darthdicky

I needed an extra under bonnet hose for my Mantec snorkel that I'd bought second hand so emailed Mantec and explained the situation but they said "Sorry we can only supply part kits if it's an original air intake purchased from us which is worn or damaged". So I rang them up, lied and said mine had worn through and they sold me another one. £42 for the underbonnet hose I think, so I doubt the above wing bit would be cheap either! Wasn't impressed then but I've since had some bits sent out free of charge when I had a problem with my rear wheel carrier so they're not too bad. Richard

I've got a handheld one but wouldn't recommend it if it's just going to stay in the truck all the time. The speaker isn't all that loud, it bounces around as it's not fixed anywhere properly and you've got more wires in the way. I've never got round to using it seperately from the vehicle as you have to swap aerials over and battery packs. I haven't got a fixed unit in the 90 yet so there's no way to contact the person in the vehicle when you're elsewhere anyway! I'd look for a solid one that stays in the vehicle with a decent speaker. Richard

James the ones you have fitted look the same as mine which is from a late 80's RR rear axle. 10 spline with the integrated drive flange. Rich

A few of the photos I got on sunday, the rest are up here. Rich

http://devon4x4.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1741

I've had a couple of Epson ones and I would never buy another one - none of them lasted more than 3 years and I was forever cleaning the heads to get it to print properly. I got a Canon IP4200 for about £80 (less now from Amazon) and am really impressed with it. Unfortunately cartridges are £10 each and it takes 6 of them, but it doesn't seem to go through them very quickly. Richard

Sounds like a fantastic trip, although I doubt I'll be able to afford it next year - maybe 3 or 4 years time! As Tony says, the French side is much better. Went there last year walking with some mates and the scenery is amazing. We went over to the spanish side one night and it seemed dead (although we were in a ski resort sort of area, I guess they don't do summers) - only 1 restaurant was open in the 4 or 5 towns we went through and the food was awful! Nice waitress though Had some kind of animal moving festival that night too, so at 11pm there were thousands of animals on the roads over the mountains. Had to wait for 500 cows to go past, then 2 minutes down the road there'd be 500 sheep coming towards you! So based on that experience I'd stay well clear! One or two pics.... Most tracks we saw were like this - just rocky paths up mountains but the views were amazing Richard

Would have liked to come Tony but I can't make it as I'll be in Africa then Richard

Matt, my brother (Jon W) managed to break the casing on a fairly new starter motor - I think the only bit that broke was the half-cap type bit over the shaft but I didn't have a proper look. Don't think its fixable for our use but might be ideal for what you want? PM him and ask. Richard

You'll need a PDA, the Memory Map software for the area you want to use it on (I think you need the premium version if you want satellite imagery as well as the OS maps). I use a Bluetooth GPS doodah (my PDA doesn't have a CF slot which is the other common type) - a Holux GPSlim 236 which uses the newer SirfStar III chip which TomTom I think are now using in their latest models. Performance is fantastic - picks up signal inside my house and never looses it even under trees. Got mine for about £60 from Hong Kong on Ebay. Advantages of bluetooth is that the doodah can be placed seperately from the PDA in the car. Disadvantage is that it needs charging seperately then, although mine lasts about 12 hours so hasn't caused me any problems. For offroad/laning it's great, but TomTom is far better for on the road navigation. Richard

I wouldn't say so Trev, once you leave a road you just get a blank area of colour and you can't enter OS style grid references. It will give you your lat/long position, but not anything more useful than that. It's a fantastic bit of kit/program for road navigation, but you want Memory Map or one of the many alternatives for off road stuff. Richard

From endroad

I haven't found them necessary, as although one side comes out , the shape of the bottom seat guides it back in the right place anyway. The spring won't fall out because the shock is there. If the axle dropped further then I'd want a taller guide on the bottom, so the spring can't be pushed off its seat. Are springs retained in any way at the top? I didn't change mine so I don't know Richard

I'm sure I've got an external laptop drive at home Chris, if you can't sort it and find yourself in Sussex then you're welcome to borrow it. Can't remember what connection it uses (PC Card maybe?) but if not I think I've still got a CD writer that connects to the printer port that would work. Richard

17.7" free length Useful link

Steve, I won't be able to collect it as it won't fit in/on the car, but if you want somewhere to dump it you're welcome to leave it at mine in the morning and pick it up in the evening. I'll be in all day trying to get some revision done Richard

I've stuck the best of mine up here A few favourites... Which one of the co-drivers are you Frank? A bit of tree felling, unfortunately it was the one they had anchored to! As promised, Adrians wing Winch blanket hides it well though Large versions available for anyone who wants a copy. Made a change to be able to wander around and see how people attacked the punches, and a good site too Richard

Yeah, I guess these hills were just steeper than anything I've done before, as I haven't had problems before. I think in the situations I was in, an electric winch would have got us to the punch and back out, whereas we didn't get one or two and had to be dragged up the hill. Not going to change mine though as I can't afford it! It was only the almost vertical climbs we had trouble with the carb, and before that it did run fine for a minute or two until it started trying to run on air. Had half a tank in the morning but it obviously used a fair bit. Don't like filling up too much as it falls out again on sideslopes! Just getting used to it really, and working ways around its little problems Richard

Video If it helps, that briefly shows the speed of my mechanical PTO winch in 1st gear, with the transfer box in low to assist it. As you can see, the wheels are turning a LOT quicker than the winch is. Most of the time I shouldn't need to assist, but the clutch is set a bit low (fear of breaking it again!) so it cuts out on hard pulls and assisting really helps it in deep mud - a lot more than I was expecting actually. Not a problem in this stuff, but its a lot more awkward in other situations. Other problem I found at Bures was that if you're a bit low on fuel, on steep slopes the pickup becomes exposed so it runs for a while, then stops. Then you're stuck on a steep hill with no way of getting back up again Also had problems at very steep angles with the carb not liking it and stalling, so having to get down again by running it on the starter. Starting to see the attraction of electric winches now... Richard

Andy, not sure which part these are for but I know Fruity got hold of the lower seals very cheaply a while ago. Think he's just moved and might not have net access yet so he might be hard to get hold of. Failing that, Phil Gordon will have them or be able to get them. Richard

Took about 300 photos and a couple came out okay, will sort through them and stick a couple up soon... Richard

Thats definately what Jonathan paid for it as I was surprised when he told me. Wasn't really worth enquiring anywhere else as the postage would probably bring the price up to about the same level. They had to order it in which took a few days, so it might be worth ringing them up if you're not close to one. Richard

I think they'd be a bit big Will. Says they're for things 2.5" to 9.5" diameter (pictures here). We've put two in the 90 to hold the subwoofer down. Richard

When I bought a load from endroad.com if you got more than 4 sets they did the shipping free - don't they do this any more? I ended up getting something like 18 sets for people for about £100. Not got any more left now though Steve. Richard

Just spoken to Pete on the phone, he's wondering where to camp tonight? Just given him your number Tony as he couldn't get hold of James and I've no idea what the plans are! Richard