Night Train

The 1 ton had ENV, Salisbury and Rover axles at various times. My S3 parts book says pre 74 had Salisbury axles and gave a part number for the prop shaft. That's all I had to go by for the Salisbury part.

Using 18mm birch ply and some hard wood battens would probably weigh more as you have material and strength where you don't always need it. Nice job there Mark.

Little ATV type winches are fine. They are just engineered for a much lower pull then Land Rover folk are used to. A 50mm ratchet strap fed through the rear floor would have the same effect without so much of the cost but you will need elbow grease rather then a push of a button.

A quick search only came up with Hi-Lift in America as having spares. I don't know, it might be worth emailing them to ask if they have a closer outlet or suplier. Alternatively you could invest in a new jack the same as the old one and keep the old body for spares.

To fit the winch you will need to find a suitable location for it in the chassis or in the load bed. The chassis would be out of the way but it will need some sort of cover to protect it from road dirt. It needs to be above the middle of the axle though. On the axle you can U bolt a plate with an eyelet in it or fit a loop of webbing strap around the axle. The winch hook will go to the eyelet or the webbing and when you power the winch it will pull the chassis to the axle. If the winch is too small then fit a pulley to the axle to halve the load on the winch. If you use webbing then form a noose and tighten it to the axle so that it doesn't hang loose and catch on stuff. Alternatively to could mount the winch over one end of the axle and run the cable down to a pulley attached near the bump stop, then across to another pulley attached to the other bump stop and then back up to the chassis. The winch will then pull evenly down on the whole axle. The hydraulics used on true Lo-riders tend to be 10,000psi aircraft quality stuff from what I have heard. Some now use air as it is easier and gives a better ride. Hydraulics allows them to make

Hydraulic rams would do fine along the lines of the However there is a cost element to that and you would then want a high pressure pumps and flexible lines and a remote control and then you can have your Landy dancing in the street.Removing the ribs is just labour, they are spot rivited on with millions of spots. It would just be a case of cutting off and sanding flat. Then you can add reinforcement on the inside either with welding or with pop rivits. However, you will have to make sure it doesn't leak.

Have a look at the prop for a pre 1974 1ton, that had a Sailsbury front axle.

If it is only an inch then how about removing the ribs from the hard top. The strength will need to be replaced with ribs on the inside though. I had a SWB truck cab that I took into a multistory carpark with no problems but couldn't get out of as the exit ramp head room was 3" too low. I ended up having to beat the roof almost flat to get out again.

This is what air suspension is good at. Attach a small winch with its cable between the axle and the chassis? At the push of a button the chassis will be pulled down to the axle in a similar way to lifting axles on trucks with an air spring. You can probably get a small electric winch and some pulleys and rig up something that will compress the axle springs. Maybe just compressing one axle set will be enough. I don't think there is an easy or simple way to do it. It will depend on your budget and the amount of effort you want to put into it. Can you remove the problem? Is the head room and the ground yours to adjust at all?

In 'Control Panel' go to 'Accessability' or 'Ease of Access' and you can set your caps lock to beep when you press it.

Here's another couple of pics from an American off road book from 1975. It show how to use the original Hi-Lift Sheperd's jack for slewing a high centred truck sideways and also how to use it as a winch. Notice the clamping head on the Hi-Lift can be fitted vertically out of the way where as on the Jackall it needs to be removed altogether.

I remember that one! Around that time there was a Range Rover with a TR7 body shell doing comp safaris (Alvin Smith springs to mind, nope it was Keith Gott). I also remember a chap called Tony Parrott doing a lot of modified trials where the tyre of choice were from building site dumper trucks.

A farm jack is a hi lift by a different name, essentially the same thing. They generally work by having two pegs which 'climb' a perferated beam each time the handle is pressed down. It works effectively as a lever for each lift. They do work well for what they are designed for but beware that they have a minimum working load of about 22kg. If you are lowering your vehicle then there comes a point where the suspension has taken most of the load and then the jack suddenly drops while the chassis is still raised but the wheels are on the ground. When using the jack always have one hand on the top of the jack and the other hand working the lever. If you need two hands on the lever then the load is too great. There is a shear pin for safety though. I also have a 12" square by 2" thick board with a recess for the foot of the jack to spread the load on soft ground. The length of the beam, and hence the lift, varies, generally 48" or 60". Try to get one that has a known brand name, I have a Jackall 48" which has served me well for nearly 20 years. I recently used mine to move a huge safe in a clients office. My jack has a second 'clamping' head bolted to the top for squashing things. The addition of a couple of shackles and some webbing strops and it becomes a short distance puller that can get you unstuck but it is a lot of effort and a small hand winch is easier and lighter.

At least I'm not quite the oldest here, not far off though.

I was a member in 1986 when I had my first Land Rover. You are making me feel old but it would be interesting to see it. I could pm my address if you wouldn't mind sending it.

This has really put me off the whole process. My old six wheeler MOTed every year as I built it. No one worried about it so long as the work was sound. The Police used to come and chat about how it was developing on the road side and the only concern was what to insure it as. The chassis length never changed but by the time it was finished the only original condition parts left was the offside bulkhead outrigger, the doors, windscreen and radiator. I am tempted to go in the other direction and make large scale radio controlled models instead.

Good thread. I have an inverter in the back of my work car for powertool batteries and light power tool use and I have been thinking of a small local battery to support it. This has solved how I do it. Thanks.

Has anyone ever tried the 'can of beans tied to the exhaust manifold' idea for heating food? I did try it once and forgot all about it being there, when I remembered a few days later and had a look it wasn't there anymore.

Insurance can be a sod to work with. If they think you are the main driver and not just the named driver who isn't the main person driving then they might just be able to find reason to not pay or at least be unhelpful. I am insured to drive other vehicles but when I drove my Dad's Disco and it got hit by a bus his insuarance said 'Thanks for letting us know. As you are not a named driver tell us when you have it all sorted out.'. My insurance said 'Thanks for letting us know. As it isn't the vehicle we insure let us know when you have it all sorted out.' I had no support, no legal assistance and no comebacks. I was fully covered and it was the bus driver's fault and I still had to sort it all myself including being responsible for for the legal costs until I could claim it back off the bus company. The bus company wanted to talk to my insurance but they didn't want to play ball until it was sorted out. Just being cynical and not wanting you to get caught out.

My first car was an 1100cc Ford Escort Mk1, second was a Land Rover S3 Safari, third an MGB GT then things just got out of control! As has been said, get your own insurance sorted out if you can. Otherwise companies like Direct Line will let you build your own NCB a a named driver on your Dad's insurance if he was with them. I would be concerned about being caught out driving as the main driver when you are not insured as such. It isn't just repairs to your own vehicle but claims made by the third party. If you bumped me and your insurance refused to cover you then I would be more then a little miffed. You might get away with insuring the 206 as your car and letting your Dad have the Landie fo rthe first year or so. You could then drive it sometimes How sometimes that might be is debatable but if anything went wrong you could prove to your insurance that you have a 206 of your own and so couldn't possibly be driving a Landie all the time. I drove my Dad's 3.0l Mk1 Capri that way.

I am thinking of building another trailer for work out of bits of Land Rover. I am looking at using a LR rear tub and a swb roof as a lid. Could someone measure for me please the lengths of the: 88" roof panel 109" rear tub from a pick up A full HiCap tub so I can work out which bits to use to make up a trailer. I like the idea of the HiCap tub with an 88" roof panel hinged to it. If the 88" is too short I will probably shorten a 109" roof. Also if there is any idea of the weight of each part too. Thank you, NT

If you don't have a winch fitted then having a small hand worked winch can be useful. Not a lot of weight to carry and often a little pull is enough to get you out of trouble. I always carried a HiLift jack but never used it in anger whereas the little hand winch earned its keep with only 250kg lift capacity on a single line.

This is what I was thinking. Much has been done with a bog standard vehicle that has nothing that can't be repaired/replaced in the bush. It really depends on what you are going to do and what you are carrying or towing along the way. Also whether or not you are out to push yourself and your vehicle to the limits or just to get from A-B as safely and securely as possible. If you are tempted to try that big drop and rocky section because it might be fun then start digging deep for funding for those modified parts. If you'd rather drive around it, and then keep on driving, then good standard parts and set up should do.

Nice horse! Nice doggies too.

You should pin that vid in the videos forum for posterity!