Betsy

I just got some new uj's for my Mayflower winch. Paid £30 each from PG. He tells me no spares for the drive shaft are available at the moment. Its a good job I managed to get a complete Fairey winch complete with PTO and a reasonable drive shaft with a good centre bearing from the auto jumble at Billing .

We are planning a trip into the Lake District next week, via Yorkshire. One of the lanes we were planning on driving is The Highway. The National Parks website has just been updated with a note saying that there are a number of "Legally Accepted" narrow gates in the National Park. Can anyone tell me whether its still ok and a 109, Disco, and a RRC will fit said gates?

Well, I enjoyed it. I only went for the social. Its the third time I've been and each time something interesting happens. 1st it was the air ambulance landing in the camp field, then the tornado and storm last year, and this year the biblical rain. Great Show! Next year its a plague of locusts!

Went to Billing, Thursday through Sunday. We took the caravan and stayed on the overflow camp. We were in the lower field on the DISCO3 camp. We had a great party under the awning and tarpaulin each night. I did not do the off-road course this year, it looked a bit busy. Watched a few people getting stuck in the mud run though, and the water crossing claimed a few victims. We had great fun getting some of the vehicles off the camp site, so in the end we took the caravans out of another gate we found, and went across the next field and up to the road.

Drove the Peaks lanes at the weekend, very few other motorised users. Saw two other vehicles, a D2 and a Nissan Patrol. Lots of Mountain bikers, and Ramblers. No hassles though.

Well, I walked the famous Walna Scar road in the Lale District recently, and it is in fantastic condition! all nice and smooth with a new surface. My mate walked the Gap road in Brecon last week, and reported it just as it always was. IMO the Councils and NPA's are spending money maintaining the closed lanes to a higher standard than the byways and ucr's that we can still drive. I smell a rat with this, as they will in future probably use the comparison to demonstrate yet more reason to ban vehicles from routes. I always was a cynical old git!

This is what it can be like. Betsy swimming. Strata swimming

Most insurance is the same unfortunately. NFU, and Land Rovers own insurance do cover genuine off-road cover. Greenlaning cover is a con, because they are public roads! all insurance has to cover minimum third party on green lanes. Some offer full comp on green lanes. NFU & Land Rover are full comp all driving, unless its a rally or speed trial. I know someone who stuffed his D3 into a tree, and did 1000's worth of damage. LR insurance paid up no questions.

Thats very cool indeed. I'd pay good money for one of them B)

I had fitted a copper gasket when I rebuilt my engine 2 years ago. A few months back it failed between pots 3 and 4. It started off sounding like the engine was 'pinking', it got worse over a period of about 10 miles then stopped completely. I replaced it with a composite gasket, and its been fine ever since.

Ok, whats a belly PTO? I presume from the name that it sits under the engine or gearbox, but surely that would really compromise the ground clearance, especially on a 109.

I'll try and remember when it stops raining!

B) First use in anger over the weekend Hauling my 2a up a rocky lane. I would normally have driven up, but was anxious to try the winch out. My mate in his Disco drove up the lane first and then we attached the cable, and started winching. All was going very smooth until the front wheel came up against a large rock. Then the shear pin broke! I now know how big a pain that would be if she was stuck up to her windows in mud!. I have a cubby box in the middle, and have to crawl under to replace it. I then drove it up over the rock, and carried on winching. The one thing with these winches, is you cannot really tell how hard its pulling until the pin breaks. I was winching in 2nd gear, as 4th seemed a little fast. The cable had also bunched up on one side of the drum, so that may have contributed to the pin shearing. Anyway, I shall be thinking of modifying the cubby box to allow a hatch in the bottom to get to the pin a little easier.

Yes, I have fallen foul of this before. The rear shoes are handed. The adjustment post is higher on the front shoe, than the rear shoe (could be the other way round, need to check). If you put the shoes ass about face, then the adjusters do not sit square against the post and slip around it. A symptom of this is when pulling up to a halt, the brake pedal drops a little as the car rocks back after stopping. It took me ages to work this one out! If you remove the rear shoes, measure the distance to the centre of the adjuster from the face of the cylinder casing. This will identify if my theory is correct.

I had a D2, and it leaked like a seive! The front sunroof has the worst design imaginable. If the seal is 100% then it might be ok, but it can also leak between the frame and the roof. If it does let water in, the drains are attached to plastic blocks which also leak. Same can apply to the rear roof also. If you still want to use the sunroof, smear some vaseline onto the seal for a temp repair. If you are not bothered, seal it up with silicone. Also, my D2 leaked from the windscreen, and the door seals.

Well, White is the new Silver!!! I voted for Chawton White, I have just seen a Dicovery 3 with all the G4 kit in Chawton white, with black wheels, and it looked absolutely stunning. I think a kitted Defender 2 would look just as good. Why follow the crowd?

Originally my 2a (66) had a rad with a large brass header tank, it was much deeper than the current series 3 rad I have fitted. I have been looking for a good original rad, but they are hard to come by now. I wish I had kept the old one for recon, but at the time I did not realise the value.

Yes, CP Components parabolics, with extended shackles. They seem ok. I have not gone off-road yet, but they seem to be fine so far.

How do I do that then? the drum turns one way when using forward gears, the other in reverse. To do what you say would mean winching in reverse? I have downloaded an installation and operation manua, and it says winching is normally done in 4th gear. I can see what you mean though, but it sure is a heavy duty mounting.

Finished of the Mayflower installation last night. Looks really good on the vehicle, and it works very smoothly to. Did a few test pulls by winching the Disco 3 up the drive a few time. The operation is smooth and very quiet. Its amazing how the 2/14 engine can pull the D3 up the hill without even straining. It just keeps idling away. I've not tried straining the winch until I get the proper shear pins. I have some on order. Here's some pictures.

Ok, got the wheels and tyres fitted. They are a little wider in the sidewall, the tread is also wider. The diameter is slightly smaller than the SAGs, meaning the grearing is slightly reduced, and the GPS speed is about 8mph slower than the speedometer. Thats not a problem, it was 5 mph slow on the SAGS. The wheels are offset by about 2 inches, this means the edge of the tyre is just about covered by the wheel arch at the front. The car looks great on these wheels and rims, gives it a wider stance. The difference on the road is simply stunning. I can hear noises that I never heard before over the drone of the SAGS, and the steering is much better and precise. There are no problems with steering lock, as the wheels are offset to cater for the extra width. The only downside is that the spare wheel mount on the bonnet needs longer studs, and the second spare won't fit the well behind the drivers seat. I also will need to keep an eye on wheel bearings and swivel adjustment because of the extra offset I suppose.

I was looking at one in the show room at Guy Salmon the other day, and I noticed that too. It seems that the wax is sprayed on from one direction, and everything in the 'shadow' of a component (such as an axle, or a bolt head etc.) gets missed by the wax. Apart from that, I like it very much. It just gets better.

Cheers Les, I will have a look when I get chance. I have not yet attempted the job again. I suspect you may be correct. In which case, how difficult is it to reset the pinion with new bearings? I do not fancy a full axle strip down. Maybe keep an eye out for another (better?) 109" Salisbury on classifieds?

Bill, thanks for that. I'd say it was the last 1/2 turn that it really needed a bit of grunt, so I'm confident that I did not misjudge the tightening procedure. Having just had another look, the seal is hard up against the flange shoulder, I can't get a feeler guage in, so it looks like the seal has not seated properly. Also, it looks like some of the oil is coming round the outside of the seal, so that backs the theory up. I'll try and take a close up photo later and post it. What compound is used to seal the seal in the housing? I used hermetite red, but maybe this is not correct?

My Salisbury rear axle has been leaking oil from the pinion seal, and recently it got much worse. I removed the prop-shaft, carefully marked the relative position of the shaft/nut/flange, and removed the nut and flange. Counting 11 turns to get the nut off. I prised the old seal out, and replaced with a new seal. I did not have a large enough oil-seal replacer, so used a block of wood to tap the seal in. I greased the flange, and lined everything up and replaced the flange, washer and nut, counting 10 turns easily, but the last turn took all my strength on a 2.5 ft breaker bar to re-align the marks. The pinion was stiff to turn. However I thought it must be right, so filled the axle with oil and went for a test run. On my return I was dismayed to see oil leaking from the seal. The pinion had loosed off a little, and was easier to turn, although with a little resistance. It was very hot though! I obviously got something wrong, so do you all reckon I've knackered the pinion bearing, or maybe I did not drive the seal fully home? The metal plate that contains the seal is perfectly flush with the nose casing of the diff housing, and is very close or even up against the shoulder of the drive flange. The seals are cheap and I will of course have another go, but is there anything else I should know?