Night Train

You can get anti burst door locks to fit that door. I had them on my 1980 S3 Safari. I think it would be a straight swap. The little locking lever on the iside is also neater then the big silver twist lock you have there. Looking in my 1980 Optional Parts catalogue 395037 OS front and back door 395038 NS front door 395294 OS catch and rear catch 395295 NS catch You may beed shims as well but those can be made from bits of ali plate with slots in for the bolts.

I can imagine that DVLA could make money out of selling Q plates. First you have to jump through lots of hoops to get a vehicle that qualifies for one and then you get choose whatever you like to go with it (within reason) and it will stay with that vehicle for life. Could be a DVLA money maker and add value to properly modified cars with an interesting plate, two collectables in one. Shame it wouldn't happen.

Hmmm, I wonder if it is possible to buy the letters and numbers of your choice to go with a Q plate?

There really is something about your Land Rover that makes a row of rivets the last thing one notices though.

If in doubt, don't use KERR's on a recovery. Low flying, high speed, recovery points and cross members tend to really ruin your day. A good dead rope pull usually does the trick especially if you have the length to allow the recovery vehicle, or two, to get onto good ground. Alternatively I have used a solid vehicle base with wheel chocks and dead ropes to hand winch a vehicle out that wouldn't tow out. Often the slow pull of a winch will break suction in deep mud that a straight tow can't.

The clutch stuck on my Dad's Capri Mk1 3.0 V6 after it had stood for a number of years. It freed off through running the engine, with the gear box in neutral, until the engine was really hot. The thermal expansion of the flywheel was enough to break the bond with the drive plate.

To add an oddball into the mix - how might the ZF S5/24/3 gearbox from the old Ford A series truck (working up to 6300kg GVW) compare with strong Land Rover boxes? It was the one I used in my 6x6. It was 5 speed with a direct top and low (6.4:1) crawler first gear and I linked it to my own 3 speed transfer box.

Obviously length is less of an issue off road when you are stuck while playing. The stuff I have is all from playing off road about 20 years back and is a set of polypropelene 25mm ropes. These are dead ropes that don't stretch so only used for pulling not snatching. Mine are: One at 1.5m (to use as a bridle on the vehicle or around a tree, Two at 3m, two at 4m, One at 6m, And one at 10m long. I also had two 50mm rated webbing straps at 4m long but lost one. I also have a set of rated lifting shackles from 4 ton to 25 ton (just cos). I have a selection of huge pulley blocks that would take 25mm rope that I can use to change the direction of pull if needed. These are rated at 15-25 tons and so even given they are old and untested they are not going to give up on me. I used to carry a two leg chain sling that was 1.5m long and rated at 4 ton for... dunno, never used it off road. I join the ropes by feeding feading each through the eye of the other so there are no mechanical bits in the rope. To do this make sure all your ropes have an eye platted in each end. Take the eye on rope one and feed the eye on rope two through it. then take the other end of rope one and feed it though this eye of rope two. Pull snug so the two eyes looks like a reef knot. Place a bit of round wood in the middle of the two eyes so that they can't tighten. This joins two ropes together. Try to use whole ropes where possible and protect the ropes if there is any chance of chaffing. To do this I have some waste leather that has been sewn into 3-4" diameter tubes about 1-2' long to slide over the ropes to protect them. Of course you can get 8 strand nylon rope which is 'live'. This means that it stretches and can be used to 'snatch'. It is known as Kenetic Energy Recovery Rope (KERR). I know how to use it safely but someone else will come along who will tell you that bit. My stuff is seriously out of date now and if I was going off road I would get all new again. In the meantime it is still useful for moving and shifting trees, logs and stone gateposts and window sills (and the occasional safe) with a 500kg hand winch.

When you're stagering around in the road, blinded, deafened and cold you start to wonder if that is what dead feels like.

Would you need the 360 deg rotating capability even for just general road use or would the slack between pin and eye be ok?

Yep, That's the Mack, Bill. So aside from the risks of over heating the bevel gears, etc. has any one tried a tractor front axle on a Land Rover? I was thinking of building site dumper axles once, with portal drop boxes and LR swivels to put back steering where there was none before and then take advantage of the hub reduction gears for strength.

No help but my twin batteries nearly killed me once. Trying to start the 6x6 at night in the snow for a rescue mission I fitted the twin truck batteries that had been on charge in doors. Lifted one up on the battery tray in the rear body and connected it, lifted the other up and connected it and in a blinding flash and deafening bang I was blown off the side of the truck into the road. Fortunately no traffic. In my haste I had one of the batteries the wrong way round and instead of connecting in parallel they went in series and short circuited some 900 amps each!

Here's my old 6x6 playing at Bovington Army Training ground during a AWDC Heavies Trial. It was still moving and I was very wet inside. Oh, and it wasn't water, it was very wet sand I was driving through. It eventually destroyed the front crankshaft seal and a front stub axle seal leading to me loosing a wheel on the drive home. The steerign felt wobbly and when I stoped to jack it up to check the wheel just fell off. The bearing had disintegrated adn it was running on the drive shaft until it friction welded itself to the stub axle and the wheel hub sheared off.

I used to have seperate policies for my cars and bike but I have now spent too much time on a single vehicle and lost my NCB for the other policies. Should I get another then I will just get another policy and see if they will give me a reasonable NCB based on my driving record on my existing policy.

If you can jack it up each of the front wheels in turn and check for any movement that shouldn't be there. Rock it top and bottom and side to side. It doesn't matter where it is loose, if it is, it will just be the push you need to call the AA out. Also while the wheels are in the air, spin the wheel and listen for any odd noises. Scraping sounds that are worse then just the pads touching or any crunchy noises or if it feels rough and it is a truck home. Also have a good look around it to see if all the wheels are pointing in the right direction and have a look at the rear suspension for worn bushes and looseness. If you do phone the AA, and I would recommend it anyway, tell then it is brakes or steering and they will get the truck as they won't even bother with a van to check it out as it would be too risky for them.

Machine Mart have a Transmission jack head that you might be able to use. The other option is a motorbike lift.

Imagine that bearing down on you at 90mph on the motorway with with Van Hire written on the side!

Even if there was a locked gate on a right of way it should be kept closed as a greater priority. How you get on the other side of the locked gate to continue on a right of way is another matter but it should avoid criminal damage.

Hiya and welcome. Please say that you drive something big with SIX wheels on it.

But aren't they just behind the seating though.

I'd be tempted to also add a kid called Natts who Chris Acock named his Scammell Explorer after. Natts had a debilitating and life threatening illness and no matter what happened to him he never gave up trying, never made a fuss and just kept going. That is why Chris called his Scammell 'Natts'.

I'd include the WW1 soldiers as they also had conscription and many didn't really want to go. For random people I'd put on a pedestal I have a friend (who just happens to be an Uma Thurman lookalike but that doesn't come into it) who would also be on my honours list for being supportive and believing in me, being the most intelligent person I know, being an inspiration towards hard work and self confidence and being my mentor. She is an all round amazing person.

I'd also add Andy Green as a modern hero. He was so cool as he face possible death on the land speed record run. I remember on the video of one of the runs as he was trying to slow down he said something like: 'Chute one. No go. Chute two. No go. Emergency chute. No go. Oh s**t... A little bumpy. Gentle braking.' And he just carried on calm as anything doing the commentry as he came close to running out of road.

Stephen Hawkin I.K. Brunell The Queen Dr Rosalind Franklin Emmeline Pankhurst Issac Newton Patrick Moore There are others though.

I know the WW2 Mack NM truck used that system for the front axle as does the current Kubota tractors but I can't find any detailed diagrams. It would allow a very tight steering lock as another advantage.