mickeyw

This rather depends on how you use your vehicle. Frequent driving through the sloppy brown stuff not only means frequent adjustment of the drums is necessary, but the complete removal of the drums to clean out dried muck that causes varius components to rust a jam up. It takes quite a lot of time! I found converting to a disk rear axle on my 90 a complete revelation from a maintenance POV. You still burn through pads in the mud, but generally a blast with the jet wash is all that is needed to keep everything in working order. A disk conversion is on the cards for my 110 at some point.

We had a '97 110 300Tdi CSW, and that had the Boge strut on the Salisbury axle. I was under the impression the strut was discontinued when the later (Td5 era) axle came in. I could be wrong...

Welcome

I have a Colchester Student, which has a 3hp motor. When I was researching phase converters I came to conclude that the digital inverters wouldn't allow me to use the machines own controls without a whole lot of rewiring. I was keen to use the machine's own switchgear as it included the emergency-stop foot pedal. Basically I wanted to just plug in and go, to which end I purchased a 3kw rotary converter from Transwave. Also I'm not bothered about the variable phase function. The machine has sufficient speed options. I just need phase conversation. It's a complicated world out there for novices, when you have Transwave and Direct Drives offering conflicting advice. I got the feeling there was some animosity between the two companies. The rotary converter is an easy option, but it's big, heavy, noisy and consumes power when the machine tool isn't running. I'd love to use a digital inverter if I ever learn more, but it would also need to be able to run my Bridgeport. I was told from one source that the Bridgeport's motor wasn't capable of being used this way. Something to do with star and delta wiring IIRC, and not being able to be set to the right configuration. I forget which is which, but one is 3 ph 220v and the other 3 ph 415v.

Well, well, well. I thought I had seen most vehicles in my life time, but this is the first time I've seen or heard of a Reliant Ant. What a quirky looking thing! We used to know an English couple that spent most of the year living on their elderly yacht in Spain. They used to drive a Robin back and forth from England and back. The hours we used to spend with them, watching various bemused foreigners checking out their 3 wheeled car 🤣

Mud flap brackets Handbrake bracketry Rear tub lateral supports Door frames Seat belt fixing brackets

A grinder is one of not so many power tools that are used for a longer duration, and under fairly heavy load. I use my cordless ones for 'quick' jobs such as a small cutting a modest sized piece of sheet steel, then deburr with the other grinder. Big de-rusting jobs with the cheek poker are best left to mains powered versions.

I went through this exact same path with the V8. Unless you have little wheels a 1.4 is the way to go. Having an auto in a Defender (with the correct gearing) totally transforms the drive. No heavy clutch makes traffic jams a breeze. No slow agricultural gear changes.

All this talk of electronic gadgetry sounds like it would get expensive. Surely you can pick up a whole 3.9 V8 D1 auto for sensible money, and just throw the necessary bits at the Defender and sell off the leftovers. All that money saved on shiny parts from Ashcrofts would buy you a fair bit of petrol That's what I did with my old 90, except I bought a RRC.

This is exactly why I have resisted building one so far. I don't wish to curse the snow away

A modest amount of grease on the moving parts would be ideal. Too much of it and you'll just attract excess much dust and dirt.

Fantastic, and I am sure great fun. Sadly we get so little snow in the south-east, otherwise I'd have made a plough too.

I am a long term Solidworks user, but I recently installed Fusion 360 at home to see what it's like. I've actually found it (as an experienced CAD user) very intuitive and easy to pick up. Knowing the 'correct' way to construct a model is definitely an advantage, and I can see that for a CAD noob it could seem a little daunting. Fusion handles assemblies a bit differently to SW, but I quite like it, and even prefer some features over SW. As Si mentioned, weldments are a very useful tool if you do a lot of tube fabbing.

TBH you need to be running pretty big tyres before you need spacers, unless you're running original LR steel or alloy wheels. I'm running 255/85R16s (approx 33" dia) on cheap steel modular rims on my 110. I'm not sure what the offset of these rims is, but I can get as much turning lock as the swivels permit, and enjoy an excellent turning circle, and no tyre rubbing on the radius arms. My suspension is all standard spec for a 1986 110 CSW.

There is a fair amount of truth here. It amazes me when I see folk with Simex Extreme Trekker or (copies of) out in the snow, raving about how much traction they have. If they were to try an A/T of some description I expect they'd find traction would notably far better. The most sure footed drive (and a bit of hooning) I've had in snow and ice was in my RRC on standard sized road tyres. Just being 4wd and having tyres that aren't worn out helps enormously.

I've also made towing/shunting poles out of whatever was to hand, whether it be box section or scaffold. Sometimes the material gets repurposed if needs be. Seconding Halfrauds hand tools. I think I only ever broke one deep socket, and that was due to using it on a rattle gun. I tigged it back together and it is still in service. Also seconding Lidl and Aldi hand and cordless tools. They can be very well priced. I've had a couple of sets of very decent pliers/side cutter/long nose/wire stripper from Lidl, When they're this cheap I don't mind having duplicate sets for the car toolbox and for the garage. I also have 2 10.8v Parkside cordless drills that have been far better than expected, and probably close to equal my same sized Makita drill.

I watched a video of the new 90 recently. I can't remember who's vid it was, but this lack of usable space behind the 90's seat struck me as reminiscent of a 1980's (and possibly more recent) SWB Shogun. That had barely enough room for kids' school bags. My old 90 was great, but after buying the 110 CSW I appreciate the additional versatility it offers. IF I was buying a new model I don't think I'd consider anything other than the 110.

Been there, done that.....more than once 🤣

I seem to remember many HGVs of 70s era, and probably before, had a big silencer with the pipe shooting sideways right at the front.

Oh FFS, you go saying things like that, and I end up diving off at a tangent to see what you're building. I'm guessing this must be Volvo related?

I've never heard of the MOT being too fussy. As long as what you have is intact and not excessively noisy. I've seen many 90s with the hateful side exit just ahead of the rear wheel, and plenty more with it high up aft of the rear wheel. My personal feeling is that the exhaust pipe shouldn't be directed straight at pedestrians, so at least pointing it downward if a side exit would be more sociable.

BFG Muds (used to run these) Toyo Open Country MT (now running these) Cooper Discoverer ST Maxx Maxxis Bighorn MT All available in 255/85x16

Ross I'm not quite sure when you're planning to wear these hinges out. The originals aren't actually THAT awful. Sure they ain't brilliant, but they do a job as well as most other parts on a LR. If you are that concerned about door theft, I'd suggest either drilling the heads out on the screws, or knock some ball bearings into the screw head sockets.

I guess that's good and bad. The cages nuts were a menace, however it seems the new design (what did they start using in the later models?) have aided theft!

You will loose a lot of lock with tyres that wide, especially if you want to keep them within the arches. I run 255/75x16 on regular 7x16 modular rims. They are just inside the arch and permits as much lock as the swivels can be adjusted for. The do occasionally rub on full articulation. My truck is a 110, and I do quite enjoy sneaking between trees, which is where steering lock really helps, as it does with trialling 😁