gordonendersby

There was a defender in one of the mags a few years ago, where the owner had fitted air suspension so he could get in and out easier. I'm sure you could find help in the landy community to find a solution. It sounds like an interesting challenge. You could also have a look at the hacker and maker space communites. They like a challenge. Gordon

When we first got our Utonagan we were told all large breeds should be treated with care when they were young and not over exercised So as the defender I had at the time was quite a long way up to get into I used one of those plastic extending ramps. He got very heavy very quickly so lifting was out of the question. We also had a large dog cage in the back for him. The cage sat on a plywood shelf across the wheel arches so we had a void underneath. The ramp was kept under the shelf so the sliding ramp just had to be pulled out and extended for the dog to climb up. There was also enough room for a long shallow plastic crate to be slid in next to it for all my recovery gear. Im sure when he gets old Ill end up using it again. Gordon

Those are the ones and thats a good price. Half of what ive seen when I was looking for them before. I think ill grab some of ebay. Got to get the rails in my latest 110 as I hate not being able to secure stuff in the back. The dog doesnt like boxes tumbling into him either. Are yours on the floor? I put mine on the sides of the wheel boxes against the floor. I also want to work out a way to run a couple of lengths along under the rear windows as well. Once thats done I was thinking about making some kind of barrier that clips into the rail to seperate the load area and keep the luggage towards the dog guard behind the passenger seats. So the dog has room right at the back. Along the lines of those sprung extendible poles that clip into this sort of tracking in lorries. A "T" shaped piece of ply with the poles attached to the top and bottom to slip into the track. I found the people I bought my 2 lengths of tracking from http://www.nationwide-trailer-parts.co.uk/zinc-plated-1806-track.html I also got some of the plastic ends to tidy it up. Gordon

Yes those are the claw hooks Ive looked at. There are some light use ratchet straps Ive seen around with those very ends already stitched on that are on my wanted list. Gordon

I used some of this as tie down points in the back of my 110 station wagon. One length is enough for both sides in the back of the station wagon. Good cheap solution. Ive the other length waiting to go in my latest 110. I did find that not all ratchet tie down hooks would fit. I had to stretch some hooks in the vice so they would fit. The small claw type are best. Gordon

The speakers have holes cut into the front of the seat box. Seams to be plenty of room for the speakers. Just in a very vulnerable place for damage. Gordon

I have speakers on the front face of the seat box The previous owner must have fitted them there. But plan to fit replacements to the headlining or door cards. The reason being they look to have had the bejesus kicked out of them and are now knackered. Theys seam to be in just the right place to kick them with your heal. Nice idea but you would need some form of metal grill over them to protect them. Gordon

Ive got an unused set of YRM galvanised sills left over if you are interested. They have been primed and painted black. Was in the process of replacing them on my last 110 but it was stolen before I got the chance. Also have the under body cross member and a rear body outrigger if you need them. Not needed for the replacement vehicle. Gordon

I replaced the tin one on my old 1984 110 V8 station wagon for the same reason. The later plastic one fitted with no problem and worked fine. The plastic ones feel more solid and unbreakable. Gordon

Ive installed CCTV now after mine was stolen from the drive. Built from http://www.zoneminder.com/ Covers the drive and garage with recording on motion detection. Also a tracker and a fuel/power cut off that can be activated by the tracker. Sms/text based so it can be controlled/tracked by my smartphone. Also one of those enormous steering wheel locks. All so I can own a 20 year old vehicle. Pathetic isnt it. Gordon

Ive recently gone through the same thing with my 110 being stolen and recovered. Vehicle stripped of seats and interior, wheels and tyres, other damage due to the what they did with it. Right pain in the ass and they tried to wriggle out of paying out. Different insurer to you though. They said as I had been working on it on my drive and not in a full lockup or commercial garage they wouldnt pay out. They didnt consider the vehicle was properly secured and I hadnt taken reasonable care of the vehicle. I had been working on the C pillar so had the floor out and the little panel behind the rear doors. Got it all sorted out to my satisfaction in the end but I had to call them nearly every day to get it sorted. After it was sorted I got my phone bill. Nearly £60.00 in calls to there number!!!!!!!! So check there numbers and ensure its at local call rates and not a premium number. Good luck, Gordon

The last set I bought were the Insa Turbo Rangers, they are AT and I found them great on my 110. They are remoulds but seemed to be well made. Very good for the price I bought a set of five on steel modular wheels for around £650.00. Thats Tyres and wheels delivered, good value for a full set. I found them good on the road and in the snow. I didnt get a chance for green laning as the defender 110 got stolen before I had a chance. But I would buy them again. The tyres that came with my present 110 defender are Cooper s/t all terrains and seem to be a good tyre. Havnt had a chance to test them in the snow or laning but they are very expensive. Gordon

Just the man. It runs fine its just the idle isnt high enough to stay running so it stops without help from the peddle. I used both scriber and mobile phone with decent camera. I tried cleaning the little splines on the arm when I put it on yesterday. Had a play again today. Still couldnt seem to get it to line up exactly as I had it before so screwed out the idle screw and got it idling correctly. Screwed back the travel limiter screw so the armature would travel a bit further but only as much as the idle screw. Thats not the max revs screw. I left that how I found it. Now it idles and pulls properly with full travel on the pedal. I cant see how it can cause any problem adjusting the two screws. They just limit the travel of the arm and in this case the arm has seemingly moved round about 1 degree or so. So moving the limits on the travel of the arm leaves the spindle in the same position as before I pulled it apart. The only thing I can think of is that the teeth on the new accelerator spindle are slightly out of sync with the old one. No way or really checking without pulling it apart again, which im not going to do as its now accelerating properly. Gordon

Hi All, Sorry a bit long but I would appreciate some advice on this before I take it all apart again. This morning I replaced the spindle and seal on my 300tdi injector pump as per simonb's excellent instructions here. http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=15329 I need a second opinion as its not idling but running fine if I adjust up the idle. Im wondering if I mis measured the position of the idle screw as it runs fine other than that. Heres what I did. I cleaned up the area and read the instructions a couple of times. Measured everything as I went and marked the position of the slot in the top of the spindle. Everything went as per the instructions and looked good. Replaced the spindle and seal. The bush looked perfect so didnt replace the bush. Replace the seal on the body as well. Put it all back together. Went back together easily first time. Put back the screws for idle and max speed. Measured them all twice to make sure. The throttle linkage that bolts to the spindle was a pig getting it in the right place on the splines with the spring. It seemed to line up with my marks and with the photos id taken on my phone. But it looked like it was half a spline out possibly? I tried re fitting it several times but still seemed slightly out. I put it down to my eyes or being a tiny bit out on my marks. Bled the injector pump by runnning the starter without power to the stop solenoid as per the instructions. Put the lead back on the stop solenoid and run it up. Started on the button with a little throttle and ran fine But wouldnt idle if I took my foot of the peddle. So took the arm of the spindle again and tried refitting it by turning it a bit more to try and match my marks. But its like the arm splines wont let me put the arm in just the place I want it. Put it all back together with the idle screw turned up a bit and went for a run to warm it up. No leaks and it all looked good. It runs fine. picks up well. But it seems to feel like I should be able to put my foot down a bit further on the peddle but its against the stops both on the injector throttle stop and the peddle stop and if I let the peddle out too quick it shudders as though it was too low on the idle. After all the preamble heres the advice I need. It looks like I could screw in the idle stop a bit and screw out the throttle arm stop a bit and it would be as it was before I took it all apart and replaced the spindle. Effectively the same as moving the throttle arm round a degree or so. to make up for the spindle splines being slightly out. Should I do this or should I pull it all apart again and check everything over inside the injector pump. But to my eyes it all looked good with the spindle in the correct position and the springs under the tines of the spindle arm were all in the correct position. I cant see how I could have got it wrong if the top went back on properly. Also as a sanity check. I found a small steel pin laying near to where I was working but couldnt see anywhere it could have come from. Please tell me it didnt fall out of the top case of the injector pump and is the cause of my problems. Bloody typical I thought Id picked out a clean parts tray but found this stuck in the corner of the tray by a bit of grease. While im waiting for the experts Im going to look at the washing machine that has decided to leak while I was out in the workshop. Bloody typical. Thanks for reading my novel. and id appreciate any advice on this. Gordon

I think Im going to have to try Silka next time. Ive got a pair of second hand rock sliders needing cleaning up and painting soon. Ill read there data sheets before buying though at that price. Need to check how it deals with rust and if the rust needs special treatment. Gordon

You need to treat the galvanising with Mordent T wash to prepare it for any coating unless its been in the open air for a couple of years. It takes off the shine and primes the surface otherwise any coating just falls of. I think even any of the galvanising specific paints will need it as its a new coating. Gordon

Warning to all. Had my landy stolen the other week, it was recovered but lots missing and damage. Including the screen for the rear view camera. Anyway the camera and screen are not covered under vehicle insurance as they are not a land rover fitted item. I was "advised" to claim on my home insurance for personal effects. Also the same for the dog guard. In the end they admitted that I had cover up to £200 for stuff in the car but it wouldnt cover everything and they wanted proof of purchase and photo evidence of the fitting. So at the least keep the receipts and photo the fittings in the car so you have evidence. Gordon

Ive just been looking on ebay for prices for replacing mine and noticed you were in the process of selling yours. You havnt given details to someone dodgy through ebay have you? What a pain in the ass. Gordon

Got mine back yesterday but they had stripped off a load of bits. Looks like it will be written off. Assessor coming on Thursday. Looks more like they stripped it for there own vehicle as things like the screen wash jet had been taken out carefully but to get to it they ripped a hole in the dash. Seats taken and nearly new wheels and rims. The engine is now very smoky as well as the rear body being twisted due to the parts I had off while working on the chassis and strengtheners under the body. They must have taken it over something rough and without the strengthening it all twisted. I hop you find yours in better shape than mine but you might not want it back when they have finished with it. Good luck. Gordon

Dont forget the split front doors with sliding windows and lift up handles. Had these on my early V8 110 from 84. Gordon

For new galvanised surfaces you need mordant T wash. The galvanising process seems to be impregnated with a greasy deposit. Panel wipe wont cut in to it. Ive just had new galvanised parts from YRM that I wanted painted. I needed to treat it with T wash before the primer and paint would stick to it. I should imagine to get anything to stick to it properly you will need to treat it. But it does darken the finish. Gordon

I was looking at the Stainless foot wells from yrm on there site the other week. Is there any advantage attaching stainless foot wells to the standard metal bulkhead? Gordon

Ive just gone through the same process but got given a stick for last xmas. I could not get the hang of the stick. Especially on any of the steel gauge id want to work on on my 110. I gave up in the end and last week bought a Clarke 135TE. It can run gas less but im using gas. Easier to weld with. Ive gone from chicken poo and blowing holes with the stick to reasonable welds in a few hours and perfectly confident that with a bit more practice I can do anything I need to on the chassis to a safe and strong standard. Thats repairs not fabrication from scratch. I thought learning on a stick, as it needs more technique, would be a good start but hadnt counted on it being so difficult. Especially if you cant get lessons from someone who knows what they are doing. Go for the best mig you can afford but factor in all the other bits and pieces you will need. Get an auto darkening helmet. Raid the cut off bin of a local fabricator for practice pieces they will often just want a drink for it. Ive been told the 135te should be up to any of the repairs I need on the chassis. Ive also got stuff to do on the pillars and it will be ok for the thinner stuff. Next year Ive got tosort out the bulkhead and again it should be up to the job. Im ok for sheltering from the wind as I have a garage to use. So the gas shouldnt get blown away. Outside in the wind is when the stick comes in handy but gas less wire canbe usd in the mig. Gordon

As long as your screen supports it there should be two video inputs. One for regular feed and one for the reversing camera. The usual feed is interrupted when the the reversing camera comes on and sends video to the screen. You need your reversing camera powered by your reversing light. Just patch in to the positive feed to your reversing light so the camera comes on with the reversing light. So its just a matter of plugging your two video sources in and the screen switches automatically when the reversing camera comes on. Gordon

Motorcycle bench lift. Couldnt live without one now. Playing with my Bikes. Bought a bicycle clamp stand. Same idea lifting the bicycle to working height. Now if only I had somewhere and the money for 4 post lift for the defender and a tall enough garage for it to fi in. Gordon