Snagger

If they stopped making very complex, blingy light packs, then they wouldn't be stolen - it was never a problem on Defenders, Discoverys up to the 2004 facelift or RRC and P38. But even with modern clusters, it doesn't have to be impossible to fit bulbs without tools if the designers give the slightest thought to maintenance. The same can be said of other regular service parts like filters, belts, clutch and brake discs and so on. Look at the bad design of RRC/Defender hubs and discs, or how disastrous the D3 and 4 clutches and belts are - by the time they're 10 years old, people will scrap them rather than renew a clutch.

Well, it's a fairly large black relay on mine, and I expect that's consistent with older vehicles, so look for a relay double the height of a standard cube relay. I suspect it'll be in the foot wells for that very reason.

It'll be on the right hand inner wheel arch, mounted on the leg of the secondary fuse box.

Trafman, thanks for your input. It makes good points, but I think few of us would plan to take a few kids down the motorway in an open pickup. I assumed the thrust of the question was whether it was legal to have the soft top off with passengers in the back for a short, low speed journey, like for a pub lunch or dog walk. I was quite content to use our Lightweight with the sides rolled up with the kids in the back for trips to the local park, school runs and up the road to Billing, but wouldn't think of a high speed drive like that. Equally, I don't see the problem with having adults in the back of a pickup as long as the seats are suitable for a similar drive, but again not for high speed or long distances. Granted, the consequences of an accident to could be the same irrespective of whether on an A-road or motorway, but context is important.

Exactly what I was going to suggest - it's a far easier setup, and with the locking pins fitted for road use, returns everything back to standard behaviour when the articulation is not needed. Incidentally, do you know the reason that revolving shackles were deemed suitable for the rear but not for the front, needing these pivoting hangers for the front springs? Revolving shackles would obviously have been easier to fit, but there must be a problem with it for Gon"Far to have developed these.

Unfortunately, the EU has a system where they make a proposal and it will automatically be accepted unless voted down. They did that with aircrew duty time regulations last year - the proposals were opposed by all the experts (CAA and a few other national Authorities, Qinetiq, every aircrew union and numerous other independent experts) because they were downright dangerous, and were voted down by the EU Transport Committee, but the second vote to the general assembly was deliberately timetabled late in the evening on the Friday of a public holiday weekend to make sure that most of the members were absent, so the proposals have passed and are now EU law. It is a completely cynical and corrupt method and is a perfect example of why the entire EU should be broken up - they will kill people through their arrogance and corruption.

You're right about the RRC, Defender and Discovery units, but P38 boxes sit outboard of the chassis, so shouldn't need any cutting. That's why there has been a shift towards them by the Series crowd.

I have to say, if you're worried about the authorities knowing where you're driving, you're probably up to no good. I don't know anyone so mesmerising that the authorities would take the slightest interest in where they've been or with who. So many people seem to think they're fascinating, the centre of the universe, and that the understaffed police and intelligence services are going to make time and stay on late at work just to track them. The same people with these paranoias about the big brother monitoring are also the most prolific posters on social media! ANPR is a great tool.

Yep, Tasmania is a bit far for me to have a look, but I'll come if you pay for the flight! The castellated nut is meant to be torqued up to a specific value, but then if the tabs on the washer don't line up with the slots, you have to tighten it more or slacken it anyway. I have always used the drift and hammer with no ill-effect. The noise generated by a floating intermediate cluster is quite considerable, so it's well worth pursuing as prime candidate. You might be able to measure the end float with feeler gauges through the top cover once the overdrive is removed, saving you the trouble of draining it down to remove the bottom plate. You will have to remove the plate to remove the cluster if it does need shimming, and if shimming is necessary, then replace the thrust bearings as they're probably worn, hence the need for shimming! Just so you know, to get the intermediate shaft out of the casing to drop the cluster and get at the shims and bearings, you need to take the hand brake off the transmission, which means rear prop and flange off, drum off, disconnect the hand brake's horizontal rod from the relay arm and then undo the four nuts holding the brake plate onto the speedo housing. It's worth replacing the rear seal if there is any sign of sweating or weeping, and make sure you cean out the oil drain in the plate (under the main shaft hole) and the drain slot in the speedo housing - these allow any oil that does get past the seal to drain away outside the brake, but they gunge up with dust and oil.

You have been misinformed, Coach - there is no shimming involved; that's for setting up pinion bearing preloads, but you're not touching the bearings or their shims. Just like Les' thread, prop off, nut off, flange off, lever out the old seal, clean the seat and fit the new seal before refitting everything. I haven't got a manual handy, but anywhere between 80 and 100'lbs would do for tightening the nut on reassembly. Just make sure the seal is driven all the way home when you fit it.

Check your timing is correct. It's not just a matter of lining up the timing tools in the pump and flywheel, either, though that is a good place to start - if the pump has been rebuilt, the front sprocket may have been put on at a slightly incorrect angle making static timing setting impossible. I had that on a new 300Tdi pump.

Yep, with worn shafts and flanges, if you have 5 degrees movement at the flanges and another couple of degrees between the shafts and diff planet gears, then you'll have 20 degrees or so pinion rotation before you even consider the backlash between the pinion and crown wheel. Pop the plastic cones off the hubs and look for spline play there, and if they're reasonable, then drain the diff and remove the rear cover to reveal the crown wheel; wedge that still and check the prop movement again to see how much backlash you have.

Correct. Age and height restrictions apply to the kids using them. But that's only on vehicles usually used for those kids - taxis, friends giving you a lift and so are exempt.

I don't think there is a difference. As far as I know, there isn't any rule specifying that the seats have to be inside a roof structure.

TD5 suffer terrible body corrosion, but TDCIs suffer less (though they still get it on the windscreen frame and its brackets). Both have pathetically thin skins with wing tops that dent if you breathe on them. I find the TDCI's 1st gear too low, but brilliant for hill descents in low range, and 6th is good on the motorway. I like the R380 more, though. Both pull very well. As for interiors, I don't like the look of the TDCI's dash and it's a bit tight on the knees, and I find the new seats lacking in lumbar support, but it does have an incredible heater and aircon system. On balance, of the two, I'd get a TDCI and retrofit older seats (and move them 1" inboard for more elbow and shoulder room).

Everything in your last post is normal - the lower the gear selected, the greater the torque. The greater the torque, the more the force on the components and the louder the backlash. Any slack will sound worse in lower gears. This is very different from reporting that the noise only existed in 1st-3rd, if the noise is also in 4th but just less, then we are no longer limited to looking at lay shaft faults but at just a little wear in the overall system that may be nothing to worry about. What is needed is a comparison to another SIII or even a Defender. If you are used to a normal road car, then you will have a significant increase in noise, but that is normal and unavoidable. It is determining the baseline noise level that is important now. If you fill out your profile properly, then some local members may be able to take a look.

Mikey, reread my post - I said to use one or the other, OR to only use the overdrive in 4th if you use both. If you use the overdrive in lower gears with those diffs and that engine, sooner or later you will break the gear box. It took me six months, and could take you less or more, but eventually it'll break because the box can't take that much strain.

That would be one of the benefits of such a system - many of my colleagues are from mainland Europe and have their cars here. I have strong suspicions that many of them are untested, untaxed and uninsured, but can't be caught unless asked to show their documents. But do we need new number plates to deal with this, or just a set of linked databases that the ANPR system taps into?

It's not as simple as that. It's undeniable that a new car off the assembly line is safer than an old one, with all the modern safety features they have. But after five years and 60,000 miles it's debatable. Because new cars are so complex and parts and labour comparatively expensive, many owners fail to maintain them properly. It's not just the hightech items like ABS and EAS that get driven on the fritz, but tyres on vehicles with odd sizes or low profile tyres. Even something as cheap and low tech as light bulbs are now routinely ignored because fitting them has become so difficult on most modern cars. That's before you even consider driver complacency while driving because of their confidence in the safety features and benign handling. Toyota would have a hard time saying their current models have been symbols of reliability or safety. Reliability and safety rely as much on ease and cost of maintenance as they do original design features on high mileage vehicles, and that is simply not being designed in anymore.

OK, guys, you've convinced me. The idea of not increasing the number of components or complexity appeals to me for an expedition vehicle, but for a challenge or play thing I can see your arguments. As always, a lot comes down to the specific use and location of the vehicle, but I can't imagine standard diffs are stronger than KAM or Ashcroft 4.7s, even though they are stronger than the original LR 4.71s. I still think those after-market diffs with a high ratio transfer gear is stronger than standard diffs with underdrive down tot he same final ratio - the diff ratios are doing the work for you, not the underdrive, so the transfer box, prop shafts and diff pinions carry less load than with standard diffs. The half shafts are going to take the same load regardless, but everything else can turn more easily and you have fewer moving parts to worry about. The big thing is the flexibility of bridging the gap between high and low - the diff and transfer box give a wide gap, while the underdrive does give a nicer spread of four different ranges.

Nige, while harmonisation is in principle a good idea, it can only realistically be achieved by bringing everyone up to the same standards, not down to the lowest common denominator. That means an extremely restrictive system with all the most onerous elements of every member country, so annual checks from the UK, a ban on all mods and accessories from Germany, the need to carry two triangles and a first aid kit from Belgium, the need for a breathaliser kit from France... you get the idea. It'd be a disaster for the motorist! I have no idea about where to look up the regs on roof lights, but my understanding is that any forward lighting has to be mounted ahead of the front axle. That would explain why lorries can use high mounted lights on the road, but not 4wd vehicles. It also explains why the sidelights were moved on the SI, though does bring up the curious exception of the ugly Fiat MPV that had the fat ripple under the wind screen with sidelights integrated there, much like the early SI. I have been pulled over by the police for switching my roof lights on on the road - it was dark and utterly deserted at 4am, and I needed to check their aim having just fitted them and tried aiming against the garage door, so I tried them on the main road. The one other car out was 1/2 mile behind and also had roof lights - blue ones... They're perfectly legal to fit on UK roads, just illegal to use. In practical experience, roof lights are of limited benefit. They are only useful off road for illuminating hollows and over humps that are left as a well of blackness by regular height lamps. However, the amount of glare, even from matt black surfaces like the spare tyre or wing top plating, is considerable and so you'd only use them at low speed anyway. Lights mounted on the front edge of the bonnet will illuminate the same spots almost as well without the glare, and by using these new LED strips rather than big lumps like the rally pods you don't get physical obstruction of the field of view. The flip side is that the roof spots also illuminate high obstructions like low bridges, branches and leaning trunks, while LED strips on the front won't help with that. So, swings and roundabouts. I have to say the best use I've had from them was illuminating a campsite area to allow a night-time change of a DII's broken air suspension to coils. Don't underestimate the noise and performance effects of roof mounted lights.

Spot on. Sensationalist journalism of a sloppy standard designed to get you wound up - just what the Guardian, Mirror and Mail are known for. ANd I agree that this is the brainchild of a low level MEP who is trying to make a name for himself and that it will be dropped because every nation will want their own system to be the template and no nation wants the cost of changing what works for them. There is no benefit in the change, as the vehicles already have VIN plates and each vehicle would have to be transferred to the domicile country's register anyway. It's just a dead-ended proposal.

That's it - the cranked sections of the frame should be roughly horizontal.

I would run a separate earth just in case the one in the loom is corroded or damaged. It only needs to connect to the dash somewhere, but before you fiddle around trying to make up new leads and trying to select and clean up contact points inside the dash, try a temporary earth bypass to somewhere easy like the fuse box mounting plate bolts to the bulkhead - they should have a good ground and running a single wire outside the dash from the instruments down there will take a few minutes at most for a quick test.

I don't think there is a policy, after all, it's just like having pax in the back of a convertible. I used to have the 2 kids and 2 dogs in the back of our Lightweight with the rag top rolled up on all sides with no problem, though I did fit lap straps and tie the dogs down. I think the biggest problem you'll run into is other peoples' envy come the summer!