Snagger

Entirely right. I'm not convinced of the benefits of reverse cut gears in the front, but then again, how often do you use full power in reverse, compared to full power forwards? Pros and cons to both arguments, but I suspect for comp-safari vehicles, the reverse cut gears are a good investement. The old way of having identical diffs front and rear is probably better on Ranger Rovers, though, as they don't tend to off-road much but the viscous coupling will be forcing the diffs in opposite directions with considerable force when cornering tightly on tarmac. I wonder if P38s suffer front diff failures because of that effect and their reverse cuts?

I agree with you, Fridge - LR ABS is going to be better on slippery stuff than most because they're designed to cope in Arctic and muddy conditions or on wet grass, and of course are more expensive too. But, regardless of how well engineered a braking system is or how clever its ABS is, if you have no friction between the vehicle and the surface, you're not going to stop regardless, even if you use cadence braking. That's why tyre choice, condition and pressure and driver behaviour will always have vastly more effect than ABS, just as they have more influence than lockers, lifts kits, extreme articulation and so on off-road. Mud tyres are desperately bad on ice, as are low-profile performance tyres, so the original question of whether ABS makes it worse is rather moot, and comparisons between one vehicle and another, even of the same model, are misleading unless all the variables other than the fitment or omission of ABS are eliminated.

Ah, the classic IT solution: switch it off and on again... Glad you fixed it, and for free - it's always nice to have the original fitment for retaining the aesthetics; I hated having an aftermarket stereo in my soft-dash when it went down, so had it repaired and it has been faultless ever since.

If you have a Tdi, I'd recommend a new timing belt unless yours is pretty new - the temperature will make belts more brittle, and an old one may not be able to tollerate that. As for Hotshots, I routed my washer jtes' pipes to run along the heater matrix feed pipe atop the cylinder head, underneath a Discovery sound deadening top pad (like fitted to all 300Tdis) to heat the fluid up directly. It doen't help much as the nozles stay frozen and the airflow wind chill is too much for the gradual heat transfer to get from the lines to the nozzles - while the whole length of the pipes in the engine bay and cab (behind the dash) are liquid, the nozzles are still frozen, and I can't see how the Hotshot can do any better heating to 65oC if my lines are wrapped around pipes running at well over 80oC and insulated for part of their length. I'm sure both my stystem and the Hotshopts help in marginal conditions, but in severe cold conditions, only heated nozzels will work. I tried fitting a set from a later RRC (I have them in my 95 Classic and they work all winter without any fluid heating), but coundn't get them to spray at a good angle onto the screen.

Couldn't agree more, but I'd extend that to all the vehicle systems. Undertsnding how they work helps you better predict and understand the vehicle's behaviour, so you can pre-empt or correct errors more swiftly and appropriately.My RRC ahs four-channel ABS and rear ETC and it's brilliant on snow and ice. An awful lot of that is down to being driven cautiosly in those conditions and having decent quality, normal spec size AT tyres (marked for mus and snow, as most decent ATs are) with plenty of tread on them. Oversize tyres, mud or summer road based patterns and poor driving will cause skids on even the best ABS systems.

But try getting insurance with that mod!

Poor heater performance (both temperature issues and airflow rate) are usually down to their poor condition rather than inadequate design, though such a small unit can never give the same comfort levels as the bigger units in modern vehicles, and the shape of the cabin hinders it further. Splits and holes in the flexible trunking, fan and matrix housings, lower fascia (which acts as the main duct) and perished seals at the bulkhead apperture and demister/fascia ducts cause enormous loss of airflow, and of course many blower fans and matrices are clogged with dirt or mud (I found a snooker ball, several nails and a few biros in my matrix!). You can fit more powerful motors and fans if yours are worn out or inadequate, but watch the polarity on Defender blowers - their purple wire is the positive feed and the striped green wires (same coding as on the SIII motors) must be connected to the control switch, but that must be connected to earth, not a live feed.

Not long, but if you can fit the valve stemn caps from a Tdi (they should have similar diametes, I think, but your wear issues may mean you don't have enough tappet clearance), then it'll help - they increase the contact area anyway, so reduce point loading, but are also sacrificial, so will be softer than the rocker pads and should take most of the punishment.

SIII gear boxes are fine behind a Tdi unless you have a very aggressvive driving manner or are trialling/rock crawling. Just be progressive with the clutch and throtle and maintain the oil levels properly with standard 12,000 mile changes and it'll be fine.

I know only one person who has owned one, and he had continual trouble, especially from the diffs. They're ugly as hell, too - wierd lights and wheel arches just to distinguish them from the real thing.

I'd say calliper pistons. They are prone to corrosion. Remove the pads and pump the pedal to check the pistons move, then force them back in to refit the pads. The pads should also be free to move by hand when the brakes are off but solid when the pedal is pressed, so check that too to make sure all pistons are working. I have EBC discs and green stuff pads on my RRC and think they're very good. They were a big improvement over the original discs and pads.

For earlier vehicles without intermittent wipe, you can get a similar result with a unit from Smartscreen.co.uk - I have one in m y 109 which gives variable intermittent wipe and also automatic 3-sweep wipe when the washer jets are used. It's a good piece of kit, and doesn't need any extra switches.

TUM/TUL studs are 1/2" longer than standard studs. I know this because I fit a set to the 110 Salisbury axle on my 109 to make sure I had full thread engagement after using 1/4" spacer rings (old brake drum centres with the rest removed on a lathe). In retrospect, it wasn't necessary to replace the studs, but at least I'm sure the threads have full engagement. 90/110 refurb projects like Tithonus saw older vehicle fitted with Wolf rims but retaining their shorter studs. Gen Parts studs cost £10 each, so don't replace them unless you have to. Britpart studs are much cheaper, but I wasn't willing to trust my life to them.

If you're talking about the mini heaters with a fan and electric elements, like a squashed hair dryer, don't waste your money. Their fan output is pathetically asthmatic but the heating elements are so weak that even with the slow airflow, they have virtually no influence over temperature.

It's the same as I use, assuming you mean the super-white bulbs that claim something like 230% brightness and give a tinge of blueness to the light. Even with the slatted bull bar in their way, they illuminate the road as well as my RRC does with its Wipac and standard H4 lamps. If I took the bar off, they'd be amazing.

Grem and I did essentially the same thing - the bolt-on bracket from a 300Tdi+ axle and the hubs from an early 90/110 axle. I detailled the conversion in the axles section of my blog.

It has to be the wiper, wiring or switches (don't forget the park switch on the moror's gear box). If it was the drive mechanism (spindles or cable), then they could be seized with ice in sub-zero conditions and free up when the temperature increases, but dampness being a factor suggests electrics...

I was going to make the same suggestion - it has a similar step up as 5th on a LT77 or R380, but is simple to fit with standard parts and also allows the "splitting" of the lower gears to give 1st and 1.28, 2nd and 2.28, 3rd and 3.28 as well as a new top gear. That can be handy on hills.

I don't think vehicle with LPG tanks (full or empty) are allowed on the Eurostar, so it would limit your crossings to ferries. Check with them whether they accept LPG vehicles before you consider fitting it.

I don't seem to have much wear on the teeth, but the main gear wheel has a lot of end float, which probably allows a considerable wiper movement with the helical teeth. I think I need to put a washer on the spindle to get rid of that end float and check the worm gear again for end float too (I didn't see any last time).

There are only a few seals that will result in external leaks, and it's not hard to identify which is at fault. Working from inboard to outboard, you first have the paper gasket between the axle tube and swivel housing, which is in that flanged joint. Next is the big swivel seal that keeps the oil/grease inside the swivel and suffers more abrasion than any other seal in the system, especially if the swivels are pitted or rusted, and will leak down the inboard side of the brake shield, so shouldn't get the disc too dirty. After that is the hub seal, which is tucked up inside of the void of the brake disc, and will leak onto the inboard side of the disc. Next is the paper gasket (or silicone sealant) between the drive flange and hub, which will fling oil on the inside of the wheel and outboard side of the disc. Finally, there is the plastic centre cap on the hub, which on 300Tdi and later vehicles is a much looser fit than earlier models as the splined joint is meant to be dry, so a clean up and smear of RTV sealant works wonders. The stub axles on these later models have an internal seal against the half shaft to prevent oil from the swivel housing getting to the end of the shaft and into the splines or the wheel bearings. It was a really bad evolution, causing the bearings to rely solely on the grease added during assembly and causing the splines on the shaft and drive flange to wear rapidly. A lot of people remove or cut that internal seal to allow proper lubrication of these areas, but you do need to add sealant to that end cap to prevent its loss or leaks.

They have been up for sale for a couple of weeks, and two others are showing interest at the moment. The thread is here: http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=79495

I replaced my gear boxes on my 109 with Britpart units during my rebuild. I later had problems with both wipers - they sweep too small an area with a dry screen, but overshoot (especially the rhs) on a wet screen, especially at speeds over 40mph where the wind forces their movement even further. I replaced both boxes again with new Gen Parts. I became a Britpart critic not long after the big rebuild, but in all fairness, there was no difference in the quality of their wiper boxes - I found no faults in the units I replaced, no difference in the appearance or quality to the new genuine boxes, and no difference in the sweeping problems or the conditions in which the problems occur. However, I still wouldn't recommend Britpart; I just have too little faith in their quality even though these parts were fine (I kept them as spares). Bearmach seem to be better as far as pattern parts go. Frankly, I expect that LR, BP and BM all use the same manufacturer. I suspect my problem is due to the operating cable. I replaced that before the rebuild because of under-sweep with a Britpart cable, but it turned out to be 3-4" too long. I had to cut the end off with a hack saw. and having removed the retaining tip that secures the coil to the inner wire, I suspect the coil is compression and stretching like a spring. I think replacing the boxes and lubricating the entire system allowed the wipers to move more easily, which is why the oversweep only became apparent then, not on initial cable replacement. I need to replace the cable again or weld up its tip.

Absolutely right - there are varying opinions on what constitutes chassis alteration, for example, or "radical changes" to the vehicle. I suspect the same is true within VOSA, with some of their SVA and VIC testers having varying degrees of pragmatism or literal interpretation of rules. My guess would be that if you don't have to cut or weld the chassis in any way other than repairs to rust damage and you use most of the mechanical items without alteration (overhaul of components is fine), then it should keep its original ID even with a different body as the body does not contribute to the vehicle's VIN points. It might need an SVA test, though, as it won't conform to RRC or Discovery approval.

The way I see it is that the diff should be the toughest part of the axle as it's the hardest and costliest part to replace. The half shaft should be next, with the drive flanges being sacrificial. The HD flanges with the screw on caps (usually yellow passivated) may seem like many to be a good idea, but in this case, where you have concerns about the diff being the weakest link, then standards (or even cheap pattern) flanges might be a good idea. There may be several sources of these copies, and ARB have probably used the worst for this test, but the torque figures in the test aren't that dissimilar - 68k for the first test and 64k for the second, if I recall. There is no way of telling if the genuine ARB was reaching its limit as the half shaft failed, and your copy part seems much superior to the one in the test, so who knows what difference in torque capacity yours has from the genuine article. Given that Toyota axles are renowned for handling much greater stress and suffering less failures than LR axles, you'll probably be alright anyway, but as I said, use standard or cheap flanges to make them the fusible link, carrying a few spares in the vehicle if you're going to give it some abuse, and you should be well covered without major expense.