BogMonster

That's a very interesting point Andy ... with 205R16s on what would the clearance under the diff be? it would really P off somebody who had just spent a million quid on a set of 36" Simex to have you cruise past them on 205R16 remoulds

I agree. If you are not too short of cash but generally quite short of time (like me) or just lazy (also like me) or not much good at building stuff (also like me) or rapidly run out of patience/temper on anything that takes longer than half an hour to finish (definitely like me) that shouldn't be a reason to not do stuff. I have the greatest respect for all the folks that build everything themselves from scratch but I couldn't do half that stuff if I tried to because I'm rubbish at it. Even if I can do something, I look at it and decide whether I would rather make it or pay somebody else to and have all the time I saved to enjoy using it. Quite often the second argument wins!

Jules, What did you do to yours to solve it/what were the symptoms? On the ones I saw there was a huge loss of power, I guess the wastegate couldn't open/shut (whichever way it goes) because what happened was that a lot of dust gets into that silly little filter over time and then a good mouthful of water turns it all to mud which completely blocks the filter.... I guess a "robust solution" would be to extend the breather and route it into the clean side of the main engine air filter, that's what Land Rover did with the Defenders, which used to have the same silly little filter on early Td5s for the EGR modulator, and they had the same problem. Later Td5 Defenders have the breather from the EGR modulator routed to the airbox and it breathes into the clean side of the engine air filter. Not sure how easy it would be on a Td4 though as I seem to remember the air filter is a ground-breakiingly stupid arrangement and you need to take 1/2 the bluddy engine off to get to it I solved my problems by selling the Freelander and getting a V8 Discovery which was what I wanted in the first place anyway

Ah so. Air cooled V8. Velly clever

Cheapest I have found so far Famous Four at £124.50 That would be me then be a bit after tomorrow by the time it arrives though, about December is more likely I would have said the Safari was a lot bigger than 2.5" bore but I'll have to go and measure one, if the plastic is thick the internal bore might only be about that, not sure how thick they are.

One of mine is! rear right wheel, the others have still got shims I have an ongoing problem with squeaky brakes on one rear wheel. I still think it is something to do with the wheel bearings as it sometimes appears when cornering indicating a small amount of play in the bearing. As part of the "fiddling process" (before I gave up) this wheel was converted back to double nuts/lockwashers as found on older vehicles, as I couldn't be bothered to be @r5ing around with stupid selectable shims, with the old arrangement you know when it's tight because you can feel it! Didn't cure the squeak though but it is an easy mod to make, just pull the shim out and throw it and the stake nut away, then fit the washers and nuts as used on older vehicles, stub axle thread is the same.

So far I have not seen a black ball with corrosion problems, whereas the problem with the chrome balls is that the plating goes after a few years, giving a rough surface which tears up the seal and causes major leaks - put a new seal in and it can be leaking in about a week (guess how I know that... "economy" repair a couple of years ago on the old 90 which then had to be done again ) In routine servicing, people here generally reckon that the grease in swivels is what is responsible for contamination of the front axle oil, on greased vehicles the front diff oil very often comes out looking really gungy and it is almost certainly migration of the grease into the oil. Put EP 90 in both and it isn't a problem of course

Ah I see! I'll put my tow rope in the back then

Wot the f are you lot on about, running over tow ropes tied to snorkels? there is obviously a story behind this that I haven't heard!!! What is the attachment to the wing then? the bracket that goes onto the windscreen frame is a lot stronger than the other ones I have seen. Tony I don't really like the appearance of the Southdown one, it was a monstrous price last time I looked and it also means chopping a hole in the top of the wing which I don't want to do either - and I'm not 100% convinced it will fit with the Brownchurch roofrack struts anyway? There are no trees to run in to here so the fact that the Safari sticks out a bit more is not a problem Just out of interest what is the diameter of the drainpipe on the Southdown? just wondering if there is anything in it as far as restriction on the air intake goes as with intercooler/pump tweaks planned for the future I want lots of air So there are no good deals on offer then? Kind of hoped somebody was going to say "oh yes they are £50 cheaper than anywhere else at XXX" I might be able to get one from Bearmach at a good price as we do a lot of business with them through work (good prices on everything else, got a T-max hand winch on order at a lot less than the retail price...), will try that, any other supplier suggestions gratefully received... have also sent an email to Safari to see if they want a distributor here

AFAIK the genuine swivels are now only the black coated ones, no silver chromed ones available any more (s/s part number I think) so they must do for all...

I was looking at a Safari snorkel today, trying to seal the Rebel one I have was on the "to do" list but I think I might bin it and get a Safari one, the arrangement inside the wing is much, much better and does away with the stupid bits of joined together plastic that LR fit (and which the Mantec/Rebel snorkels still use) also it won't go rusty like the steel ones tend to do if you get a few stone chips in them. I hadn't done it before as I didn't think the Safari would fit with the roof rack stays (which go down to the windscreen frame "hinges") but having looked at the one at work today, in fact it sits outside that, so should fit just fine So, any good prices on offer and where from? Is there a "UK dealer" - couldn't find anything on the Safari Oz website. Ta

Les You use 90lbft and then half a grunt for the extra 1

Completely non LR related.... The company I work for has just bought some new Transit minibuses to do guided tourist excursions in ... but there is no way for the driver to talk to the passengers (except turning up his voicebox to volume 11!) What we are after is an in-car (or in-bus) PA system with a hand mic and a headset mic, that will allow the driver or guide to give a running commentary to the passengers without having to yell. However I haven't a frggn clue who makes this sort of stuff? The obvious solution would be a plug in head unit to replace the std radiocassette with one that has a microphone facility, and broadcast the free flowing bullsh*t commentary through the standard fit radio speakers, does anybody know of such things existing/who makes them/contact details etc? Preferably a supplier located in the UK. Any info would be appreciated as I guess I will end up having to find something and a Google search just turned up lots of people wanting to rent a bus with a PA system fitted Thanks

I have never liked grease but that is because I have emptied watery oil out of swivels in the past and 1) you can't easily change grease 2) I figure by the time grease is leaking out, lots of water might have leaked in a dodgy seal Very odd symptoms that you have there! I would put oil in my swivels but no drain bung and I can't be bothered with all the faffing around to pull it to bits and drill/tap drain holes

Humph! I didn't get any cookies....

Translation: hit it repeatedly with a 'kin big hammer

Nice one, I will have to remember that too Doggy doo would be another viable option 02GF74, my response to "Trick or treat" would be similar but along the lines of "No, the options available are 'F**k off or get a thick ear'!!"

I don't is the simple answer. They seem to cause more damage than they fix - I spent ages downloading some a year or so back and when installed they F'ed the whole system up such that I had to reinstall absolutely everything from scratch so now I just take the risk that a passing hacker might spot my ickle dialup connection peering out of the far south on the odd occasions its online! I think the downloads are 80MB or something stupid last time I looked so it would cost a bluddy fortune anyway! I think the LAN at work is supposed to be protected via the router etc - not my problem anyway The two computers on the parts database LAN have no net connection at all, as a deliberate policy I decided to keep them "clean" because if it ain't connected to anything then nothing can get in!! Les, thanks for the offer, but I could probably get hold of it somewhere here if I decided I needed to do an upgrade - or when we get broadband I might do it then (end of the year)

Yes it is networked - its on a network with 1 other machine (running w98) for the stock database. The database is held on this machine and they can both access that with no delay, it's printing and Word that causes bother. Oh well I guess maybe try reinstalling the whole lot and see what happens - more bluddy work Thanks for the info

Had to laugh ... having just sent you the email I sent earlier (hadn't read this) I haven't had any "audible" ones tonight but that could be because I unplugged the doorbell I was in a bad mood all evening after what happened a couple of years ago (little barstewards switched the gas to my gas barbecue on and could have blown my 'kin house to smithereens had I not wisely twiddled the isolator on the gas bottle when I finished burning some meat the night before) but as it turned out it has been a quiet evening last year the little swines were running round the house banging on all the windows because I ignored them banging on the door. I think for next year I am going to design a flamethrower just in case they come back B) PS I think it was probably the "goth prozzie" bit that might have upset yours - I'll have to remember that insult for next year

Hmmmm Now you mention it we have printing problems as well, we have an old Deskjet 690C in the office downstairs which I rescued from a skip as "completely beyond repair" about 3 years ago, bodged by me and still going strong but it doesn't work now, prints top half of page on one sheet of paper then the bottom half on the second sheet of paper. Printer works fine with another PC also running XP though, so not a printer hardware problem. Could it be related? That was my thinking - a P3 700 may not be bang up to date but it shouldn't be completely rubbish and I would expect it to run Office with no probs - having said that the Access database we run here for stock control seems to work OK on the same machine though, which is odd, its Word that is really painful. I didn't do the upgrade it was our IT person so not sure if "clean" or "upgraded"... just "knackered"! Thanks

Les if you leave them sticking out the pistons will knock them in the rest of the way

We have a Pentium 3 700 MHZ at work, which has just had Windows XP put on it. It is bluddy painful! slower than a 2.25 diesel 109" with a 3 ton trailer on the back Thinking it was memory (it only had 128MB) it was upgraded to 512MB but not much different. Is XP too much for a P3/700? - I would have thought it would run OK but it is awful... the same computer used to run Win 98 with no problems at all and just with 128MB in. Just basic stuff like opening a Word doc takes about a week Thanks Stephen

Tony Be careful with Td4s and water splashes like that, on mine and some others I know there is a breather from the turbo wastegate modulator which goes down the back of the engine and into a small inline air filter canister then vents to atmosphere from the filter. A good splash seems to get water in there v easily and I have seen a couple which have and they didn't like it much A solution is to extend the breather pipe to somewhere more sensible, a bit of windscreen washer tubing will push on to the "open" side of the inline filter and can be routed somewhere more sensible - assuming they haven't changed the design on later vehicles. IIRC I routed mine somewhere up round the ABS modulator However it sounds like taking the Freelander off road may present other more immediate hazards

How much are these then? I just looked on Ashcrofts website but can't see them on there