Lightning

Well, it’s gone in today for new oil seals and a new nose seal on the front diff as that’s leaking too. l replaced the rear one myself some time ago, but they may as well do it while it’s on the ramps.

I thought that wheel wobble at higher speeds was caused by wheel imbalance? l drove a Fiesta last week where the steering wheel shook quite violently in your hands at speeds over about 35 mph As the front tyres were nearly bald l told the owner to get two new tyres, this cured the fault completely

No after the horror that was replacing the rear discs, l’m going to let the garage do it.

OK well probably best to get it done then.

So is it worth paying to get the suspension dismantled to repair this fault? Or will it be fine to just forget about it. I’m guessing there’s going to be a bill for over £200 if l get it done. Somebody has said that some people don’t even fit the seals and let the axle oil lubricate the swivels!

Well the swivels and seals are fairly new. lt’s not leaking a lot of oil, certainly a lot less than before the swivels were changed

Looks like it, as the swivel is full of axle oil and the axle oil is contaminated with swivel grease.

If it wasn’t leaking out of the swivel seal l would leave it, but it’s leaking oil onto the inside of the tyre. l am happy to pay them for the work if it’s nothing to do with replacing the swivels. After all, the Landy is 14 years old and has done over 100,000 miles so l would expect some issues to crop up from time to time.

Well, as the swivels were replaced last year l am going to let the garage who did the work have a look at it. As it’s only done around 10,000 miles since.

I decided to refill the swivels with grease (on my TD5 Defender) One side was OK it took about half the tube of grease but the other side was full of axle oil. So l take it the seal between the axle and swivel has failed. But do l need to do anything about it? I checked the axle and the oil level was fine although it clearly has been contaminated with swivel grease. So l changed the axle oil anyway. The swivels themselves are OK, they were replaced about 18 months ago by a LR garage. The swivel that’s full of axle oil is leaking a little (l think that’s why they changed to grease?) but not enough to be an issue.

Thank you l will get it ordered!

The pedal box pivots are all worn (on my 2005 Defender TD5) and the master cylinder needs changing. l have been offered a new complete clutch pedal box from a Defender TDCi (from a company who do auto conversions) Will this fit my TD5? I am told that the master cylinder is the same for TDCi/TD5/TDi But what about the pedal box assembly?

Yes that’s happened round here. You can take steps to make it harder for the thieves, but the best thing is to make sure you have Agreed Value insurance. Then if it does go, at least you will get the proper value. The “book” prices for Defenders are well below what you actually have to pay, and that’s in the Land Rover magazines! And the insurance company will refer to the “book” which says you can get a mint TD5 for £8,000 Not quite! Although the silly prices being asked by chancers on some auction websites can be ignored.

The TD5 also has a dual mass flywheel and if that needs changing with the clutch it will cost £1,000. Personally having driven both l prefer the TD5, but some TDCi ‘s seem to drive better than others, l drove one that was really nice. You can buy a gear lever kit (called Shift-R) which is supposed to make the TDCi gear change a lot better. ln the end though l would buy on condition rather than type, if you see a really good TD5, buy it....you won’t be disappointed. If you find a nice TDCi then you won’t be disappointed with that either. Be aware that late TD5 and most 2.4 TDCi Station Wagons are subject to the highest rate road tax.

Try holding the lever over to the left for a few seconds while driving, and see if it engages then.