oneandtwo

The bowing is normal and is the reason why Land Rover changed to the adjustable rail mounting for the the rear tub. The genuine NAS rear step even comes with a selection of shims to allow for the bowed crossmember ends.

All nine of my Richards chassis I have had to spread the chassis very slightly with hi lift jack protecting the chassis with wood blocks to get the crossmember in.

I have had at least nine chassis from Richards now. The first couple had various errors and out of tolerance but that was at least twelve years ago and they rectified them. The last six Defender ones have been spot on, although I still haven’t got round to rebuilding my Puma 90 onto its new chassis. I don’t like the original landrover construction method of two overlapping C sections hence always choosing Richards. They are also more accommodating of modifications such as tdci rear crossmember and tank brackets on 300tdi.

You absolutely have to use the td5/Puma rear. The 97-98 300tdi tailpipe looks like it allows loads of room for the rear tank but it fouls the tank when in place. The 300tdi system marries up to the td5 tailpipe with a small adaptor piece but unfortunately I haven’t owned a 200tdi since early 2000s so can’t help on what is needed.

I have owned over 30 defenders, my Tdci is head and shoulders above the rest once it’s quirks were ironed out (one piece halfshafts, decent clutch and Ashcroft input shaft). I find most of the people who knock Tdcis have never actually owned and lived with one, usually they’ve just got an old turbo d 90 with a disco 200tdi transplant!!

Drive flange bolts should be hi tensile 10.9 check your photos for proof!

There were some really poor pattern late servos sold around that time. Check to see if the mounting studs for the master cylinder pass through the inside of the servo to brace it. The poor quality ones did not have the studs passing through the servo, the studs were just attached to the outer face so that when the brake was applied with force the servo flexed and distorted.

By the sea!

When pipes replaced I now wrap the mild steel unions in Denso tape as I had to replace all my already replaced lines after 4 years when the unions had rusted way to nothing.

The build sheet for my 76 series 3 was tucked in the rear tub support struts. I found it when I scrapped it!

I have had this twice in r cent years with that bush and also the two part replacements. Took a couple of purchases to obtain one which was long enough to use.

One of the reasons the adjustable chassis rail was introduced for 1999 was to combat rear body distortion. Look at any factory chassis such as on a Puma and the rear crossmember is not straight all the way across- the outer sections always distort when the crossmember is welded to the main rails. The adjustable rail is to allow for the body to be bolted to the crossmember without being affected by this distortion. To set the rear body up on the late crossmember the body sits on the outside of the mounting rail (I’ve seen a few where people have mounted the rail on the outside of the body!). You then adjust the rear body so it is vertically in line with centre face of rear crossmember.

I have always fitted new ETL100430 td5 one piece mat to any 300tdi I’ve owned, they were £120 last time I bought one.

The td5 / tdci has much larger holes in the chassis for the wiring looms to pass through than pre 98. td5 / tdci wiring loom exits from the right rail outer face not inner face as stated above.

Use Soudal Carbond instead of sikaflex - sikaflex is unpaintable.