BogMonster

It is probably about time somebody got unpleasant though...

As you will know the rear face of the Defender crossmember has six holes in it, four for the M12 bolts used for a NATO hitch and 2 x M16s under that which most ball type hitches use. On the standard SD guard the guard only covers the two M16s on the rear face, but I wanted maximum strength and I also wanted to keep the option of having a NATO hitch mounted straight on to the crossmember, so it benefited from the extra strength of the guard. So Dave made up one with an extended "tongue" that goes right up over all six holes, meaning that instead of 11 bolts holding the standard guard on, mine has 15. It's only a little mod but I figured worth the extra. I believe in overkill and short of cutting off the rear crossmember and starting again from scratch, this is about as strong as you can make a Td5 chassis for towing purposes as it uses all 6 holes on the rear of the crossmember, plus the three underneath the crossmember, the four anti roll bar bolts and two through the chassis where the tiedown rings attach. Basically if I manage to rip this off it should take with it most of the vehicle behind the second row seats and if that happens I reckon I will probably have been trying a bit hard

No, but it just about went out through the back window of my Discovery when the box fell over in the back, bit too much right foot I don't think it will bend in a hurry, being about 10mm steel I could hardly lift it Pics will follow when fitted - you might find others wanting the modded version too

They run better on kero than on petrol tho...

Yeah yeah yeah gimme a blddy chance

Well I have just got my modified Southdown guard (takes a while to get stuff here!) and I have to say, first impressions, beautiful bit of work, the laser cutting (or whatever it is) is really nice, absolutely perfect welding and the whole thing is built like a brick <ahem>house, initial impressions are that it may not be cheap but you definitely gets what you pays for Only thing is, having seen the quality of the work I now wish I had asked Dave to make up the other special drop plate bracket I wanted at the same time... Just gotta persuade the other half that fitting it is more important than the wooden flooring for the entire house which also arrives today

Soapy water, you will probably find that the leak is where the air spring rolls back inside itself when the vehicle is at "normal" ride height from the ones I have seen. Also check for chafed pipes to the springs as that can cause much the same problem!

I enquired about kero for reasons I won't go into (but it might have been something to do with green vehicles) and Land Rover said that you should not use it in Td5s under any circumstances and all warranty would be out the window. I also read somewhere that they used it in Iraq on the basis that the cost of repairs was much less than the cost/hassle of bringing in and using a different fuel in an operational theatre. Military budgets work in different ways sometimes

Well done, glad you got it fixed

All the ones up to 2006 model year are still 1.4:1, both Tdi and Td5. The transfer boxes are quieter than they used to be and I think have new gears in them from some time during the Td5s, though it is interesting that while high range is quieter, both my 2004 90, and the brand new 110, are both noticeably noisier in low range when pulling fairly hard across soft ground at low revs, there is a definite "grindiness" to the soundtrack which the old red 90 (1995 model) never had. Swings and roundabouts then... The new Ford engines are 1.2:1 transfer boxes according to everything I have read, but maybe the primary gearbox ratios are completely different too with it being a six speed, so you probably can't directly compare the two.

I can say (because we have sh*t fuel here) that it is a lot less fussy about fuel quality than the common rail engines like the Td4 which really don't get on with low quality fuel at all. The high fuel pressure is generated inside each injector which has a plunger driven off a camshaft lobe, so the fuel rail in the head is fed by the in tank pump at about 58psi and then the 25000psi or whatever it is, comes only inside the injector. The electrical part is just a solenoid that releases the pressure at the appointed time when the ECU decides it seems like a good idea. I think the problem you might have with alternative fuels is the in tank fuel pump, because that is what always packs up on them here if they have had some dodgy fuel in. If biodiesel is much thicker than normal diesel (I don't know), the pump won't like it.

Steel wheels rust in 8 minutes, alloys don't they will suffer corrosion eventually but it isn't usually a major problem. I've been running alloys for a couple of years now, most of the time, and I have not damaged anything yet, but it does depend on what sort of off-road terrain you are driving in - soft peat doesn't really cause any damage but deep rocky ruts might well do. Both of my sets of alloys have been near as dammit free though (bit of wheeling and dealing!) so if I prang one, it won't really bother me

No but I am just saying that it shouldn't be taken as being OK to do on a road vehicle Helpfully I found the photos I had which were on the PC at work, this is what happens when you run wide tyres on narrow rims on the road: these were about half worn BFG MT's, 265/75R16 on 5.5" Defender steels - doesn't take much imagination to visualise that this would have resulted in a hell of a bang and a two-piece tyre before too much longer

Apart from the tyre carcass splitting around the middle I have seen this on loads of BFG 265/75R16 fitted to 5.5in steel rims. I wouldn't run 12.50s on 7" rims for that reason, at least not on road at high speed. Second set of tyres for off road use would be fine I expect but it forces the tyre carcass out of its intended shape and causes a circumferential split which goes right the way round the carcass. I used to have a photo of one somewhere but I can't find it

Congrats What do you call a baby hobbit?

correct - except that the activation temp is below +5, at least it was on mine. Little exhaust sticking out the LH side of the front bumper is the giveaway.

Yes but you need to push it bluddy fast is the answer! If the battery has enough life in it to light up the dash lights then it will hold the fuel solenoid in OK, but if it doesn't, then you need to get the engine spinning fast enough for the alternator to wake up and provide some electricity - and bear in mind it is also feeding a dead battery too. You would never really push start it - bump starting on a reasonable hill is possible (you'll probably need 10-15mph before you let the clutch out), as is a tow start. It isn't something to attempt in your driveway...

Could very well be the starter motor solenoid contacts, the typical symptoms of those failing are that you need to turn the key a few times to get the starter to work and it gradually gets worse till it doesn't go at all. Check this post http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=12088 full details are given or you could change the starter motor but I know what I would do!

They probably are, I know the Tdi and V8 boxes have a different first gear ratio, read it in some manual or other a while ago but I don't have the info to hand.

Is it one of the electric ones, or the diesel fuelled burner type?

Put that wooden spoon away Sir!

I think you will probably need to extend the bonnet upwards if you mount a Td5 intercooler on its side

waste of time I would have thought, easier to get a proper upgraded one with the pipes on the right side of the engine bay

Under what exact conditions i.e. when you first take off and accelerate, during gearchanges, under light load, under heavy load, on the over-run etc etc. It's probably something to do with the planetary gears in the diff. My Discovery does something similar. It has done for a few years. I figure if the click makes a bid for freedom I will worry about it then

I changed the injectors in my old old 90 when it was about 10 yrs old and can't say I noticed any difference at all. I did it because I had been told somewhere that the useful life is about 60k miles but I know one vehicle here which has 170k miles and is still on the original injectors, it doesn't run that well but the rest of the vehicle is knackered anyway (for 170k miles here read about 400k miles in terms of wear and tear in most parts of the world)