eds

You can buy out riggers ready to weld on once you have made the rails good again. You may even be able to buy them ready galvanised. The rear cross member was available galvanised. Les Henson repairs all chassis with galvanised sheet so if you do enough you could have that galvanised chassis after all!

it is an easy worthwhile job to strip the handbrake and service the expanders and adjusters. Needs doing periodically. IIRC clockwise does things up.

If you a fitting it yourself there is a trick to cutting away part of the rubber to make it fit more easily. I was told that without removing the bit it is near impossible to fit without it popping back out. Has anyone else experienced this? Mine was fitted by a pro windscreen man in this way. It was an allmakes one which is still doing well.

Just keep welding if money is that tight :-) A chassis is only welded bits already.

Studded tyres are legal in the UK when there is a need for them. IE when ice "maybe" present. I have many friends who use studded tyres in Northumberland throughout the winter.

Just a follow up I ordered the Gunson Dial type as in reviews it beats the floating ball type.

They are all £4ish, Which is best?

Tested the freezing temp with my poundland tester. Bit confusing as the bulb seems to float at different levels depending on the pressure in the sucker bellows. It went from -36 down to -20. Quite a difference. Is there a special way to handle these devices. Is there an alternative recommended tester people know of?

Grrrrrrrr, I'll check it, I wish they said these things............ Would you trust my poundland antifreeze checker?

I would not have guessed to do that

Been reading more on antifreeze............. Does anybody use demineralised water to top up or do a test pH? Is this overkill?

Have old man emu stuff fallen out of fashion A few years ago that is what people used to say were good Now OME stuff is hardly mentioned I think they fell out of fashion the moment I bought them

Confessions of a lazy man I siphoned the rad, out came 7 litres, poured in 5 litres neat antifreeze and topped up with the old liquid! I feel dirty! I could not face that bottom hose.....................

Grr. I was hoping to be let off lightly :-) I could do it again mid summer! Why am I so lazy?

PS Isn't it amazing that I can have 5lts of antifreeze, delivered to the door, the next day for £11.99 all in. The cheapest I could find was GMF at £17.50. I hope Triple QX is as good as needed............ I think it is amazing anyway!

It's a 200tdi, detaching bottom rad hose is work that I can avoid by siphoning. If only I had a drain plug! It is just the flushing bit i will be missing, so leaving a few litres, in the block, of the old coolant. I know I am being lazy! Is it all ok really? :-)

If I cut a corner and just siphon the radiator empty and then pour in five litres of neat antifreeze, what damage could I be doing to myself? Flushing the system would be the correct procedure but I am lacking the will!

Supposedly Britpart OEM ones come from the same plant same run as production vehicles. That's what Britpart confirmed to me! One of mine is already scored and worn after a few months. Hopefully it is bad luck and not normal.

Hub to stub axle

I had this happen to me but it was the trumpet that was totally rusted through. My MOT man pointed out the problem but said it was only a mud shield so not important. Went to Scotland and hit a pothole, whole thing snapped shoving the shock through the inner wing and breaking the expansion tank off its mounts. Had to drive 600 miles home with no shocker. Just show MOT people don't always know what they are testing!

I did not use anything to seal. I did replace the rubber as I had to cut mine off. They rot from the inside out either way!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DEFENDER-TRACK-ROD-END-DRAG-LINK-3-BALL-JOINT-KIT-QH-/260887977088?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3cbe229c80 HTH :-)

My Dixon Bates Slider only has one pin to hold it on, is it a fake?

I needed some of those yesterday! At least both sides match now