, so would rather not guess). I can probably take the spacings off the crossmember and angle piece but if anyone fancies having a crack at that too then I'll make them into a drawing to be stored on the forum. Just for context, the plate I'm looking for is item 2 on this diagram: https://www.lrworkshop.com/diagrams/land-rover-defender-accessories/accessories/towing-systems_44771 and when fitted, it looks like this (image pinched from another forum): Thank you.

Thanks very much all. I think I'm sorted now, have taken on your comments and have been pouring through the parts catalogue - pulled a kit together from my spares only having to buy one thing and don't think I've missed anything obvious. Please feel free to shout if you notice any. Combination spanners: · Metric: 8mm / 10mm / 11mm (brakes) / 12mm / 13mm / 14mm / 15mm / 17mm / 19mm · Imp: 9/16" Adjustable spanner: · 8" long adjustable Sockets: · ¼” and 3/8" ratchet handles with extensions · 1/2” drive extending wheel brace · ¼” drive kit in box with various Torx and allen bits and 4-13mm sockets · 3/8” driven sockets matching the spanners: 8/10/11/12/13/14/15/17/19mm · 3/8" driven 8mm fixed male allen socket for Gearbox plugs · Special: 3/8” driven 9/16” special prop shaft tool/socket · Special: 3/8" driven 1/2" square drain plug driver for axle filler/drain (happen to have one of these and it saves me carrying a random 1/2" dr adaptor or from having to use the wheelbrace) · Special: 52mm hub nut socket. The one thing I haven't got so just ordering this now. (while I'll use this at home, but on the road this is less for me to use, given the torque on the Puma hubs, and more for me to be able to loan to a local garage if I got stuck somewhere). · ½” driven 27mm socket Not yet sorted: · (I might also look into make a viscous fan adaptor too)

Hi all - my fleet, consists of 4 Series IIA/IIIs and one Puma Defender and I'm just looking to replace my battered hub box spanner with a socket-type. There's loads of 52mm sockets on ebay but I suspect it has to be the right dia and reach to work well. Can I just double check I could use the same tool on both Series axles and Puma axles? I know they're both 52mm/2" its just in case there's some difference in the flange or something that I don't know about - I haven't done much on the Puma yet. There's a weird comment in the Britpart description that says "This 52mm Deep Impact Socket has been introduced for use on Land Rover Classic, Discovery, Defender (83-) and most other Land Rovers registered after 1970". Noting really changed from '69-'71 on a Series hub so wasn't sure if it was actually saying coiler use only. Last one is that the Laser version is fractionally cheaper than Britpart so am planning to buy the Laser one - unless the Britpart is a special shape or something?

Thank you very much. That's really helpful. Just sorting through my piles of tools now to start making up a set.

Steve (and forgive me if I've misunderstood the question and am teaching my granny here) - the factory 6.5J rims (Series one ton, Series Forward Control and Defender 127/130 before they started fitting wolf wheels) are just that bit wider than normal 5.5J Series LWB/Defender steels. This means you can safely fit 235/85/R16 tyres which fill the arches nicely. The centres are also (apparently) slightly thicker than stock 5.5J rims. Basically people want them to fit bigger wheel while retaining the traditional look. Depending on which variant they came off (Series one ton, Series Forward Control or Defender 127/130) there are different offsets too, with the FC rims being the most desirable due to the lowest offset. They've always been in demand (or at least since LW Vass stopped selling them at £5/rim, christ remember that?) but the prices have gone absolutely stupid in the past few years. There's nothing technically special about them its justa supply/demand thing - ANR1534s (as fitted to 127s/early 130s) were also used on Camel Trophy 110s and on NAS110s too just increasing percieved desirability. Here's a couple of chancers on ebay now: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124565285560?hash=item1d00ab6ab8:g:NIAAAOSw1jJekcwh https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134170982315?hash=item1f3d36b7ab:g:dakAAOSwRopizdko https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203916723362?epid=1724820085&hash=item2f7a6244a2%3Ag%3ANHEAAOSwm2FiXGK4&LH_ItemCondition=4 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304559755935?hash=item46e92d129f%3Ag%3AGcgAAOSwDD1hLnz3&LH_ItemCondition=4 The scary thing is that they're actually selling at that price - just looked at sol listings and seen one set at £1600 and another at £2000 blasted and powdercoated. My local firm will blast and coat for £25 a rim. Tempted to do that, sell my set of 5x ANR1534s and buy another Series IIA - I've just bought another vehicle for £1600 too. Mental.

I go through this debate every few months with the rims on mine. Like yourself I have a set of ANR1534s in storage. Your 'expensive rims' are definately still expensive - don't worry about that. The availability of the Naka ANR Classic rims hasn't impacted the value of 130 rims at all. They still sell for bonkers money. The problem that I have with the Naka ANR rims is that they only made them at 8" wide which is great if you want to run really wide tyres. This means the thinnest common LR tyres you can fit are 255s (very tall and look great but definitely not stock) or 265/75/r16s (NAS90 size, so factory approved but are pushed right out by the ET0 offset). I wish they had made a 7" rim so that peope had the choice of sticking with standard sizes. AN ET0 7" rim would have become the default upgrade for the majority of Defender and Series owners in my humble opinion. So the alternatives are - band a tubeless 5.5" late defender rim, fit tubeless wolf rims (in standard or aftermarket ET0 fitments). Like yourself, I can't work out what to do - really interesting to see that Tubeless banding could be added to a non tubeless rim. In the absence of a manufactured wheel, the next best thing to me would be to transfer the factory (or HD 130) wheel centres into a wheel 'barrel' that is already the right width and is already tubeless. I've seen it done before - Matt Urch did it in this video for an old Vauxhall but try as I may I've never found steel 'barrels' for sale and certainly not anything with the same profile as a stock LR steel wheel. In the above video he got the barrels from John Brown wheels, I've just emailed them to ask if they can source a barrel that is defender sized. Their eBay ad for the Cortina barrels is here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185454200486?hash=item2b2dee86a6:g:wyMAAOSwvv9eDh0A

I know virtually every nut and bolt on Series LRs, but the Puma is still new to me. I'm making up a basic 'get me out of trouble' toolkit - its a nice little evening project but I'm going far, far too far with it too, the shadow foam has even been ordered for the Peli case to store it all - so committing to its contents now. Could anyone suggest a list of the common fastener sizes used so that I can include some combination spanners, sockets and torx bits in the kit? If there's any allen fittings (haven't found any yet) then let me know. Its only going in a very small tool case, so this isn't for everything, basically just for quick fixes/tightening jobs when touring in Europe and with space constraints (and the price of diesel) I don't want to be carrying anything unnecessary. For anything more than an hours work I'd call the AA. I've got all the basic tools, repair bits, etc already picked out of the spares pile - they're the same as I carry in my Series IIAs - its just the Puma-specific socket size and torx bits I'm not sure about. I'm guessing: 10mm, 13mm, 14mm, 16mm, 17mm and 19mm spanners and socket. All sockets would be 6 point, except for the 13mm which would be 12 point for the caliper bolts. A 9/16 spanner and a propshaft socket tool to match. 27mm socket and breaker for wheel nuts My 52mm hub nut socket. Torx bits? I haven't got a clue - they're still newfangled to me, can anyone suggest the common ones to carry? The only ones I've used so far have been on the dash but I'll have to check the size. Not sure if the above will cover bleed valves and drain plugs, I need to nip outside when its dark to check them. Appreciate any input, thank you.

I'm getting ready for a long trip through southern Europe and out to Malta and have just been sorting my spares and tools. Space is at a premium (and I'm a neat freak) and would like to decant my spare Engine oil, Anti Freeze, Diff OIl and Brake Fluid into some tough, reusable bottles - so obviously thinking SIGG type ones, which would fit ace in my storage box and we have a few of these in the loft and some more at the folks' place from past adventuring. But I'm not sure how the bottles would cope nor whether they would cause any contamination. Similarly I wouldn't want the O-rings to get damaged by the contents leading to leaks. I'm aware that SIGG used to be OK for fuel for camping stoves but have long since had a liner for drinking but that MSR bottles are pitched at fuel. Can anyone advise? My gut says anything that is OK for fuel would be fine for the above. Oh and yes, I know I could just buy 1l bottles of the fluids and leave them in their bottles but I've been doing that for years and (aside from the neatness factor and the fact that I've had part used bottles leak) am getting a bit sick of paying the premium over just decanting some out from my big containers in the workshop. Thanks very much.

Ha ha - spot on, thank you very much. I’ll do some research on the above and will get one ordered.

Hi folks. For years, I've used one of those tiny Laser hand pumps to do transmission oil fills on Discoveries and now a Puma Defender. However, I'm delighted to now have air in my workshop and remembered that I could get a powered dispenser - the only one I;ve been able to find at a sensible price is this one: https://www.toolden.co.uk/p/sealey-vs70095-transmission-oil-filling-system-3l/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_vDy487I9wIVB7TtCh1X_QJlEAQYAiABEgJ0AfD_BwE I wondered if anyone had any experience of them or knew of a better value one - I'd be looking for at least a 2.5 litre capacity. Thank you.

thanks lads. It turns out I was worrying about nothing, the lads at the garage recognised it instantly as a bit of handy pipe they use for bleeding a pump or other. It wasn't a bit off my car, so no drama. Could well have been off a PAS box originally though. Thank you for your replies though.

Hi folks - tried this on another forum with no joy, but usually get lucky with the more technical queries on LR4x4. I found the pipe in the pics below loose in my 2.4 Puma engine bay after it came back from the garage following a chassis swap. It was sitting on top of the heater, but I can't for the life of me work out what it is. Its either supposed to be fitted and has been left off by the garage or it has been replaced and this is the old one... or its a handy bit of pipe from another car that a tech has used for an unknown process. Any ideas? Its quite distinctive with the O-ring on the tip of the fitting and it does have a faded label on it which says "part nxxxx XX XXX61" and a date. The format of the font is different to anything I've seen in LR world before so I'm thinking it might be a ford (TDCi) part? I'm speaking to the garage tomorrow, but would be good to gauge what it is so that I don't get a brush off - I can't see anything obviously missing from the engine. They do a lot of work on TD5s and TDis so there's always a chance it was sitting nearby and a tech has placed it on my heater for safe keeping. Thank you.

Struggling to get my head around whether changing wheel offset helps or hinders when it comes to tyre clearance. We have 265/75/R16 tyres on boost rims on our 90 currently which obviously clear fine, being a LR standard fitment on some of the older and NAS models. I’ve been saving for a set of the 8x16 rims from Nakatanenga which are ET0 - so the outside wall of the tyre would be pushed outboard by 33mm (boost offset is 33mm, the 8x16s are 0mm). I've heard of people having issues with larger tyres touching the rear lip of the wheel arch spats at full compression off road - usually with the larger diameter’d but narrower 255/85s. I just can’t understand whether the offset (similar to fitting a set of wheel spacers) would make tyre rub concerns better or worse. any pointers in understanding this?

Hi folks. I'm clueless with this one, so any help would be very welcome. For his birthday, my Dad wants a simple-to-use diagnostic tool. He has an immaculate 1999/2000 P38 4.6 vogue... and he also has a 51 plate transit-based camper. Can anyone suggest a tool that could plug into primarily the Range Rover, but ideally with connectors available to use on the transit too? Looking in the region of £100, so Hawkeyes and Nanocoms are our unfortunately and neitherr would work with the transit. an icarsoft might work if I can understand their naming connvention. Ideal would be full reading and resetting, but will take what I can find, Thank you.

That is superb, thank you very much for that. Was about to buy a couple of genuine singles to physically measure up and then remembered that we have the internet now

@uninformed You asked at the top of the thread about the thickness of the HD steel rims as fitted to pre-TDi defender 130s (127s). I have a set of genuine ANR1534 6.5J rims off such a vehicle in the storage unit. If you let me know what you want measured I'll take some verniers and will do it next time I'm up there. Could I ask a favour? Looking back through your photos, I think you have access to a genuine FRC6137 (39mm stud), a genuine factory FRC6137 (46mm stud) and a genuine factory FRC7577 (56mm stud). Is there any chance you could post a photo of the three of them together? I'd be really keen to know the measurement from the back of the head (or end of the taper - i.e. the bit that jams up tight on the back of the hub) to the start of the thread on the base of the stud. Its that gap I'm worried about in fitting my genuine FRC6137s to my Puma studs - I don't want to find that the steel wheelnuts bottom out on the thread before they reach full torque on the Wolf rims.

Thank you - I had thought of just using tapped holes in the spreader plate (an M14 full nut is 11mm thk vs the plate at 12mm), but have always been told that tapped holes are weaker than rolled threads in a true 8.8 (or 10.9) nut. In need of a bit of education: is there a grade of steel to look for in which a tapped hole would be comparable to a high-tensile nut? I'd even considered thread inserts (Helicoils) or top hat bosses/barrel nuts

...The only other thing I've considered is adding a tack weld onto the heads of the bolts. That wouldn't stop me having to remove the tank if I ever wanted to take the assembly off, but it would mean I could change the recovery point for another design if the mood struck - as well as being able to tighten the nuts if they ever worked loose - the tank guard would prevent access, as would the tank itself as I couldn't get an Allen key into the gap.

Wow - they're going to be great! OP here and think I'm now sorted thanks to your advice. Had a measure up and there seems to be 22mm of clearance between the tank and the rear crossmember. With even a very thin spreader plate and a normal nut (whether M12, M14 or 1/2"UNF) this would leave virtually no gap before the tank - and those bits closest to the tank (the nut and tip of the bolt) would be pointy: not a nice thought in the event of a rear end collision and I'd like to leave a good amount (10mm) of space so that the tank can wobble without fretting against the bolts.. So, think I've decided on working from the inside out (obviously the tank'll be out when the chassis is being done) - that'll give me a bit more clearance (bolt heads are narrower than nuts, made better as it allows me to countersink them) and will give me a closer, but perfectly flat surface behind the tank, which feels like a safer option. 1) Cut access hole into crossmember and remove 4x upper M12 captive nuts, replace access flap with butt-welded steel, linish flat. 2) fit thick-walled crush tube behind the four holes of the crossmember (ID 15mm, 3mm wall - or nearest equivalent. Have a lathe so can make to suit) - coloured red on sketch. Also check all crossmember to chassis welds - add welds if any areas missed at the factory. 3) Galvanise 4) Order large spreader plate - most likely 10 or 12mm (way OTT, but gives lots of meat under every bit of the 7mm countersunk bolt head), drill 4x countersunk holes. 5) fit plate (coloured yellow on sketch) using 4x grade 8.8 countersunk M14 or 1/2UNF bolts (coloured blue on sketch) - length TBC 6) on rear, attach recovery point (design TBC, either a loop, swivel or pintle) with 4x nyloc grade 8.8 acorn/dome nuts (found these already - coloured green on sketch). Job done. Its actually not that much effort, I can have the plate made at work and the garage will be fitting the tubes - the only downside is its a tank-out job if I ever want to change it, but I'm already in that position with the jate rings I have currently (these are hard to fit on a PUMA and even with the modified install sit very close to the tank - just a couple of mm at the closest point, not happy with these).. It'll never be able to do crazy winch challenge snatch recoveries but even though the crossmember is apparently made from thinner steel when compared to a 300TDI I suspect the strength in a recovery situation won't be too far off, what with the large overly-thick spreader plate and crush tubes (not sure if a 300TDi had them). And that was good enough for the Camel Trophy. Still making my mind up on the recovery point - just have to make sure the acorn nuts don't interfere or cause a snag hazard, but suppose that's only an issue if using a pintle like I've shown in the sketch where the rope could be in contact with them behind the pin, a recovery loop on a backplate wouldn't have that issue. And no, I'm not doing any form of competition. What do you think - seem like a sensible approach?

Ha ha - its because I spend too much time over on the S2Club forum obsessing over originality on my S2As and viewing my 90 and a future collectors piece. Yeah - you're right. In the highly unlikely event I ever did want to fit 5.5j rims/750s then I could always pull the hubs and fit the old studs.