BogMonster

A couple of other thoughts.... 1) if you have a longer arm on the axle end, won't it seriously affect the amount of steering lock you can get with that combination of stg box and axle? The voices in my head had a bit of an argument about it and eventually suggested that if you double the distance from the track rod end to the pivot point (king pins) at the axle end, you would roughly halve the amount of lock produced for the same steering box movement ... ? i.e. you would need to increase the length of the droparm by the same proportion to keep the same lock. 2) Some later boxes e.g. Discovery Series 2 operate at a higher pressure so you might get more oomph out of a box/pump from one of those - I know that my D2 is far more effortless if you have to wind it lock to lock on a grippy surface, than the old Disco was. The ram idea sounds like a good one to me - or maybe something like the idea used on ZF front axles as fitted to some Case IH tractors etc, where the steering is hydrostatic and a ram is fitted to the axle to do steering and power assistance in one, seems pretty reliable on our two tractors and is well up behind the axle out of the way from damage etc. Can't remember if you could take it off the axle or if it is part of the casing though. Downside is that if you blow a hose you lose all steering and I am not sure whether hydrostatic steering with no mechanical link is road legal on anything apart from tractors ML is looking darned good though

James Are you sure it actually posted, as I have put things up in the past and not bothered waiting for the post to appear but hit the "back" button a few times to get out to a forum screen, then found the post has disappeared when I went back later to see if there were any replies Not guilty here BTW as I don't have mod privileges for that forum cheers Stephen

Do you think the RR steering box will cope with those 44" tyres - or are you "fiddling with it" somehow? Just wondering as a std steering box sometimes struggles with "normal" sized tyres. I suppose the tyre diameter doesn't necessarily make it a lot harder to turn but the width certainly does, 90's on 12.50" wide tyres sometimes just won't turn if the ground is a bit soft as there isn't enough power assistance to overcome the scrub/friction of the tyres. But I suppose ML (ooer I think there might be a trademark challenge from a certain German manufacturer there ) will be a lot lighter than a 90 - what's it going to weigh in at do you think? P.S. I think it will be a bit hard on wiper blades

Front springs are a lot softer so will be no good on the back. I seem to remember somebody telling me they fitted 90 front springs to the front of a Discovery which worked OK. Don't know if there is a "factory" HD front spring option, not heard of one though. Alternatively consider something like the Mill Services lifters, they give a "known amount of lift" and save a lot of messing about with spring rates etc.

Yeah Should hear the little b&&&&&s squeal when you wing 'em [redneck hollering voice] Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehawwwwwwwwwwwwwww! [/redneck hollering voice]

Quite a nice pair in your avatar to be getting along with

I thought it was 7.2 but not sure... Suggest slop in 7L and look at the dipstick seeing as that is wot it is there for.... No idea on oil pressure. More than a V8

235/85R16 are fine in practice on std 5.5in rims though insurers might disagree... LR and other mfrs don't recommend it but I know loads of people who use that combination and no problems. 265/75R16 will (might) split around the circumference of the tread if used on 5.5in rims, I have seen a number of BFGs fail in this way if used on the narrow rims The biggest thing for me is that the std rims are mostly tube type only, apart from the very latest where they have gone to tubeless rims on 2005 model 110s etc, look the same as the old steels but are tubeless

Dunno, if the earth moved I didn't notice - too busy away in the 90 shooting stuff for the freezer - fresh gosling legs and new potatoes straight from Dad's garden for supper, yum Off fishing this afternoon as it is an absolutely glorious sunny day here. Is it still snowing? Photos from Christmas will be posted when I get home, catching the ferry back tomorrow morning at 0600 and an hours drive to get there which means getting up at stupid o'clock

No, just change any suspect (or completely buggered!) pushrods, new belt, new rotator caps and any damaged rockers, refit rocker shaft and set valve clearances. As Tony said, a fairly easy job.

Trouble is that you can "think" you have it properly sealed - I already did I wasn't in the water for long enough to have the water entering from inside (only about 1/2" got in the footwells with the doors "closed" - LR door seals being what they are ), and I don't do that much deep wading, if there is a foot of water inside the vehicle I am going to have bigger problems anyway so draining the fuse box isn't going to be top of the list, I just want to stop it getting in from underneath during a quick submersion which on the face of it should be simple ... but Got a couple of good photos on the second run back through though, not as good as yours of Wales but still fairly respectable - wish there had been somebody on the outside with a camera too but I was by myself

Interesting ... wonder if this is "officially sanctioned"? Maybe LR have now had to make it available under the same EU directive as making the T4 system available. Also wonder how long they last - the "proper" Microcats now expire after a month or two and you have to install an update - so the $35 fee is actually a monthly fee not a one-off...

My old 8274 had a cast hawse, and it seemed to work OK, but I agree with Tony, rollers for wire rope or hawse for silly string. I changed the MM to hawse and silly string and haven't looked back

Most common source of leakage is the leak-off pipes rather than the actual metal injector pipes - those often need changing on a 300Tdi, and on a 200Tdi the washers on the top of the injectors leak. But I don't know about it affecting MPG by that much

Hmm Hadn't thought of using the 'fanny' off an air filter. When my Safari snorkel arrives I'll have one going spare, as I'll be replacing it with a WD40 cap for waterproofing. The only trouble is they aren't all that water proof in terms of letting water in the wrong way - but it might be OK. I'll do some "testing" - cheers for the idea The box has already been blitzed with silicone - which is annoying me because I can't see where the water got in, it should be watertight for a quick immersion like that (about 15 sec crossing the stream and about 30 crossing the main river) even if water would get in if submerged for a long time. I had to drill a hole in one corner and park it on a slope to drain the water out! Also, there is nothing like water coming over the bonnet to act as a sharp reminder that the previous owner never bothered to properly seal up the snorkel he fitted! Si - I'll also look into the auto-bail idea, thanks

I had an "interesting experience" yesterday crossing a stream (twice) - somewhat deeper than expected after v heavy rain for the last 2 days and a normally 8" deep stream on the farm started coming up over the bonnet! Twice because I then had to go back through it as there was no other way to get home. When I was drying out the inside later on I discovered that the compartment under the drivers seat ain't watertight. Now this being a Tdi, there's no ECU to worry about, but the late Tdi 90s still have the "engine compartment fuse box" under there, same as a Td5, plus the heater plug timer and a bit of wiring. There was about 1/2" of water in there after four bonnet-depth water crossings. I could just drill a hole and put a blanking grommet in that I could take out if it needs to be drained, but I wondered what other solutions there might be... ? So ... what would be ideal is some sort of one-way valve which will let water out, but not in, in other words if there is water in the compartment it will drain out through the valve but if the vehicle is in deep water it won't come in. I seem to recall that some old vehicles (series 3s??) had some sort of one way valve on the axle, to act as a breather but not let water in, would that work? or if not, any other ideas please? Oh and any recommendations for waterproof spotlights would also be welcome as the Ring ones on there leak a bit under 18" of water Happy New Year Stephen

Generally speaking you knock off 5% from the aspect ratio for every inch increase in rim size, so 235/85R16 235/80R17 235/75R18 etc etc should be roughly the same size within a few mm - near enough for gearing etc see also tyre size calculator very useful 20in alloys on a Series a bit bling though innit? Edited to say doh!! didn't spot Siggy's link....

The most important sensation when dealing with a sheep is taste..... [burp] Most of you lot in Europe would need a second mortgage to buy that much lamb

You need two pairs of hands even when the vice is attached to the bench... 1 hand to turn vice 1 to hold one socket 1 to hold other socket 1 to hold propshaft so holding the vice down as well is probably not practical That's how I do it, with 2 sockets and a vice. Just be careful not to crack the cup when pushing it back in

Actually it needs to be a 4.9" cut as a "90" is 92.9in Get it wrong and you'll end up with something dodgy you then need to unload on ebay

How about a sort of snowblower thing which carefully scoops up the errant jaywalker, and harmlessly deposits them in the adjacent hedge

Correct Dave Summer hasn't been much so far but the last few days have been OK: Xmas day: Barbecue / beer / sunburnt Boxing day: Barbecue / beer / applied sun cream / still got sunburnt 27th: Day up exploring the hills with some others / managed to include a barbecue on top of a mountain (not far from where the photo was taken), and my right arm is now getting quite brown where it was hanging out the window Today: local sheep show / also managed to include a huge barbecue (for about 100 people), quite a lot of beer, and a bit more sunburn so now my nose and ears are peeling Godforsaken frozen rock this is, don't know why I stay here really

Snow? No chance BBQ weather... this is what I was doing today... Gotta go and dig out some "after sun" as the hole in the ozone layer made itself felt! If you need a tow Martin give me a shout, I should be there by about half past October

It's a pre-knackered one that will wear out in half the time but give better articulation while it lasts

All Series 2 Discoverys use the same wheel fitment, which is also the same as the P38a Range Rover in PCD etc. Probably the cheapest option would be to look out for a set of ex RR 16" alloys second hand, I gather a lot of people upgrade to 18s, though I think the vehicles look better with 16s - low profile rims on a 4x4 look cr&p IMHO! But plenty (in fact most) S2 Discoverys will have had 16s fitted, there are 7x16 and 8x16 alloy rims in a few different styles, and 7x16 steels. I think the nuts will be the same for all the alloys, steel nuts are different. The 16" rims have 235/70R16 or 255/65R16 tyres fitted, on 7x16 and 8x16 rims respectively. Either of these tyre sizes will be the same diameter (more or less - maybe a few mm difference) as the 18s on there. You can get adaptors/spacers to put D2 wheels on D1s but not sure about the other way round - but personally I don't like this idea anyway. I use 255/70R16s on my D2 (BFG ATs) and I like the improvement in ride comfort these give, I have not found the handling a problem in any way and it is miles ahead of my old Discovery.