ThreePointFive

I don't think I've ever seen one where the truck came off worse....

I read about this on Gwynne Lewis's site while looking at refurb Vs upgrade. It sounds like they really had to work to fit the TDCI in there and it resulted in some sub optimal compromises having to be made. Though I look forward to finding out that's wrong, as with everything else I've said on this thread. 😬

Just when I think I know something, it gets corrected on here! I read they should never be in phase as it creates problems, so both of mine were out of phase. Ah well.

I didn't know until I looked into having these balanced that the point of a double carden prop is vibration elimination as much as increased articulation - which is why they were fitted to Discos (not so someone could come along and put a lift kit on it, who knew). I'm not going with double cardens of course, but it was interesting to read that they had to resort to that. It implies it's impossible to fully remove on a single jointed prop. Phasing is one thing I believe I got wrong, and why I'm getting the (mild) vibration. I'm hopeful they will send back my props assembled or at least with marks to align them. I saw a video of how a single UJ cannot keep a constant velocity through its rotation on anything other than straight angles and the need for a UJ at both ends but offset by 90 degrees is to balance this out. Easy to get wrong and I wonder how many have been assembled in home garages with the joints neatly aligned. I don't know why this one UJ is at fault, doing them with a vice, a socket and a hammer in my kitchen probably wasn't the best environment but I am surprised that 1000 miles has done for it, especially when greased twice in that period. I am going to look again at the heat shielding around the exhaust near the front though as I know others have had their grease cooked. I am sure that the prop is not the (main) cause of the jolting that started this, though.

Damn. I was thinking about booking just to see this thing built and driving about. Is the Summer one open to all?

To update this, I took onboard everything I could from the advice given and I have found some things and have some work to do. I found that the front rear UJ had a bit of play in it where it would move 1mm by hand when bolted up. Also my handbrake has lost effectiveness and isn't holding the car on big slopes. I'm blaming water ingress coupled with the freezing weather when parked. I have sent off my props to D&F Props as recommended elsewhere, looking forward to getting those back and hopefully addressing a mild 50mph vibration I was feeling but ignoring. I'm going to take a look at the handbrake mechanism while the props are off and make sure it's all seated properly. That's two areas of potential cause. While this is all apart, I'll replace all my engine mounts with the Glencoyne ones. At least they are a known-good and rules them out from future diagnosis. As much as it pains me, I have bought a PWM idle valve kit from Nige. Having the car almost stall when just going from lock to lock was the last straw and it's a safety consideration as much as anything due to how unpredictably it drives while cold. Having then sorted as much mechanical causes, I'll ask for a trip to @Bowie69 's House of Flying Laptops and a tuning session (finally) to try to get rid of the last symptoms. I'll post results, it may help someone some day. Or provide the next owner with insight into why the car was so cheap.

I am minded to heed your advice. I vividly remember when I put this photo up in 2009, you commented "BANG, and the diff is gone"... ..and this happened the next time out (on a much less severe, gentle piece of ground being driven more normally). That was a factory 2-pin front diff. The rear was fine, I'm told it would have been a 4 pin in the V8 CSW. It was my first and last trip into the 'drive it like you stole it' camp of off roading. As a first shopping list, yours works for me. It will have other benefits in reducing what I think is a ton of play in the transmission (see other threads recently...) with new parts. While I wanted to select something based on what was right for me, rather than what was cheap, I didn't realise that ATBs were so much less than manual lockers. I can get a full set of Ashcroft ATBs and shafts for the same as just a pair of Ashlockers. Unsure if pegging (now I sound like Mo) is necessary or not, but there's almost no point not to if they're out of the car anyway. I was always set on manual lockers as I wanted the choice/control - and, frankly, to see how much further I got for my money - but I'm starting to think ATBs might be the better way to go. I just hope they do deliver off road or it's saving money for no benefit. You describe what I think my driving style is with the last paragraph, and I agree that's the realy control over breakages. This is all really insurance about getting somewhere I shouldn't and having the ability to get back out of it without then causing mechanical damage. I know the addage is that lockers get you further into the woods to get stuck, but common sense still plays a factor. As to whether it's financially worth it or not, that boat sailed a while ago on my car.

Indeed, I didn't want to lead the witness! The other use case for the car is poor weather (a reason I went with these tyres), I admit I had no idea that full lockers were a bad idea, and I am not new to driving in terrible conditions! I assume that's because you'll get sudden grip on one side and get flung off towards the side with least grip without warning? I was almost set on manual lockers as I wanted the control/choice and didn't want any funny business with turning circles on a locker deciding for me. I need to do more research into ATBs it seems. Not all of my offroading is recreational so it needs to work when called upon, hence the capability requirement. So in short, everything then! There's so much in the above posts that I need to understand and consider, I am very grateful that anyone bothers to put their thoughts and experience down as it's really valuable. I didn't know I had time-bomb components, I went to Disco axles because they're 24 spline and rear discs, so finding this out was a surprise but necessary. I wanted to avoid mods to the axle itself (upgrading/beefing up internals aside) so I get a bit twitchy when it comes to this stub axle bit. Explaining the mods in the way an insurance broker call centre agent gets tricky. As long as it is straightforward to do and can be reversed... I accept it's a key to getting around that specific weakness though. I am surprised I didn't break something last time out, one of the downsides of ATs is using revs to deal with obstacles. My normal off roading 'style' is to always try to walk the car over anything, I don't like ragging it with the wheels spinning - that's one of the reasons I'll be changing the larger mud tyres, the other reason being increased ground clearance. It's not a challenge truck and I don't enjoy driving it like that. Last time I did, bits of diff made a surprise appearance out the bottom of the casing. On that day, I learnt the joys of mechanical sympathy. This sounds like a project to do over time, so unless there are pressing reasons to do it a different way, I'll do the diffs (manual or ATB) and shafts, then work my way to the outer components. Oh, and I've never heard of anyone snapping a crank! I would have thought there's some much more likely components in the gearbox long before you get into that...!

Christ that was long and badly written.

This has been asked many times before but things move on and new products come onto the market (as well as businesses going bust, which seeems more common these days). Let's say you have a set of P-reg/1996 Disco axles, all standard internals. These hypothetical axles have a fair bit of play and could use a general refresh including swivels, pins etc. So it's likely they'll need some pretty significant bits (shafts, diff, etc). The vehicle is used for everything from being a load lugger to taking part in the more challenging end of drive-round/pay and play days. Let's assume it has 255/85 BFG muds on for this purpose. The vehicle has to work when required and the object is to make it as capable as possible while keeping things as standard/simple as possible and making it no worse on road - no outlandish suspension changes, only upgrades to the axle for reliability/strength. My thoughts are a pair of Ashlockers and associated gubbins, but these are quite a cost so keen to hear other options and opinions. What would you start with first?

Until you go buying fancy/stupid LED ones, then the maths starts to change.

The plastics look like they're already fading.

Just don't stir the oxygen tanks.

There's a lot of ideas here that might help. Mines certainly not a "how to" but it's an indication.

I really like what you're doing with this. Would you be doing a run of these or just the one? I suppose there's no need to do a batch on a 3D printer. I'd be interested if you did (price dependent), having a secure store on the wing might be convenient.

Have you bought them? I have a set going for very cheap if not.

They're great fun, not that fast but they feel (and sound) it and the handling is lively. The best part is that no one gives them a second look and everyone assumes you're 900 years old. The one I had my eye on has just disappeared, thankfully. That was a mistake I don't have to make. MODS - this is not OT as they're 4x4. Wrap a rope around the bumper and you've got a challenge truck.

Wrong car, poor spares availability and no room for it, but other than that...! I am currently trying to convince myself a 3.0 V6 X-Type AWD is the Sierra's spiritual successor and a sensible daily.

Great find, I've wanted the saloon version of the 4x4 for a while now. So few of these left.

I think I did tune it this way as I was trying to get better low-RPM performance from it, as it kept wanting to stall unless I gave it more throttle than seemed reasonable. Raising the idle speed did a lot to help but the shunting was already a thing by then. I'll try reverting to a map where this didn't happen and then compare against the newest one to see where it went wrong. I want to keep as much of the current map as I can.

You've hit the nail on the head as I obviously mapped-in this problem, I am not sure I will be suitably qualified to identify and cure the cause. After having the gearbox rebuilt, doing the UJs and rebuilding the axles, I shouldn't have any play anywhere. But I do. It's a shame as I really wanted to show the car to family this Christmas for the first time, which involves a long drive.

First we rule out the MAF, then we narrow it down to being a part fitted somewhere in, on or around the car, all in one page. Slow down, I can't keep up with this progress. I think you're right, it's a culmination of many things being set off by the engine issue.

So we can probably rule out the MAF being to blame, then....................

It's the MAF sensor.

Isn't that the sensor hanging out on the intake pipe? I give up. I shouldn't be allowed near cars.