henrycrabbe

Hi chaps, I'm the membership secretary for Peak 4x4 Response, If any of you are interested in joining, or just want info on what we do then drop me a PM. Thanks David for giving the background info. We do indeed have a meeting planned for this Wednesday evening and normally I'd issue an open invite to anyone who wishes to come, you'd be most welcome. However its the silly season with regard to Christmas dinners at the pub and I'd like to know beforehand if you wish to come along. Don't be put off, but please let me know via PM if you wish to come, you are under no obligation to join btw Cheers, Steve hales PR11 Peak 4x4 Response Membership Secretary

I had this exact problem. Turned out to be a pin hole in one of the spill return pipes that link the injectors together and take any excess fuel back to the pump. The hole in mine was where the acoustic cover had rubbed against it. Looked like a proper "James Bond" style smoke screen on mine Replacement pipes are available, I think mine was under £20 for the whole section.

Funny, I've got Britpart +1 inch springs on mine (220lb/in rears), they went on 3+ years ago and it still sits at the same height as when they were new and is absolutely level. It's done its fair share of work shifting tools, garden stuff and I even had an LT77 & LT230 in the boot once! I must have had the one good set

Hi Francis, just a few Q's... What flavour disco do you have? (age, engine type etc) What wheel/tyre size combination do you run? Cheers, Steve.

Hi Sam, It may help you decide if I give you some backstory to my Disco 300Tdi... When I first had it, it was on fairly rubbish 235/70R16 road tyres on standard Freestyle Alloys. I saw a good offer on 265/75R16 Cooper STT muds and bought a set, but they needed a 2" lift and some trimming of the front bumper end caps and rear arches before I could fit them and even then they would catch on articulation of the rear axle. The other factor is gearing. My car is in fairly good health, but fitting those tyres totally killed the top end speed and acceleration, making the gears spaced too far apart. They did look awsome though Now to the present, I have just dropped the MT's for a set of 245/75R16 BFG AT's and it has totally transformed the car! I have my acceleration back, my top speed has increased (I can keep up with lane 3 motorway traffic again ) and I can manoeuvre again in car parks. Plus they don't (so-far) catch on axle twisters. Steve.

dare I say... there are some on ebay that sell complete kits, which is where my flange came from and I bought a 200Tdi Disco rear prop locally. Beware that when fitting the 4-bolt flange, some diffs need a spacer to take up the extra shaft length. Oh and it helps to heat the centering pin on the old three-bolt flange to break the seal when removing it. cheers, Steve

Well done Jon. I guess its got the SOA conversion on coiler axles to move the springs away from the track rod. That also explains why the arches are fitted, to cover the wider wheel track. I suppose what concerns me most is why the original "owner" didn't explain any of this to the OP when he bought the car!!! I'll probably get flamed for this but... I actually like it If it had the sprigs put back where they belong and a decent gearbox fitted, then it has the makings of a decent motor IMO. BUT I think you'd need a sound understanding of landrover engineering to take it on successfully. Ash, please come back and tell us more... did you go through with the purchase? Cheers, Steve.

Steady on guys... let the poor guy have a chance! Hi Ash & welcome. The one (and best) thing you have done is ask q's of the right people, please forgive us if we sometimes get a bit carried away when commenting on seemingly inferior or unknown workmanship. The truck you've shown us has been modified in a way that is bound to upset the "traditionalists", but that is probably the best reason for owning one - making it your own! Now, I'd say it has a Spring-Over-Axle conversion, which is unusual in the UK (and not liked too well) but is relatively common in the USA. The leaf springs instead of going below the axle are repositioned above, so you gain a lift equivalent to the thickness of the spring pack + the diameter of the axle tube. Ahhh, now I see. Looking at the pictures again there are a few give-aways as to why this might have been done, anyone else spot them... Steve.

Anyone.... ...

Err, Not wanting to cause offence or anything, but why do you need a winch and cage to go greenlaning? Steve.

Hi all, Does anyone have the dimensions required for making a winch bumper to go on the front of a TD5 Disco??? Its primarily the chassis mounts we need to know about, also if anyone has any pics of TD5's fitted with HD or tubular wich bumpers that would be great! Cheers. Steve.

Hi, where are you located? In the UK you cannot do this kind of thing anymore. Otherwise, it is possible and has been done, but why would you ??? Steve

Cheers guys, it definitely has 9/16" studs then. From a quick check on the web, it seems I'm going to have to change to M16 studs if I want to use these wheels, which leads to the question of how best to do it? I suppose I could swap the hubs over? Will this pose any problems with bearings or seals between earlier ('68) stub axles and later metric hubs, or should I just knock out the old studs, drill out the holes and replace with new studs? Thanks again, Steve

Q - can anyone tell me the wheel stud thread type and size used on earlier series vehicles? I've managed to get hold of some nice Wolfrace alloys but they need special sleeve-nuts. I have some metric nuts that fit later series and coil axles, but before I go and swap hubs etc, I'd wondered if you could get imperial nuts to fit the axles I already have? Ta. Steve.

BBC news take on the story Clicky linky I see the Ramblers got the wrong end of the stick too... (Oh and since when has an OS map cost £15???) Steve

Have you bought any of the plastic clips that hold the door trim on? If not, do so now. you WILL break about half of them when you take the trim off, no matter how careful you are. Sequence is basically: Take door trim off Unbolt and slide the window frame up and nearly out of the door Disconnect and remove lock mechanism Fiddle around for 2 hours fitting replacement spring Spend another 2 hours trying to get the operating rods fitted back on to the lock mech Bolt it all together again Tips: Have some very pointy pliers to hand, they help a LOT! Do it in a place where you can easily find the spring again - it WILL ping off several times before you get it right When you put the lock back in the door, fit all the rods before you bolt the catch back in place Good luck. Steve.

Have you got a rubber donut on your rear prop? Your symptoms are EXACTLY what I had when mine split. Steve.

I had air getting in on my '96 Tdi through the spill return pipes, the small ones that go from injector to injector and finally back to the pump. The acoustic cover on top of the rocker cover had worn a small hole in the pipe Didn't affect starting too much but would cause clouds of smoke. Might be worth checking... Steve.

Dunno why they went for the "donut" type coupling, I suppose it was to reduce vibration or something. IMO it should work OK of you have a standard height disco on standard size tyres and you don't do heavy towing or severe off-road stuff. Since I have a 2" lift and bigger tyres I went through 2 donuts in 9 months, I've changed mine using a 200tdi disco rear prop and diff flange. You will probably need a spacer for between the diff flange and the prop (the 300 series diff must have a shorter nose ???). I got a turned ally spacer off ebay with a centering flange and longer bolts for very reasonable money. Oh and if you swap diff flanges 3-bolt to 4-bolt, don't forget to fit the spacer collar that goes over the splined shaft first. It causes all sorts of horrible grinding noises otherwise Steve.

Just thinking out loud... Is your fuel tank breather OK? I guy I know had a blocked breather (not on a landy), the fuel pump was struggling to pull fuel through because no air could get into the tank through the breather. It eventually sucked his tank flat! Steve.

Chris, do you know if it jumps out of gear at all in second or third? If it doesn't, then its probably OK and the crunch is just down to lack of syncromesh on 1st & 2nd gear which is correct for that 'box. If it jumps out of gear on overrun (when engine braking) then its probably got problems with the layshaft. Steve.

Just an idea, but didn't some series diesels have a butterfly valve in the inlet to create a vacuum for a brake servo? Could you use one for a throttle along with the diesel manifold drilled for 4 injectors? Steve.

I'd go with fuel starvation too. I had an Escort some years ago that I rebuilt the webber carb on (badly) and didn't fit the needle valve properly so that the float chamber was very nearly empty before it let any more fuel through. Symptoms were like yours, it would rev freely with no load and drive steadily OK, but if you asked it to do anything that needed power (& fuel) it would splutter and die. Steve.

Just get a non cat front pipe, under fifty quid for a defender 110 300Tdi without the flexi, or about 30 quid more for the disco one with the flexi pipe. EGR blanking is quick and easy (ebay for a kit ) or make your own, there are plenty of instructions on the web. After you've done the EGR, whip the intercooler off and fill it with parrafin for a couple of hours, rinse, dry and refit. It's surprising how mucky they can be, especially if the EGR hasn't been working properly. Other than that it's spending large money territory! Steve.

Thanks cipx2, I got my RAVE disk going and managed to find this: Apparently there is an "anti-slosh control" built into the circuit in the cluster, I'll have to take the instruments apart and have a look. I'll put it on the list of things to do, somewhere near fixing the electric window ECU and getting the rear screen washer to work! (I daren't even think about the spider module yet ) Steve.