Orange

You don't need to remove the swivel ball. Once you remove the hub, the CV and shaft will slide out. Depending on what your swivel seals are like, I would take the opportunity to replace them. Then you can use EP90 to fill them with, rather than the 1-shot grease. The wiggle will be caused by the fact that i) it no longer has the circlip holding it back in place (removed when you took the drive flange off) and ii) there is something broken inside. Just a quick question - I can see you have a tray catching the oil, but you have drained the swivel housing oil/grease, haven't you?? If not, you'll get very messy when you take the hub off.... There is a small drain plug on the bottom next to the mud sheild/lower swivel pin bolts. The filler is just above the steering stop bolts on the front of the housing.

Both times that this has happened to me (most recently at the beginning of May), the broken end of the half shaft has been well and truly jammed into the diff. No amount of tw@tting it with a hammer and bar would move it. Diff out and replace was my solution (I do have quite a pile of spare diffs, though). That got the vehicle moving, then I was free to sort the diff out at a later stage. Definitely take the opportunity to check the seals and bearings on the other side, especially as you are going to have to replace all of the oils anyway... If you haven't already got one, a Haynes Manual is quite useful for this. It's often wrong and referred to as the 'book of lies', but I followed it for this exercise and it was quite accurate. It will also give you all of the torque settings for putting it all back together as not everything has to be done up Fin tight!! HTH Adrian

A quick Yell.com search came up with this company in the Birmingham area: Valley Aggregates I'm sure if you went in or rang and spoke with them you might come to an arrangement on a discount for bulk... cash might even be the right language to talk, even though it's getting less common these days!! The yell page also came up with: Yell search If you want a few ideas on soakaway construction, let me know and I'll dig out a few standard details for you...

Definitely 8-10lbs with the seal in place - I've just done both of mine. You'll probably need a few spare shims of varying sizes/thicknesses and bear in mind that even the thinnest make a substantial difference when the pin is torqued up properly.

OK...............it's not the head gasket!!! The search continues..... I'll be taking the covers off the side of the engine to look at the Cam shaft next...

Depends how big your transit is!! You might struggle with a baby one, but it should fit comfortably in a mid or hi-top one. Probably take 2 of you to get it in/out without wrecking it, though....

I have my in-cab winch controls mounted in the blanking plate above the three switches to the left of the steering column (under the instrument binacle). They are well within reach and all I used was a simple mom-off-mom switch that I picked up from Mr Bowyer for my old Range Rover. As for other switches... Do you have a cubby box or centre seat? If you've got a cubby, you could make up a little pod that fits to it. That way, all your wiring can be tucked underneath and run along the chassis rail and up under the seat box...

Try to get some information out of bishbosh. No doubt he'll be getting some luvverly axmister deep sh@g pile carpets made up for his new 90...

Cheers for the pointers... Tonight I shall be mostly using my feeler guages to ....................... feel things, , obviously!! Going to check that the rings are all making good contact with the bores and also check that the bores are cylindrical, rather than ovaldrical (not sure wht the term for a 3D oval is! !) to make sure nothing is getting through that way. Then it looks like I'll be putting it back together, giving the system a good flush out and filling it all back up again. Then we'll see if the contents of the engine end up all over the rear window again

I'm still struggling!! Having had the head off and seeing no apparent 'blow' in on the head gasket, I'm loathed to put the engine back together and try it without getting to the bottom of the problem! The breathers are all clear... An oil change is imminent and I'll use a good quality oil, but I'm a little lost with the whole cam bearing investigation procedure. Dan - you said there is a square inspection cover on the back of the engine.... my guess would be that it is at the end of the cam shaft, but there is nothing obvious in this location. The engine is covered in cr#p, though, so I could be missing it... Before I get over enthusiastic and rip the engine out to find it, has anyone got any pictures of the back of a 200tdi engine so that I can see what I am trying to find? There must be someone with a 200tdi on a stand...........(cough) Mark (cough)....... TIA Adrian

Ralph's DVLA enquiry also states the engine capacity at 2250cc......... so it probably was a series motor originally... Something's not quite right!!!

To stop the vehicle rising when the engine is removed, a pair of ratchet straps around the chassis and axle could be used. Or a pair of spring compressors on either side (4 in total).

You will need about 3 feet of extensions on a socket/bar combination to get to them. It's also handy to have someone looking from above to guide you on to the nuts. HTH Adrian

Thought the Int’l forum would be best as it’s not just a Defender specific question, but, mods, feel free to move if you see fit... I’m looking to get a bit more strength into the front axle of my 200TDi 90... The current set-up is standard, so 10 spline Diff with 32 splines at the CV. I am looking into upgrading everything, so diff, shafts and CVs. The fitting of AEU2522 CVs means going to 23 spline at the CV end, not too much of an issue, however my research on this forum tells me that the AEU2522s are a bigger CV unit so as far as I can tell this means that I require either hubs/swivel housings from a vehicle that had them fitted as standard or I need to machine the current ones. First question is whether hubs from an ABS Range Rover will fit without the need for machining as I have a pair of them sat in the garage? I realise that the RR hubs would be metric, so I would have to consider this when ordering the various bits and pieces... Next question is if AEU2522s will fit into my existing hubs, will they marry up with my imperial drive flanges? I’m guessing it’s only the number of splines that changes, however having ordered the wrong halfshaft from Bearmach (10/23 spline) there was a definite difference in diameter of the splined end... Is there the same difference between the 2 types of CV? Another question is if anyone has experience of GKNs flexible halfshafts? I have been in contact with GKN and they have given me prices and availability, but I haven’t yet managed to catch their Land Rover expert at his desk... If you have run GKN shafts, what was your set-up? 10/23 or 10/32 spline or will I need to go to a 24 spline diff centre with these, too? Did you run uprated CVs, AEU2522s or just the standard ones? If I go for a set-up like ARB, uprated shafts and AEU2522s, is the CV then the weakest point? Am I best to upgrade the CVs at the same time, or should I leave a ‘weaker link’ in there so that if something does break, it’s going to be the cheapest repair?? I realise that I could ring Ashcroft and get the whole package to suit my vehicle, but I’m not overly flush at the moment... I have spoken to Dave Ashcroft and discussed my options, but I am still confused by the whole thing!! I think I need to understand the whole set-up before laying my hard-earned on the counter!! If anyone can offer information in leymans terms, I’d really appreciate it!! I hope you can make sense of my garbled questions....I’m confusing myself writing it all down!!! TIA Adrian

AFAIK you will need to put spacers between the ARBs and the chassis to make them work properly. Without spacers they will be overstretched and will hinder the performance...

A leather/copper faced mallet/hammer is also a good investment and one I will be making shortly after ruining my wooden mallet removing a CV from a half shaft. Not tools exactly, but you will also benefit from keeping WD40, Copper grease and normal grease in stock... Latex gloves also come in handy for those jobs involving EP90 as the smell lasts for days on your hands...

The dirtier of the 2 is from the front of a Discovery or Range Rover (so probably 3.54:1 ratio) as it has the steering damper bracket on the bottom of the nose. As to 10 or 24 spline, it's a case of counting the number of teeth on the carrier where the half shaft would mesh. HTH Adrian

I can see a lot of tax discs being surrendered in Feb/March next year, then!! I know I will be!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!! Another silent vote to pass anotherincrease in tax!!

Ahhhhhhhhhh!! I must learn more about this silly diseasel malarkey!!

Just to check that I'm not being silly.............are we talking Cam shaft or Crank shaft??? Cam shaft controls the valves in the head, doesn't it???...................... Tell me to shut up if I'm being stupid...it's late!!!

B)

There's only one thing stopping me, Mo..............I can't find an inverter that supplies the right amperage...... Actually, 2 things.........the cost of twin & earth for that current is astronomical!!!!!!!!!!!

Having now used my new TDS in anger, I too can vouch for it's performance. It's not lightning fast, but the pull just keeps going and going. Nothing was going to slow it down (not even the trees that rearranged my bumper and roof!!)!! It's a marked improvement over the EP and might even get quicker with a bowmotor, but the bank balance is still recovering, so that may have to wait till after the summer holiday has been paid for. The thing that slows the husky down (as far as I know) is the gearing. Lots of people run huskys as rear or centre winches and they do fine with them. They are very controlled and good for lowering in/out of places that the likes of an 8274 would have your sphincter chewing your seat. If I were you, I'd run with the husky until the funds allow you to invest in another winch. Then buy another winch and move the husky to the rear. It's what I have plans for with the EP9 that's sat in the garage at the moment...but that's another plan for another day.

What are you saying, Mr Hobbit?? You saw how little I was thrashing the engine on Saturday!! I was letting the TDS do all of the work. No water loss is apparent, but the car is jacked up on axle stands at the moment.... There is also no sign of cross-contamination between oil and water. Also wasn't running overly warm on the run back, so all-in-all there aren't many pointers to the head gasket, but I suppose it's worth checking while I'm dismantling it...

Cheers Gromit!