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Ralph that's the same one we use in the works vehicles. Daytime and street lit roads are fine, but as Steve B says it's not much use on dark and unlit roads. It can make out moving objects / which side of the road things are on/signs, but that's about all. That said, for £20 I reckon they're spot on. In fact, the memory cards cost more than the cameras. One benefit for us is, the cig lighters in our vehicles aren't permanent lives, they switch on when the vehicle doors are opened (and stay on whilst the ignition is on), then switch off about 5 mins after the vehicle is parked up. So the camera's only record whilst the vehicle is in use, not filling the memory up with hours of parked up action ! For £20 I'd recommend them.

I'm guessing the handbrake switch is an earth switch? If so, it shouldn't be too hard to re-black the ABS logo and etch the paint with 'PARK' or similar. Depending on how steady your hand is of course! I'm going off the original vehicle wiring, yellow/black as the feed into and out of the original warning bulb. So far the only TD5 wiring is the instrument harness, which is untouched and OE spec. Now I've had a proper think there must be a problem with the original relay or relay wiring, rather than the warning lamp wiring. 2 wires to the original warning bulb. Since one is an ignition feed, the other should be an earth to light the bulb. As it is I have an ignition feed and a relay output feed. Think you might be right about the main relay earth, I would get exactly the symptoms above if the relay is earthing through the output switched earth and not a dedicated chassis earth.

Ahhh I'll check that out! This glow-plug relay was fitted as an after thought, when the engine was changed. So the wiring isn't original. Thanks for the tip, I'll report back. On another note, I see some are using ABS, TC, EML lights for handbrake, winch and other warnings. I peeled the front off a spare panel, it's basically a clear bit of plastic, painted black, with the relevent symbols etched out of the paint. Which got me thinking, is this something a sign writer could make easily enough, with custom symbols? There's a whole range of symbols to copy from, such as from the Carling or Durite catalogue.

Yep, CTS 20.

I'll check that when I get the time, back in work tomorrow so it'll be a week or so now. Do you mean the main earth to the relay or the yellow/black output to the dash lamp? Does your yellow/black switch an earth? So many questions, so little time!

Machine Mart for convenience and paying over the odds. I buy a large amount of ratchets, straps, strops, chains, shackles etc for work, best supplier for both quality and price is Arinsdale at Grangemouth. They are manufacturers as well as traders, TenSys is their brand. To secure vehicles onto trailers, ideally you want a choker strap to secure around the tryes. We pay £6.50 for a choker strap set (6m strap, choker strap, short-handled ratchet). This is the most effective way of securing onto a trailer/flatbed, and is the industry standard.

OK thanks Ralph. This afternoon while I had some time to burn (back at work tomorrow), I had a go again with the power probe. If I put a live to the glow-plug light, it flashes once then goes out, exactly the same as the way I've got it wired in the vehicle. If I put an earth to it, it lights properly. So with this in mind, I wired up a relay to switch the polarity. For no other reason than I have a realy and wire but don't have a new glow-plug relay. It works perfectly with the polarity reversed. So...... now I'm wondering, is there a later glow-plug relay that sends the output as an earth rather than a power? Or perhaps I've wired it up the wrong way around? On my original loom plug, there's 2 Yellow/Blacks on adjacent terminals, one is powered with the relay output (the one I've reversed polarity on) and the other is an ignition live. This looks original. That's not to say the wiring hasn't been bodged further back, there's loads of scotch locks/choccy blocks behind the dash which I've been removing and repairing the loom as I find them.

Cool, thems the same symptoms with the light. The relay itself appears to be working OK, it powers the plugs for about 8-10 seconds. I'll find another relay out and try that. Digging back through this thread (I found a post of mine from 2009, when I started this project), I see others have fitted a relay to reverse the polarity of the glow plug feed, making it a negative to the warning lamp. Is it necessary to go down this route?

Thanks gents. Just to clarify, the Yellow/Black wire is dead, goes live when the ignition is turned, and goes dead again when the glow-plug relay cuts out (about 10 seconds IIRC). So I reckon that its a relay output rather than a feed, and that the relay is working (it cuts in and out as it should). The light comes on when the ignition is turned on, but for less than a second, then it goes straight off again. Leave the ignition on and I hear the glow plug relay cut out. Ralph, is this the same problem you had? If so, I'll get a new relay.

Just a quick note here, I followed RetroAnaconda's guide to the wiring. I already had a VDO Vision temp gauge and matched sender fitted. Because of this, it wasn't necessary to alter anything at the speedo plugs, and as a bonus the wiring harness was a direct fit for the VDO gauge, so it plugged straight in. Gauges all working OK, but a tiny problem with the warning lights: I can't get the glow plug light to work. I've got a 12v feed from the glow plug relay that switches on and off with the relay, but when connected to the warning light, it only illuminates for a split second when I turn the ignition on, then goes off. The relay/glow plugs works as they should. I'm sure I've got the right wire (yellow/black). It's the only one at the dash that powers on and off with the glow plug relay output. It was previously wired to the choke light on my old dash (200TDi, formerly a 2.5 petrol). Any ideas gents ?

Well mines old and has the PDWA valve/switch. I had a lot of travel on the brake pedal, and the light would come on towards the end of the pedal stroke. First things that came to mind were: Brake fluid leak, fluid low, bad wheel bearing/wobbly disc pushing the pistons back in caliper, bleb in flexi-hose. But it pays to keep it simple and start at the beginning. Rear shoes were right out of adjustment. Adjusted them up, problem solved.

I've just done this today. Mine was a rod type actuator, and I've fitted a later direct cable entry type backplate and cable. As said above, the threaded part of the cable is smaller diameter than the threaded plate, so it won't go. I used the die grinder and buzzed the threads out of the plate, and put a slight bevel on the outside edge of the hole in the plate. With a dab of grease and a bit of twisting, the rubber grommet on the cable slid into the plate and is a good snug fit.

There's a company up here (North East) who specialise in chassis swaps, when they fit new chassis' they also fit a plate that looks exactly like the one in the pic. I can't read the writing on the plate from this pic, but the layout/format appears the same. But..... they don't strip the body/bulkhead, they lift the body off in one piece.

Thanks for that Simon. All comes down to cost - would love to fit an X brake but can't justify spending £200+ on one. I met Si from X-Eng a few years ago. He was having trouble with a trailer wheel bearing in Scotch Corner services. A thoroughly decent chap.

Quick question, I've got a 1987 110 with push rod type fitting on the expander. It's been sticking. A stripdown reveals the expander is worn, the pushrods are tired, the cable is sticking and the shoe adjuster cams are worn. Somewhere in the garage I've got a complete backplate with shoes, drum and cable, from a later 300TDi Defender. Question is, will this backplate and cable be a straight swap for my original setup? (Will the cable end fit the handbrake lever and is the prop bolt pattern the same) ?

The technicalities aside, blasting is the ONLY way to get rid of rust. Blast it back to clean metal, replace the metal that's missing. Scale guns are good for taking thick rust scabs off, but the finer rust that's deep seated into the metal gets hammered into the metal. You won't stop it rusting without removing all the rust.

I replaced all the ball joints/rod ends with Britpart ones last year for test. I done 6k miles, this year, fail on ALL the rod ends and drop arm ball joint. Well, you get what you pay for......

Yep, useful diagnostic tool, takes a lot of guess work out of fault finding.

We use these fittings on our airlines on the wreckers, and also on pressure test gagues on the service vans. In the link above, they're on page 42 of the TTC catalogue, section 2. We find a lot of new busses have schraeder valves (likes of tyre valves) as a main test point built in by the coachworks, underneath you will still find standard test points. Busses are right bassarts to recover, as usually the test points are hidden. Found one main test point in an overhead locker on the nearside a while ago. Only found it as a last resort as I'd looked everywhere else I could think of. Not what we want to be doing on the hard shoulder!

Ha ha ha, I'm with Litch, very rarely is chequerplate used for it's functionality, ok so bonnet and wing tops where they get walked on. But it's mostly used to cover up bodge / hide damage. I replaced the rear door on my 1987 110, nearly every weld was broken out of the frame. New back door, and swing away fitted, should keep the job right.

In the course of typing the above, I've stumbled across a new Sealey CP2450 with 2 batteries for £159 + £8 posting, on Ebay. Just bought it I've used the snap-on ones before and agree they're proper skookum, bashed the wheelnuts straight off one of our 6.5 tonners without breaking sweat (they're torqued up to 400nm). I've never used any of the others listed above, but I reckon it's safe to say the Machine Mart one will fall to bits after about 5 seconds, and the broken parts will be 'wear items' and won't be covered by the warranty. I'm happy to be proven wrong though, if someone wants to waste invest their money and try it??? I believe that the battery life/quality of battery is what makes the difference in price.

As with any tools Tom, buy the best you can afford. Been thinking about one for myself, for work. So lets start a comparison eh ? Snap-on CTU6855, Max. output torque 534nm, weight 3kgs with battery (2 batteries supplied), on the vans at £400+vat. Bosch GDS18v-HT, Max. output torque 475nm, weight 3.4kgs with battery (2 batteries supplied), £360+vat. DeWalt DC820KB, Max. output torque 195nm, weight 2kgs, 2 batteries supplied, £240+vat. DeWalt DW059K2H Max. output torque 418nm, weight 3.2kgs with 2 batteries supplied, £300+vat Sealey CP2450, Max. torque output 555nm, weight 7kgs, kit not specified, £165 inc Sealey CP3004, Max. torque output 542nm, weight 3.2 kgs, 1 battery supplied £257 inc IR W360, Max. torque output 490nm, weight 7kgs, kit not specified, £350+vat Clarke CIR450, Max. torque output 450nm, weight 3.4kgs, 1 battery supplied £120+vat Milwakky 0779-22 Max. torque output 440nm, weight 8.7 kgs, 1 battery supplied, £320+vat Prices are just google ads, not investigated fully. So it looks like you get what you pay for!

Hi all, we've got problems with three of our Ramsey winches, all RPH 8000's, and none more than 4 years old. They pull fine, trip when they should, brake as they should, but a really annoying problem is that they rattle and groan when winching out with no load. With weight on them they're fine both in and out, and there's no noise winching in without load. Just winching out with no load on them, they sound horiffic! I'm just wondering if anyone's come across this problem before, as I'm gonna strip one soon to see what the crack is. I'm guessing it's the sprag/one way bearing slipping, but I won't know for sure until it's stripped. Anyone???

Hi all, now I've had a good look at my LT77 gearbox, it's obvious it's been rebuilt at some point. It's sporting a new mainshaft. On the edge of the centreplate and on the front case, side by side is stamped 'AS'. On the rear casing next to the mounting plate is stamped 'M'. And on the top of the front case, at the very front, is stamped 'P'. These are all hand stamped. Do these letters mean anything to anyone?

Anyone?