Dunc

Hang on, we may have found salvation. Good old ebay.

Budget might be able to go up a bit if i manage to sell the Rangey or the DoKa first. Found this on ebay, cheap but a smidge more work than i'm after!

Right then, as with most things in life the wife has decreed a change. Fuel and our insurers have prompted the wife to decide my Rangey is going. She's also said i'm not allowed to build the 100" i was planning for when it gets too rusty, i've got to build the extension instead. On the plus side, replacement has been approved. Budget is about £2,500 We've been to look at a 90 TD, hence my question last weekend about TD specific problems and it was ok. Nothing too shabby, just a straight truck which was quite clean. We've looked at a 90 300Tdi which had lots of miles on but was ok and also at an ex-utility 200 Tdi 90 which was very good. Also in the mixer were an 'L' plate 200 Tdi 110 hardtop which was cheaper and in good nick and has space to do all our fetching and carrying to save me having to use a trailer. We found an 'F' plate TD CSW which was nice, but needed quite a lot of 'tidying'. I used to love my 'K' plate 200 Tdi 110, but had to sell it when i came off my bike last year a week after losing my job... SO Pound for pound you get more for your dollar with a 110, but here are a few scenarios that i'd be grateful for help with; 1/ The road is covered with snow with slight ice underneath. A 90 and a 110 (both with 4 passengers) start up the hill with is about 1 in 6. Which one gets to the top easiest? 2/ A 2 tonne generator has to be towed across a field. Tractors have already churned some of the surface up due to the wetness of it and you've watched a Nissan Navara sink to its axles as its road tyres spun. There's grass on the top and then squishy ground underneath. The 90 and the 110 are on, oh let's say Insa Turbo Saharas. Which one gets the genny across the field? 3/ The water on the road to pick up the wife is 3" deep and 100yds long and has flooded at a bridge so the flow is going accross the road. Do you prefer to go through in the 90 or the 110? 4/ You get a 2" lift kit for christmas. Do you bolt it to the 90 or the 110 for biggest improvement off-road? All situations in the last year that the rangey has coped well with, apart from number 4. What is consensus? I'm guessing what Ralph will say, and if he can find me a Tdi 110 CSW for my budget i'll even paint it the same colour as his in gratitude! Cheers.

Oh, stop it with the photos. I'll be leaking love wee before long else!

Lush. Git.

Sorry Ralph, i was obviously having a blind moment You're right, Clarkson has absolutely no off-road driving skill, no finesse and thinks that 'tread lightly' means beige soles on his shoes...

Do you miss the bulkhead vents, or (given the weather and the fact you've only had it 5 minutes) do you think you'll miss the bulkhead vents? They're one of my favourite things on Series Landys and Defenders.

Beautiful truck. Shame about the speakers, that's a bit tommy tank. Give me the part number of the lamps you're after, i'll mail it to my contact and see what he can do for you.

Hi everyone, Maybe i'm behind the times, but did anyone see the Top Gear special where they became the first folks to drive to the north pole? I know they didn't use Landies, but you have to admit that the Hilux trucks they had were damn sexy. Slightly further afield i know, but i wanted to go to Iceland for our honeymoon (with Iceland Rovers) and do a glacier expedition (i'm a geomorphologist, so it's my bag) but we couldn't really afford it, especially as it was the wrong time of year for the trip we wanted to be guaranteed to take in the northern lights phenomenon. Watching that programme has made me want to go even more!

Well you could mate, but they wouldn't be very smooth anymore!!

Bloody hell!

Try sikaflex Mark, worked when i built the doors on my S3. Acts as a gasket seperating the metals but also like a glue holding them together.

Used to show there with Goats. Great show.

I think the furthest i'll get this year will be Sweet Lamb for the Baja! When i last spoke to Viper Mick i was gobsmacked at the distance you Recovery lot travel. I wanted desperately to do Recovery when i had my 110, but funding wasn't there... said the wife!

Similar story for Welland Steam Rally; http://www.wellandsteamrally.co.uk/index.htm

Hell's teeth, you don't exactly stay close to home do you Ralph? :blink:

Imaginatively, ours is known as 'the Truck'.

I've got the Colway A/T's on my Rangey too. They've done 2 years use and several thousand miles, off-roading and Motorways and still look like new. They were ablout £160 for the set from Craddock plus £25 delivery. As long as i own Landys these will be my daily tyre. Period. I've put them on 2 Discos, my Rangey and my Tdi 110 and they've been brilliant. They have a higher speed rating than some remoulds too.

Hi everyone, I'm off to the auctions tomorrow as there's an 'H' plate 90 going through which i'm keen on having a stab at. Hopefully (with us practically being an island at the mo) the weather will keep the cheque books away so i can have more than an icecubes chance of getting it! My question; anything in particular i should check? I'm reasonable au fait with my Landys but would be grateful of any 'insider' knowledge of not so obvious bits to check. You know the kind of thing "check the second bolt on the left of the steering box and if its not horizontal then the chassis is bent" kind of thing! I've had 2 Discos from Brightwells and i like it there because you can have a good poke round the trucks before you bid. Thanks for any help you can offer.

Hi everyone, Just to update you with the most recent tribulations; Got beaten to the tax-exempt S2 so that's out of the window. Also got stuffed by the insurers recently on our other car, so that's been sold. Rangey has to now do everything - daily driver, off roader, toy, building material carrier etc etc... Priced up all the parts from Paddoks again and it looks like we're going to try and rebuild it standard because it should only take a few days or a week if i sleep with the welder! Also, the cost is very much less. The wife has decided that she'd rather me keep the Rangey as my baby and she'll have a Lightweight for running around in... I'll no doubt bore you again with the next changes to our plans as and when. Cheers.

Nah, it'll all be HumVees by then. We'll have to buy them off the Yanks because we'll be so much in debt after the current gulf nonsense. Few more years and there wont be a market for the Defender anyway, what with pedestrians not having to use crossings... The Supacat looks a nice tool, wonder what its crew capacity is though because it looks very small under that rear cage. It's like a giant spaceframed Ferret!

Yeah, thanks for that mate! In all seriousness, i really do think that the rules are vague (and daft) enough to be able to put my fingers in my ears and feel justified claiming tax exempt status on a hybrid. Externally, apart from wheelarch extensions and grill, it will be a Series 2 109 but just a bit shorter. I can see the point of the DVLA guy not liking cut & shut chassis. I wouldn't have one myself, although that's more psychological than poor engineering.

Ouch!

How about; Series axles, Rangey diffs inside and converted to discs with bolt on Chris Perfect stuff, spring plate mounting (fabbed to same shape as leaf but with coil cup) bolted on using original U clamps. That way i've not modded the actual axle at all. According to DVLA it's all as was. I quite like that idea actually!

Yes, i totally appreciate where you're coming from Lesmond. My devils advocate head is telling me that all the axle casing were the same, which is why the diffs and shafts are interchangeable. By virtue of that i'm justifying the swap. I'd like a tax exempt 109 series 3, that way i could justify the gearbox because it's constant 4wd on the Stage 1, which was a Series 3. Tenuous? Yes! Thing is (and i'm really not appertaining to dishonesty) who knows what axles i've got? If my insurers do, and they're only ones who'll want to see it if i have a bump, then there's no problem.