Snagger

Well, I correctly torqued up the nuts on the spacers and they would all come loose over a couple of hundred miles; about a 30 degree tweak was needed each time. I have heard the same experience from several other people, though they said it was only a problem that cropped up when the spacers were new. I suspect it might be the greasiness of the new electroplating on the spacers and their nuts combined with slacker threads inside the nuts and mismatched bevels on the nuts and the stud holes (giving very small contact area between the nuts and the spacers and thus little friction. The point is, I was far from unique in my experience and had been warned before the vehicle was even used with them fitted. As for the handling, they most certainly do make the steering heavier, more prone to following camber and ruts, more likely to pull to one side and more vague. yes, the increased track can be beneficial for side slopes and can help increase the clearance of the front radius arm to increase steering lock, but if the spacers help you cornering on road, that merely signifies you are driving too fast.

Here are two photos:

I can't remeber the cost. It wasn't cheap - £180 rings a bell. I didn't use a courier; I drove the vehicle there for them to remove and refit the lining, which of course would have been factored into their bill. I'll take some photos tomorrow - the light is too poor now.

My shunning of them was tongue in cheeck, but the effects I mention are real enough. It's down to the owner to decide if they're happy witht he worsened handling and feel and the mildly increased maintenance frequency. My wheels are offset, and I'll be getting rid of them once I have fitted Defender axles to the 109. I have had those rims for 18 years, bought well before I understood about all these issues.There is one difference between using spacers and using offset rims - the spacers' nuts have a tendency to loosen behind the wheel boss, and while they can't come off, they can lead to wheel wobble and stud damage. This means that the wheels should be frequently removed to check the spacer nuts are tight. Thread lock doesn't seem to help much in my experience and from what I have heard from others.

I hope to do my axle swap relatively soon (given that I prepared the axles 2-3 years ago, that is very relatively). Part of the swap is thebrake master cylinder, as disc callipers don't work well with Series masters. Has anyone tried fitting a TD5 Defender or Tdi Discovery servo to a SIII pedal box? I don't know how different the stud pattern or actuator rod lengths are... I don't want to use the Defender pedal box as the foot well angles are different and the pedal height will be wrong.

A wider rim witht he same offset as a LR rim won't, but rims (even the same width) with different offsets do. Oh, how my 109 has taught me that...

I have a soft dash, which has a single piece lining. I didn't want to replace it with a two-piece lining, so had Nationwide recover the original backing. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good. The fabric is different from the original, though the colour is the same. The original fabric is no longer available, they say, and the new fabric supposedly glues better and is easier to clean. It looks pretty smart, even if the texture is non-original.

Don't follow the advice of anyone from Texas - their seat wiring is a bit different to what you want. Sorry, I can't help - the closest I come to that is fitting seat heaters to a soft dash Vogue, which had the wiring in place and just needed the switches and heating pads fitting.

I sorted this issue on my soft dash RRC today. It has the same system and wiring (but a passenger airbag too). Look for a roughly 1" square white connector plug near the base of the steering column disconnected from anything else. Mine does not have the yellow sheathing of the rest of the SRS system - it merely has some yellow wires going into it. The plug has three wires and three blade terminals inside. I had exactly the same warning light display as you (the left bulb was steady, but the right side flashed slowly for about 5 mins before becoming steady). It was because I had switched on the ignition with the driver's airbag disconnected while fitting a new indicator switch. I borrowed the Autologic system at Rogers of Bedford (they know me well) and it took less than five minutes to clear the faults, including hunting down the plug and booting up the computer.

I'd agree with that in as much as any well maintained system will work well. Vented discs are only advantageous if you brake a lot, like living in a hilly area with an auto box or doing a mountainous expedition with a heavy vehicle. For lighter vehicles used a lot in mud, they're a bad idea as the vents fill up and lead to vibration and uneven cooling (thermal stresses).Though I have had very good results from my EBC pads and grooved/drilled discs on my RRC, I am using standard pads and discs on my 109 conversion. I did have a bit of glazing on my RR's rear discs, but that was due to seized inboard pistons keeping the pads on and cooking the discs. Rebuilding the callipers with Zeus stainless pistons has cured that, and the discs sorted themselves out fairly quickly without any treatment. The new pistons make no difference to braking effort, naturally, but at least they won't seize again. I'm using them in my 109's callipers, too.

PM me your address and details, and make a small donation to the British Legion and I'll send you one. It's from a 300Tdi Discovery, but I'd expect it's the same.

Get rid of the spacers -no doubt about it. They make the steering heavier and more vague, make the vehicle follow tarmac ruts (eg. motorway first lanes) and road camber much more strongly, increase pull from a deflated tyre or uneven braking and greatly increase wear in steering rod ends, steering boxes, swivel pins, wheel bearings and stub axles. They are the spawn of Satan!

The wheels are cambered, and seeing the tops leaning out a little is normal. Uneven camber would be a sign of worn swivels, loose swivel-axle or swivel-stub axle bolts, worn wheel bearings, worn stub axles (the areas where the wheel bearings sit can become worn and thinned, especially where spacers or non-standard wheels are used) or a bent axle. I suspect any uneven camber or increased camber you saw was due to a bad wheel bearing. This would seem to be the case, given the failure when driving shortly after. The bearing can fail in a way that makes the bearing feel tight - it could have had a twisted or jammed roller that prevented an wobble on your test.

The washers act as the valve on the system. The oil is supplied directly from the pump at spring end, in-line with the thermostat, and from the oil cooler via the opposite end. When cold, the oil stat contracts and the spring moves the washer out from the block, past the housing exit port to the filter's outer ring. As the temperature increases, the stat expands and pushes the washer inwards against the spring, past the filter port, preventing the direct flow from the pump and permitting the indirect flow via the oil cooler. I have just one washer on my 200Tdi and 19J. Two may be fitted on the 300 Tdi if the internal configuration of the filter port is different - the 12J, 19J and 200Tdi share the same filter housing, oil stats and pump, but the 300Tdi has a different housing and pump. It could just be a fault, though. It will restrict oil flow. I'd remove them and would fit a smaller diameter washer of similar thickness and one original washer to ensure the least resistance when the stat is open. Make sure the smaller washer goes to the unsprung end if you do this.

I have EBC discs and pads on my RRC and they have been excellent for both performance and lack of wear. I'll use them again.

You would benefit, then. Mudpluggers would suffer from vented discs as they fill up with mud and cause disc corrosion and vibration. So, it depends on your circumstances, not just the vehicle type.

50mm spacers will be putting a hell of a strain on the wheel bearings and stub axles, and hard driving could be putting enough force on them to bend the stub axles, and deflect the wheels enough on their bearings that the half shaft is fouling the stub axle. That's my bet, anyway...

I regard it as extremely important to match not only the dimensions of the tyres ona 4wd vehicle, but also the tread pattern and compound. I only ever run a different tyre if it's a spare wheel, and even then it's only as a very short term measure with the damaged tyre being replaced and fitted as a matter of urgency. It's not just a matter of avoiding damage to the 4wd mechanism, but also of ensuring proper handling and appropriate levels of grip for correct brake operation.

Hi folks. Does anyone know if the DI used the same rear callipers on 200 and 300Tdi generations, please?

Very true. In fact, I'd wager that a rain soaked rag top and its hood sticks weigh more than a hard top or truck cab...

I had similar problems on my Lightweight and replaced just about everything like you did, rectifying many faults which may have been contributory, but to no avail. In the end, it was setting the ignition timing by ear, not by static marks, which cured it. The static marks are for 2* and 4* leaded fuels, not modern unleaded, and so the timing marks don't always give good guidance. Loosen the distributor clamp and idle the engine. Adjust the distributor position until maximum rpm is found and tighten the clamp in that position. You may need to adjust the carb settings after this.

No, but I have found some play in the front diff pinion bearings, so I think I have found the cause. Now I need to find the money!

Bypass the switch - disconnect the wiring from all the switches (after applying some markings and noting down what goes where) and connect the earth from the gauge directly to one of the tank's senders (the gauge earths via the "sender" units). Turn the ignition on and move that sender's float by hand (if you have a MoD under-seat fill type tank, just remove the cap and the extendable neck and you should be able to reach in directly; with civilian tanks you'd need to remove the sender unit to manipulate it). Then repeat with the other tank. You could also use a multimeter to test the switches by removing the wiring from them and then testing the resistance with the switch open and closed, remembering also to test the resistance between the terminals and the casing in each condition to search for a short on the side that always reads full. (I'd suspect a chafed wire between the switches and that tank's sender, though.

Utility 109s have the same bulkhead as a Defender tub, so any Defender bulkhead removal system will work perfectly. I used the Protection & Performance bar which is very similar to the genuine D90 station wagon bar. It does improve space considerably and eliminates the centre of the bulkhead completely, which is good if you want easy access to the tub from the cab, but bad if you carry a lot of loose articles in the back. Any bulkhead removal will need replacement seat back supports or new self-supporting seats. Defender seats (the type with one bolt hole at each corner) will bolt straight into a Series II or III without even drilling new holes, and mightn't even constitute a mod for insurance purposes as late SIII County vehicles were fitted with these seats at the factory.