Snagger

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!

They're fine as you have them. You can get longer studs, but for the short fall you have, there is no benefit. On the plus side, you don't have to worry about the threads rusting on your current studs and the wheel nuts will keep the threads clean.

I think Phil means the "intermediate gear cluster", which is part number 24 on the upper diagram. It has thrust bushes at either end, which have to be set for correct end float by the shims between them and the casing, parts 21.

I have read somewhere on a forum that welded steering parts are not permitted for road use either in the UK, but the Series vehicle steering columns are made of three sections welded together - the splines top, the main shaft and the worm gear in the box. I'm sure they're not unique, either, so the rule may have been misquoted.

I don't think new models are more economical or reliable. My 109's and RRC's Tdis start instantly, even in sub zero conditions without using the glow plugs, while my wife's TDCI needs a couple of seconds of cranking, and I have observed the same of many other new diesels. My RR and 109 also do better mpg than the TDCI Defender, even though the Defender is lighter and aerodynamically much cleaner than the 109. My 109's only reliability issues in the last 8 years (since I rebuilt it) have been a failed clutch hose and leaking cylinders because I had reused the originals and the gear box because I overstressed a unit not designed for the engine and diff combination installed. The TDCI has needed the front wings and doors realigning, the turbo heat shield refitting, the front left wing rewiring, the high level brake light and horns replacing and the rear diff has a high spot on the crown wheel, all at two years old (and probably bad from the factory), and the body panels are pathetically flimsy unlike the sturdy earlier vehicle.

Salisbury rear or p38 Rover 4-pin diffs with KAM or Ashcroft gears would be damned tough, especially if you pegged them, and have less to go wrong than an underdrive or overdrive - less splines, bearings, shaft and gears in the overall system mean that the transmission has to be more robust. I have no doubts about the underdrive, but its only advantage to the above would be its flexibility in being selectable rather than fixed.

I had similar problems on my 109. The instruments technically earth through their sender units, but the instrument casings also need to be earthed directly (a flying lead with a ring terminal on a clamp post of each gauge cluster). Once that earth was sorted out (turned out to be a bad connection between the leads and the foot well where they contact the body shell, but didn't show up on a voltmeter check), then everything was back to normal. There are several electrical systems on Defenders where polarity is reversed from Series vehicles, but I'd imagine that the instrument cases still need a solid direct earth.

Doubtful as you'd still have problems.

1.2 transfer box is for RRs, not Defender. However, using 4.71 diffs (cheaply available and can be converted to 24 spline) with a 1.2 box and 33" tyres would work well, and would be cheaper, more efficient, quieter and more robust and than an underdrive.

"LIKE" Look at the Eagle: an E-Type replica with more modern, reliable, but simple underpinnings. The Caterhams and AC Cobra kit cars are the same - modern, reliable mechanical parts in a classic shell with no excessive systems to go awry. To be honest, though I dislike the hump in the bonnet and miss the vent flaps, I'm impressed by my wife's 2009 90XS. Finally a decent heater (incredible, in fact) and some comforts which make life easier like central locking, air con, heated seats and screens, but no over the top systems like air springs and Terrain Response. I can forgive ABS/ETC because of the obvious safety benefits. AT the same time, my 109 drives perfectly well. It needed a more gutsy engine, and with that came reliability, but otherwise it's all standard SIII and it works. A simple update with Defender seats, some noise proofing and cosmetic trim make it more comfortable, though not as quiet, as the Tdci, but more fun to drive and easier to maintain. If I could have as effective a heater, Id say it was better than the modern Defender in every way that matters to me. Defender's poor sales is because of a perception of unreliabiliy, which is a legacy of LR's laziness under BL, BAe, BMW and only improving under Ford. Our 90 has been very reliable - the only defects we have had in two years of owner ship are a failed indicator because the lense was cracked and let water in, a blown side light bulb, a bolt that pulled through the turbo heat sheild (needing a washer adding to resecure the sheild) and squealing rear brakes. There is a noise from the rear diff, but that is not uncommon apparently. No break downs or interruptions. To meet safety standard globally, they could reinforce the A and B pillars, add airbags to the dash and steering wheel and keep updating the engines and call it job done. Sales in the US would be huge if they made the adjustments to pass their regs, and it doesn't need much. Certainly not the cost of a completely new vehicle. LR has become an arrogant producer of Chelsea Tractors, not refined and distinguished 4x4s. The Evoque is 2wd, for Christ's sake, and look at the tastelessness of the new Range Rover, designed for Arabs, drug dealers and footballers. They are for some reason embarrassed by having a credible, iconic utility vehicle in their line up. They see it as a ruffian in a gentleman's club and want it out. It's their choice, not a legislative or economic requirement. McGovern's numerous comments suggest he's one of the leaders of this attitude - he clearly wants to cater for the wealthy and not dirty his hands on a vehicle for the working person.

Exactly. Confidence in the handling ability of modern vehicles is so high that drivers drive way to fast for most conditions - look at how fast and close they drive on motorways in poor visibility and very wet weather, and look at how inept drivers are when we get a light snow flurry; in the past drivers coped better because they exercised more care and thought. The problem is then compounded by the very effective safety advances in cars, like better seat belts, more supportive seats, air bags, better crumple zones and cabin rigidity. So, most modern drivers think they can drive with impunity. My wife's father held the view that all cars should have no seat belt on the drivers seat and a 6" spike protruding from the centre of the steering wheel to concentrate drivers' minds a little, and he was a doctor! I think he's right, too.

I have a twin USB charger that fits into the cigarette lighter socket and has very similar dimensions to the lighter itself, so it very unobtrusive. I think I got it in Maplins. As for connecting to the stereo, I have an FM transmitter module that plugs into the bottom of an iPhone or iPod that transmits directly to the stereo's antenna, so is wireless and also allows others in a convoy to listen to your music if they want to (pretty short range, probably no more than 100m or so as a guess). I no longer have an iPhone, and my new smart phone doesn't put music out the USB port, so while I can charge the phone off the stereo's front USB port, I have to connect a second lead from the top of the phone to the front Aux In socket. I understand this is the norm with the new generation of phones, progress apparently being the increase in the number of leads you need... If you want to have permanent flying leads for you phone, I'd suggest having them emanate from under the rubber mat in front of the transfer box lever so that any drilled hole is hidden. If you use the USB socket from Maplin, you'll only need to fit the one audio lead, and with any luck the stereo may have an aux in socket on the back to keep it neat (no such luck on mine). As far as I know, the dash repair strips are very effective and neat. Hopefully, your existing screw holes will be covered by the strips, but that depends on how close to the edge of the panel you put them. They are available in different colours for the DI, but I think the DII only had a dark grey dash top, not the mid-grey, tan or blue of the DI.

I was going to suggest the clutch plate orientation. It has to go in the right way around or its hub will be pressed against the flywheel to crank bolts. This applies to Tdi engines as well as almost all others - I have just fitted a new clutch on my 300Tdi and the plate was certainly sided on that. A tight spigot bush is unlikely, though not impossible - it should be fairly tight to press the gearbox pinion into it because the pinion has to line up perfectly with the spigot bush and clutch splines to go in, which would mean aligning the transmission and engine perfectly for a smooth insertion. The other common problem is in bleeding the clutch fluid - you need to have the car nose up to get the air to the bleed nipple end of the slave, rather than allowing it to sit against the piston. I have also seen people fit the cylinder inverted so the bleed is at the bottom and the pipe at the top...

I test drove my 109 yesterday having just rebuilt the gear box for failed leaf springs on the 3rd/4th synchro unit. I put a new main shaft in because of a small amount of wear on its output splines. I also omitted the overdrive. The reduction in backlash noise is incredible - there is none, but it was a bit clacky if clumsy with the clutch before. I think most of it was from the overdrive - turning the removed unit by hand was a little clattery. You may find a lot of your backlash disappears with the overdrive too - they introduce a lot more through their gear sets and splined joints, especially the wear prone fine splines on the clutch sleeve and inside its main shaft. However, I'm still a little concerned that the noise is significantly lower in 4th, which as we discussed suggests a lay shaft issue. With luck, it'll just be a worn bearing or even a loose front end bolt allowing the shaft to slide fore and aft (it has happened before).

It's when the new tech is done for its own sake rather than for any real benefit and when it's done in a way that makes it hugely expensive or difficult to work on that I object. I wouldn't have fit a Tdi to my 109 or a full aircon system, including all the electrical bits, to my RRC if I was after complete simplicity or if there wasn't a tangible improvement. ECU controlled engines I understand. But air suspension, complex ICE and a BECM to control head lights, seat adjustment and windscreen wipers is just expensive trouble waiting to happen.

I can recommend Dunsfold Land Rover. If you take the time to fill out your profile, people will know where you are and can then recommend local services and suppliers, and maybe even help out personally. Welcome.

The bottom end of the box protrudes from the chassis, just like the relay normally does. The difference here is that the PAS box has a flat between where the bolt lugs were, (where it would sit against the chassis if mounted externally. Vinny has used a square of sheet steel the thickness of the box protrusion with a hole that precisely matches the flatted circle of the box, like a "D", and bolted that plate to the chassis using the bolt holes used for the relay retaining collar. If you can get a precise fit, I can't see it being much weaker than using all four lugs, especially if you drill out and retap the bolt holes a little bigger and use shouldered bolts (ie. unthreaded for the thickness of the plate). My concerns would also be in making sure the drop arm was safe, but there are companies at Luton airport that do nd testing for components like this. I'd prefer the arm to have a swan-neck, not a single bend, to avoid TRE damage.

I find Martin to be an extraordinarily friendly and helpful chap and the RM stuff is good kit.

Here we go - a link to the discussion in the Lightweight Club forum about Vinny's Lightweight and P38 steering on page 2: http://www.lightweightlandroverclub.net/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5472&sid=663f4620492d9e10a1a6ae31328ebac6

That's quite an assortment of SII and SIII gear box parts and transfer box parts. The left hand shaft with four integrated gears is a SIII lay shaft. Next to it is a SII lay shaft, then a transfer box main shaft The two bare shafts are gear box main shafts, but I can't tell if there is a difference between SII and SIII - they look the same to me from the photo. The last shaft is a SIII main shaft with 2nd and 3rd gears still fitted. Top left is the front output shaft for a transfer box and top right is the primary pinion or input shaft for a gear box. The two tall double-gears in the bottom right are transfer box intermediate clusters, whose shaft and two bearings are in the top centre of the photo. The small gear at the very top is a reverse idler gear, quite early by the look of it. To its left, the bonze bush with internal splines if for 1st gear on the main shaft. On the bottom of the left side of the picture, you have a gear for the back end of the gear box main shaft (where the overdrive coupling would be). Furthest left is a lay shaft input gear, which meshes with the primary pinion. Above the lay shafts is a SIII 1st/2nd synchro unit and on the right two 3rd/4th synchros (with the brass ring cages). Which Suuix some of these parts are will dictate their compatibility with the two transmissions you have and each other. Fairey type overdrives howl when engaged and there is nothing you can do to stop it. It is not necessarily indicative of a problem, but if backlash increases with the overdrive selected to one position or another, there may be a fault. I have a rebuild guide in the FAQ section of my blog. As for the transmission noise taking up drive, would you describe it as a solid clunk, click, clack or squeal? A deep clunk is likely to be diff backlash or play in the engine and transmission mountings, a clack is transmission backlash, especially likely on the overdrive input, and a click is likely to be prop shaft UJs. Squealing when driving is usually UJs, especially if vibration is present and worst at multiples of 30mph. As suggested, chock the wheels very securely and select the transmission to neutral (including the transfer box) and check for play in the prop shaft UJs, splines joints and the diff and transfer box flange bearings. Then look for loose nuts or damage rubbers on the engine and transmission mounts. Also check the hand brake shoes aren't dragging - they make clunking noises, though they tend to do it continuously at low speed, not just on taking up drive.

Regular Dexion for storage room use (shops, vaults etc) used the same type of uprights used as weapon racks in MoD LRs, though often with just the one row of holes on each flange, making the large flange a little narrower than in those applications. They usually used a triangular gusset bolted in at each corner of specific shelves for stiffening. The cheaper brands, like Mobile Storage Systems (not to be confused with the MSS of LR drawer and chest fame) used lighter gauge uprights with equal flanges and a single row of circular bolt holes at 1" pitch, so had less flexibility of use (as in adaptability, not distortion!) and used plain straps of steel with a single bolt hole at each end and in the middle to be bolted to the uprights in an X, forming rigid triangles. It was imperative to form the X with two straps because they were flat, acting in tension only - they were not rigid and would buckle in compression. By forming the X , whichever way the rack tried to collapse, one strap would be in compression but the other in tension, holding it upright. For racks over 4', we usually had two X's at each end and on the back on alternating bays - the middle bay was plain but stitched to the bays either side for support by bolting through the uprights and shelves at each shelf level. The rough rule was that all ends had to be side braced (ie, straps from front to rear upright) on the outer end of that bay, all end bays had to be back braced unless just a pair, you could not have more plain bays than braced, and that you could not have more than two consecutive bays without bracing. So a single bay would be would be brace each end and at the back, a pair would be braces at each end and one back, a trio would need end braces, both end bays would be back braced. A quad would have each end and the centre side braces and each end back braced. A quint would have a fully braced centre and back and side braked ends. You get the idea... Some installations required more secure storage and had sheets of steel that bolted to the uprights to create a solid face cupboard. In this case, the brace straps weren't required (and would have been in the way). For domestic use, you don't need to meet the commercial regs and aren't going to be dealing with the weight and height that commercial installations do. As long as the bays aren't free standing (your photo suggests they are), you can suffice with tying the uprights back against the wall with decent fixings and forget about all the bracing. It's only going to be an issue for free standing installations. For your installation of three bays, it would not have collapsed if it had been against the wall and tied back, but your plans suggest it will be in the future. diagonal bracing or sheet cladding through the clip holes at each end of the run and across the backs of the two end bays will be fine if yuo do need it away from the wall. The flitch plates are just for jointing to uprights vertically but were very rarely used on regular scale racking (the uprights were normally cut to the required length at the factory). Flitch plates only seemed to be used in warehouses because the roofs were so high, allowing taller installations than the factory could accomodate in a single upright. These were sturdy plates and inserts that would bolt to the joining ends of the standard uprights, bolted through at least two holes in each face of each upright in the joint (so at least 8 bolts in a regular installation and 16 in a warehouse's Dexion Speedlock installation). It's worth taking a close look at the racks at Ikea or Wickes (or at the 8x4 boarding sections at Homebase and B&Q) to see how it should be done (though I did come across bad installations from time to time).

Oddly enough, I had recalled the 90 wheel base to be designed at 92.7" . It's a good compromise between you both anyway!

Hi Shambo. Backlash is always worst when going from forward to reverse, or vice versa, and even a brand new transmission has some. It's backlash, probably from worn splines. I'd look at the splines on the rear end of the main shaft and inside the gear that that sits on it, and if it never occurs in 4th, then I'd also be looking closely at the condition of the splines of the front end of the lay shaft and the gear engaged on them. If you have a SII box of any type, the whole lay shaft is splined, so all of the gears on there cold be loose. SIII boxes have a better lay shaft where all the gears except the big front one (drive from the pinion) are integrated, so the only backlash on them is from that front splined joint (unless the gear teeth are extraordinarily worn). All Suffix C SII transfer boxes and later are identical (save for the 1-Ton) and even the early SII types are interchangeable with the SIII.

I'm glad the supplier was so helpful. I used to build commercial shelving, everything from lightweight stuff like this in offices, through medium gauge shop store room shelving, heavy duty fixed and mobile racking in bank vaults and financial institution archives to the huge warehouse fork-lift racking (like you see down stairs in Ikea). Dexion was the best quality but was a pain in the backside to build and is hard to find (long out of production). What was universal was bracing of the uprights - the verticals were always either diagonally braced front to rear or has solid sheet bolted in (some types were made of single sheet with a folded face front and back) and across the back uprights, at least on alternating bays in rows. All the fixed racking was also tied back to the walls or ceilings with fed-bolts, stays and screws with rawl plugs or screw out feet that press up against the ceiling from the tops of the uprights. Spliced or split uprights were avoided where possible, but when used had strong flitch plates. I can't overstress the importance of diagonal bracing or side and back-cladding any free standing bays and tying back to the wall any units that can be, and make sure the bay sits on a firm and level base. It sounds a little dramatic, but I have seen bad installations that were positively dangerous and had to work on replacement or repair of systems that had caused injuries through partial or total collapse, including those big warehouse types. You'd be shocked at how much damage a falling bay of shelves, or even just a pot of paint that falls off a wobbly one can do.

I'm not sure what the point is, then - reducing the break over angle while retaining a poor departure angle seems a little futile. I'd also be a bit wary of all that weight and moment protruding behind a short wheel base - it might be rather prone to oversteer and losing its tail on slippery conditions.