Cluaran

Hello folks. Me and my TD5 110 are currently travelling away from home up a small creek without a manual. I need to check out/adjust my handbrake after starting to roll backwards down a slope with the brake full on! I also need to replace the rear discs. I carry essential tools and a good bottle jack and stands, but left my trusty Haynes manual on the living room table! Can anyone point me to appropriate online guidance or, better, (given the hands-on knowledge of this forum) advise me of the simplest, quickest and safest way to tackle these two jobs? Thanks.

Just a quick thank you for the practical advice offered. A quick inspection revealed that the splines on the left-hand drive member and half shaft were rounded. After several phone-calls yesterday I finally located a Landy man in a nearby village who quickly cannibalised both parts from an old 200TDi which fitted the bill. I cleaned them up this morning, put a bead of clear kitchen-quality silicon on the drive-member flange in lieu of formal gasket, and after a bit of jiggling relocated the five bolts. As BogMonster said it was a 5-minute(-ish) job which has got me mobile again. I WILL do a thorough job on BOTH sides... The Good Luck wishes worked! Thanks chaps.

Thanks to both BogMonster and GBMud for the advice. Feeling has now returned to my fingers so that i can either have a bash myself today or use the phone. Thank you gents! Cluaran

Chugging happily away in my TD5 110 hardtop from Asda's this morning with my wee 2 year-old wrapped up like a snowman from the frost, I heard what sounded like an exhaust pipe scraping along the ground, followed by the loss of transmission. I was able to will just enough movement to park on the left hand-side of a dual carriageway. With hazards flashing, I quickly saw that the exhaust was fine and that an oil stain had appeared on the rear prob shaft by the diff. With my boy in tow I wasn't able to push the car anywhere less obstructive, and with my mobie phone not working in between providers, I had a hell of a job getting into the warm somewhere to summon the AA. It has been a trying day, folks capped by having to fork out £105 to free the car from the pound to which the police recovery service had kindly removed it... Sorry about the venting but here's the gist: AA reckon the rear diff is buggered (why would that happen unless the previous owner from whom I bought in early October was fibbing about all the levels being fine?); she will move (just) in diff lock; she will also move in normal range when the handbrake is applied (don't quite understand that!). The take-up has been a bit clunky for the past two days - and I stalled twice (unusual for me but I thought I was just being a bit inattentive...) Can anyone offer a narrative on what seems to have happened, 'cos I've always believed rear diffs to be pretty much "bullet-proof"?! I have to travel some 700 miles North on 26th December and I need to make an assessment on how to achieve this using the one-drop AA relay service to best effect. Can anyone recommend a source of rear axles - properly reconditioned probably, or an inn - sorry, I mean garage - somewhere in the North London/Herts area who might be open for Christmas visitors? I'm off for a long hot bath now! Cluaran