Gringo

Yes! That one would work. Problem is getting it from his driveway, suitably packaged, and then onto a boat or airplane to Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands. I guess I need to be looking for some kind of pickup packup and shippit services. Or a source that regularly does that, breaks up Defenders into big pieces and ships them outside UK.

thanks, but the plan is to turn it into a pickup truck. Has the remnants of a full hood on it now. I'm looking for the hard pickup top with rear windows, etc..

Do any of you guys know of a source for a pickup truck style hard top that will fit an '06 90 Tdi? I'm lookin for someone who could handle strapping it to a pallet and shipping internationally.

You wouldn't by any chance have any photos of one of those, would you? Did you install a rear window?

You know, it took me a moment ( my primary language is Texan) but I actually understood that! Of course I've been following this forum for some time now and the Landy lingo lingers. Maintaining a partial set of Defenders will teach an American a completely new language if he has to order all his parts from the UK. And thanks for that idea. I have most of an 8 ft. diameter sat dish still here, destroyed by Hurricane Hanna in '08. It wouldn't be smooth like fresh sheet, of course. Hurricanes have that effect on satellite dishes. But I might be able to work with that. Beat the whole thing up with a hammer for 'texture', Make it in sections like an Airstream trailer ( no, wait...Caravan! ) does in the curved ends. Overlapping armor like an ambling armadillo. say that three times fast...

Yes, I think that probably makes sense. That was more or less my original post here. I got sidetracked when I learned about the galvanised chassis. Because the truth is that I love that 90 and am going to be real sad to see it gol I can find some kind of girder locally. If it were up to me, a section of railroad steel would work nicely. But C channel shouldn't be hard to find. I still have a problem with the scrap of canvas over the top being all that's left of the original soft top, but I can probably work with that. I'll cut some plywood to slide under it. We don't get that much rain here, anyhow. And someone here will want it eventually, once word gets around that it's for sale at a reasonable price. There are only about 18000 full time residents on this island. Small community when it comes to Land Rover fans. Some with incredibly deep pockets, too.

You're right. After sleeping on it, it's just too much of a project for me right now. Too many other things going on. I don't need a Defender sitting in pieces for the next two years while I import parts from the UK. For example, that nice galvanized chassis....$ 1600 USD in UK. BUT I have to ship it over here, and it's bulky and heavy. I am guessing, based upon a quote for a hard top last year, at least another thousand dollars in shipping costs. Plus, when it gets here, I pay 36% of it's value in present import duties. The TCI is all screwed up with customs duties at the moment, not likely to change any time soon. So, that's another $ 576. There's a $25 processing fee with the shipper at this end to stand in line and handle the Customs BS...so lets just call that $ 600. So, for me to even SEE a galvanized chassis will cost me, conservatively, $3200. Twice what you guys pay for it in the UK. Delivery? A month, if I'm lucky. And once I start pulling stuff off this vehicle, a lot of it would be too rusty to want to put back on. Meanwhile I have this old English 12 meter catamaran we bought last year that needs a lot of my time and money to return to pristine condition, after we got hit by lightning just north of Chub Cay in the Bahamas while sailing it down here. Hmm..What would I rather spend the next year doing...paying twice as much as needed and putting all my free time into building another vehicle? Or putting that time and money into turning this boat into a really nice cruising catamaran for two? Not much of a choice, is it. Vehicles are vehicles. You never get your money back. But a well designed and up to date cruising sailboat of that vintage holds it's value. They only made 27 of those, and we have # 25. tough choice, but I think I am going to have to let the Defenders go back to that big ore heap in the sky.

I was talking to La Gringa's flight instructor this morning. He's possibly interested in buying the 110 from us, he wants the Tdi out of it. He's a Brit with a newer 110 and he was telling me that it wasn't all that much work to replace the entire chassis with a galvanized one. That sounds interesting to me, because the local Land Rover dealer is offering us diddly squat trade in for them. I KNOW this 90 is worth more than $ 3500. I am considering what would be involved in keeping the 90, and actually fixing it right. I have the garage and workshop space, and the tools, and have rebuilt a number of vehicles and engines over the years. Automobile, 4x4, boat, motorcycle and aircraft. But I am concerned about how much work it would be, one guy working alone. I have built an overhead hoist in my garage, and have lifted a 500 lb. outboard motor with it, with no problem. What's the heaviest component of a 90,. the engine? Does anyone here know about these galvanized chassis replacements, what they cost, and how much work it would actually be for me to take this little Defender apart and reassemble it on a new frame? There is something that appeals to me about rebuilding a 90 specifically for this climate, with galvanic isolation between steel and aluminum, stainless brake tubes, alloy wheels, etc. I'm concerned that I might be biting off too much of a project. Any thoughts on that? I'd want a pickup truck half cab for it, too, of course.

well, I respectively disagree. If Land Rover had built the entire frame out of laminated wood, they would still be functional.

I've seen claims that WD-40 is good for an amazingly diverse number of things from luring fish to dental hygiene to removing graffitti. They have a marketing department with a great imagination. I'm basing my comments on 8 years of experimenting with every lubricant and rust preventative I can get my hands on here. It does seem to lubricate, at first, but if I leave it at that I find that the original problem is back very quickly. As a solvent, it breaks down the existing remnants of lubricant already there, and that re-distributes and works again, for a while. Then the solvent qualities of the WD-40 dry up and I'm left with thinned, old, lube. Now, want to hear how freaking BAD Rustoleum paint is? And did you know that Baby Oil is absolutely nothing more than mineral oil with a fragrance in it? Yep. We been greasing our infants up with petroleum products for years. Gotta love those marketing departments.

I havent been able to get to the store for some lube yet, but thanks for all the suggestions. I'll give it some shots of TriFlow or Boeshield in the morning. It's drivable, but more of an upper body workout than is safe while moving. By the way, WD-40 is good stuff, but it's not a lubricant. It's a drying agent, and solvent. The "WD" is for Water Dispersant. It seems like a lubricant because it dissolves the grease already there and refloats it. It'll get you unstuck and be okay for a while, but you really need to apply some real lube after flushing with WD 40.

I really don't think anything with a horizontal plate or surface that will let mud get into it is worth the time and effort. These islands are marine limestone, formed at the bottom of the ocean. The very dirt of the roads here is the same salt content as seawater. The dust is corrosive. We have stopped putting radios in the Defenders. Automotive radios last about a year. I put a Sony marine radio in the 110, it lasted two years. Normal brake lines ( you call them pipes?) last 8-12 months. If we have to drive through puddles on the way to the airport, and leave one parked for a week or two, when we return I have to dismantle the hand brake drum and clean it out. I have to change the rearmost universal joint yearly. the local dealer offered us a total of $ 4500 for BOTH '06 Tdi's. They have less than 25,000 miles on them. each. a rear bumper of channel with internal mounting plates is just more of the same. I don't want to copy the Land Rover design.....the only thing that would make them last longer is if I used thicker steel. they would still be ugly rusty things, just would take longer to die. That's why I'm thinking the steel part needs to be a flat, vertical surface. No place for anything to puddle. Straps for the tow hitch receiver run to the frame, and those would be vertically oriented straps. I do like the idea of a sealed pipe with oil in it.

Nice Job on that, Frax. Your front bumper is actually more of interest to me than the boxed in rear, although both approach works of art. I can't have anything with an inaccessible interior volume. The salt sticks to it, and away we go. Literally. I need something that I can keep exposed to air, inspect regularly, and can get to for rust removal and re-painting easily. A removable bumper. And by removable, I don't mean with a gas ax. As for the wood, It would be spaced off the steel by enough to make sure it doesn't trap moisture. It's a shame nobody ever built fiberglass bodies for these. Even the aluminum is rotting away. Simply can NOT put two dissimilar metals in contact here, exposed to the environment. Even two grades of aluminum in contact is a problem. The rivets are stronger than the body, and connect it to steel. So the body loses. I put a front bumper on a few years back with a hitch so I could push my boat uphill. That's sealed box section. Some photos of that are toward the end of this blog post at: http://2gringos.blogspot.com/2009/08/momentary-panics.html Please ignore all the tropical blather and just scroll down til you see the front of the 90 photo.

Thanks for the info. I don't want a new standard crossmember. It would double the cost to ship it here from UK, and it would be rusted out in three years, just like the previous two. Galvanizing is not an option. That capability does not exist here. I am thinking of 1/4" steel plate, with two brackets welded to that to fit over the flush cut ends of the frame. Two bolts in each side to hold it. Then using 2x8 or 2x10 lumber bolted to the flat plate as an alternative to more steel. I need just enough to support a 2x2 receiver hitch for towing our smaller boats. a rough sketch: I never quite understood what all those holes and nooks and crannies were in the standard cross member were for, anyway, but I do know what I need is a simple bumper that can handle a beach environment 24 hours a day and doesn't require dismantling the vehicle to remove and service.

We've had two Defenders for five years, and the rust issues here in the British West Indies are terrible. I am giving up on our 110, but we want to keep the 90. I will have to take it completely apart to replace all the steel bits. First order of business in the meantime is the rear cross member. It doesn't make sense to me to replace that with another one of that same thin steel. I am thinking of building a replacement from 1/4" steel box section, and not welding it to the frame but bolting it. I had done that for the front bumper some years back and that worked out well.. Have any of you manufactured a solidly built bumper to replace the rear cross member? I'm looking for design ideas and the voice of experience. Even a wooden bumper would be preferable to more thin steel. This island eats steel.

thanks for the suggestion. It would be good news indeed if it's as simple as that, and reasonable in this salty place where we live.. If I understand correctly, you used power steering hydraulic fluid as a surface lubricant?

I've just read Les' excellent tutorial on replacing the pump, and have done a forum search, but haven't seen the answer I am looking for. I am still in the earliest trouble shooting phase, to try to determine where the problem is. I live on a small remote island and any parts I order are basically unreturnable. I have a pile of brand new parts here sent by mistake from the UK that I don't need, yet bought. Hence, my old maid caution trying to determine exactly what I need before internet ordering from across the sea. The symptoms are just hard steering. It started fairly quickly. It does seem to get slightly better with the RPMs up, but still, it takes about three times the arm strength to turn the wheel than it took when everything was fine. No unusual noises. There is no sign of fluid leak, and in fact i went to top it up and it wasn't particularly low. I topped it anyhow, and there was no change, it didn't fix it. Any ideas on how to isolate the problem before I go tearing things apart? Does this sound familiar to you guys? It's an '06 model year ( they tell me) VID SALLDVAF75A705785, if that's of any help. We've just decided NOT to junk this 90, due to severe rusting, but to turn it into a restoration project. So you're going to be seeing me pleading for help here and there for the next few years.

Well, I got it going. I made a strap by braiding four strands of steel re-bar tie wire and ran it from the ground lug on the transmission to the lower mounting bolt on the starter. Presto, she cranks like never before. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

solenoid and starter work fine on the bench, but not in the truck. I've cleaned all terminals and connections, between battery, starter, engine, and chassis. There's voltage at the spade lug when I turn the ignition to Start, but the solenoid doesn't initiate. It also doesn't work when I short the + 12vdc from the threaded terminal to the spade lug on the solenoid, when in the truck. Shorting those two on the bench, it works fine. What's going on???

Okay, I got the starter off, and the solenoid off, and if I jumper 12 vdc to it it acts quite like a solenoid jumping in my hand like a live thing. I'm now guessing there's nothing wrong with this solenoid. I could have actually saved the gashes in my thumb from taking it out. There's something sharp there. While I have it off the starter I'd like to check inside and see if it needs cleaning up or anything. Does anyone know if these things come apart, and how? It looks like I need to maybe de-solder a couple of contacts. Since it seems to be working like a solenoid, maybe I should leave it alone.

Thanks for the suggestion, but we really don't have automobile dealers here. Not manufacturer specific, anyway. There is a LR dealer, but they quote prices about three times list and they typically quote a three week delivery, from the UK. IF I have to go that route, it's cheaper and faster for me to order direct from UK. Im hoping I can find one that will fit already in stock locally. Do you have a Bosch PN for the entire starter assy?

I'm sure you're right. What I mean is that these are not US vehicles, the NAS or whatever they were called. I assumed since they were not built for the US they were built for England. Did the UK not have Tdi engines? The VIN is SALLDHMF74A684829. I ran that through some online program that informs me that it's a "Range Rover Classic" which is complete rubbish, of course. But I have bought other parts for the Tdi. We have two of them.

I think 96 or 97 was the last year Defenders were imported into the USA. Some parts changed over the following ten years. Our trucks are UK spec. 2005 TDi's ( we have a 90 and a 110) Problem is that suppliers based in US can't tell me whether a part for a 96 will fit a '05 or not. It gets frustrating.

yeah, I didn't mention it, I guess, but i did jumper the + term of the battery directly to the solenoid wire. It's red, btw, not red/white. I know this because the little spade connector was a little loose and I soldered it on the wire. and tightened it. It doesn't wiggle. I was optimistic that I'd found the problem but my euphoria upon finding an iffy connector was short lived. I also used my jumper cables to connect the - batt lug directly to the starter to be sure the negative ground was connected. Truck bump starts fine. Of course. So, they didn't put a Tdi in the '05 Discos. Dang. Drat. And horsefeathers. How do you tell which Tdi it is? Not written anywhere on the truck, that I can see And the letter "F" in the VIN is for both of them.

I have a 2005 TDi Defender 110 with starter problems. no solenoid click when I turn key. I've cleaned all battery contacts and cables, even shining up the ones on the solenoid. Still, nothing. I used a screwdriver to short the positive cable terminal to the little solenoid terminal. Nada. Zilch. nothing. I clipped a volt meter to the solenoid terminal, and when I turn the key I get about 11.8 volts there at the solenoid terminal. Battery is sitting at 12.7 volts. That should be enough to move the solenoid, shouldn't it?? Or at least make it click. SO, my initial diagnosis after a long afternoon in the hot tropical sun is that the solenoid is bad. I cannot find any part numbers in the tech manual. Is it possible to just replace or rebuild the solenoid? I have an ongoing problem living here, in that the local auto parts store (NAPA) is a USA based company, with a USA database in their USA supplied computer inventory system. Since there is no such animal as a 2005 Defender in the USA, their parts database draws a blank when I ask them for help. And invariably, when I try to describe what I need, the person working the computer asks me "what is the year and model of the vehicle". So basically, I no longer bother. But I KNOW some other vehicles must use this starter and it's probably in their data base as belonging to a Hundai or Jeep or Ford or something. There's just no way for me to find it by mentioning Defender. Does anyone know of a rebuild kit or if another Land Rover vehicle uses the same starter and solenoid? They have Discos in the USA. If a Disco solenoid would work, I could probably find that listed at NAPA.