mickeyw

I think the later Defender hinges with the plastic thrust washers are generally a bit better made than the older type. I suspect as long as you buy genuine parts they will be reasonable quality. I've seen some shocking stuff elsewhere. The Optimill hinges are too expensive IMO. I appreciate they're built to a better quality and probably relatively low volume. I fear the price just makes them more attractive to the bling brigade. Good luck to them selling them. I don't know anyone that has fitted this type of hinge and cannot comment on their function and durability. I just know that I don't need to spend that much on a door hinge. The inner protection plates look like they should be a good simple solution to the door theft problem, but again I have no knowledge of whether they've foiled an attempted unauthorised removal. Normally when dealing with older door hinges I've had to drill out the door pillar bolts, then find the sodding cage nuts let go, and all manner of expletives are required to get the things apart. I'd have thought a clever dead lock at front and rear edges of the doors would be something you could engineer 😁. Think about the way uPVC window lock bolts work.

The big glass one in front of me plus my phone makes 2 😉. Having one to replace the RV mirror seems less intrusive that something else stuck on the dash.

NIge I was looking at those mesh imprints and thinking how unworn the teeth appear in general. I think the contact point is not perfectly positioned, but it's far from terrible either. It looks a little more inboard than I would expect. However you have far more experience than I do in this area. To the OP - Welcome to the forum. Great to see a well written post with some clear photos How much in-out play would you say there was on the pinion - was it particularly noticeable? Since you have dismantled things this far have you removed the pinion bearings to check their condition? Did you find any debris in the bottom of the casing? The whole diff looks pretty clean compared to many we see.

I bought a cheap clone of a Go Pro some while back. That takes some fair quality video, but my reason for buying it was to use as a wireless (it uses Bluetooth and is battery powered) reversing camera. The plan was to use it with my Android phone, but as has been noted above, the apps for Android are rather too flaky to work without a load of faffing about. There seem to be a plethora of WiFi cams (still need a power supply) on evilbay that work with their dedicated screen. IMO the ones that hook over your rear view mirror seem like the best plan.

I know this model was 400 bhp, but 17 MPG 😲😲😲. That's probably not far off a Supercharged RRS consumption. The engine certainly sounded nice - I could almost enjoy that in place of a V8 soundtrack. In fact the sound is reminiscent of the 300SE Merc my dad once had - another straight 6 that could take off like a startled cat I rather like Harry's presenting style. I know nothing of him but he's certainly a very watchable motoring presenter. Seems pretty free of BS and bias. This made for possibly the best review of the new Defender that I've seen to date.

Hi and welcome. That shaft end looks distinctly of the leaf sprung LR style. The threaded end and split pin hole are the telltale signs. I've not seen a more recent Santana shaft. Coil sprung axle shafts are splined to the end and have a circlip groove around the outside diameter. I'll echo that some more photos of the vehicle will help us identify what you have.

But they were able to extend outwards, thus carving a nice hole in whatever was in the way.

Didn't Queen Boadicea have swords attached to the wheels of her chariot? Our esteemed man on Her Majesty's Secret Service also benefited from similar weapons, so it must be a good idea 😅

My old 90 was a factory V8, so 3.5 carb engine with a LT85 and 1.192 transfer ratio. Bear in mind that most 90s left the factory with little 205 tyres, so could easily handle this gearing. The 750R16s I was running also managed OK After that trf box died the cheapest option was a used 1.22:1 unit. Later on I upgraded to a 3.9, and later still a ZF auto box and 33" tall tyres (255/85R16). The 1.22 ratio was absolutely dreadful with the auto as it was too highly geared. It never got into top on general back roads driving speeds. On motorways it would cruise OK comfortably until you got to a hill. It wouldn't kick down of it's own accord unless you floored it, and pulling down to 3rd (manually) resulted in it revving way too high, yet in top it had no pull. Changing to a 1.4:1 totally transformed the drive and actually improved fuel economy! 50th anniversary V8 90s left the factory with the 1.22:1 transfer ratio in the 'interests of economy' but many owners changed to a 1.4:1 box as they felt it was too sluggish. Remember that the 50th had 265/75R16 tyres (~31" tall) as standard. i think someone above mentioned Ashcroft's tyre size and gearing calculator. I highly recommend it to help you understand where your gearing needs to be.

Agreed, a 2.5 NAD would have been built with a 1.6:1 box. As Fridge has said, a 3.9 will happily pull a 1.22:1 transfer ratio behind a manual gearbox box in a 110. That is as long as your tyres are no bigger than say 33"

I bought one of the USB port plus voltage display devices as shown above. However I have resisted fitting it so far, as I prefer my charger ports to be permanent live rather than ignition switched. I appreciate that this display must use very little power, but it is nonetheless a drain, which on an infrequently used vehicle is a bad thing. Obviously the ideal solution would be to run it through an independent switch, which is something else I need to find a round tuit for 😅 As an aside I also found the voltage displayed is not the same as my expensive multimeter.

As a 10 year old I was taken to school by a friend's mum in a P5B. I always felt that car was a bit special but didn't really know why at the time. I do remember us running out of petrol on more than one occasion 😅

This YouTube channel just popped up in my suggested videos https://www.youtube.com/c/ToolsStuff/videos He has numerous real Makita vs fake videos

Steve, think of it like a fuel tank - the more Ah the longer it'll run. All the Makita LXT batteries seem to have the same size case, so it's just the cells that differ. I see on other brands the 2Ah batteries are often a lot smaller (and lighter) than a 4 or 5Ah, so I imagine they get their greater capacity by using more cells. Li-ion batteries can give very high current delivery, but I would have thought the tool would regulate this irrespective of battery capacity. These are intelligent devices, unlike a car starting from a battery that has a higher CCA. Makita do a 6Ah as well Bowie, Is your 3Ah battery older and perhaps a little tired?

Welcome Andy, and good luck with the project. Ross ( @landroversforever) is our most qualified resident member in the problem you have

It's a valid point Barry, but I have yet to be troubled by this problem. I tend to do up flap disks with a gloved hand because you can get reasonable grip on the disk. With a delicate cutting disk this isn't possible, so I always use a spanner. The spinning cheek poker deserves a whole extra level of respect and is always tightened properly and used wearing welding gauntlets.

James, I absolutely love it I am a huge fan of cordless tools, especially the grinder. They are getting better and better. In the Makita case the build quality is very good, grunt is excellent, although it won't beat a mains powered machine. I mostly use mine for brief cutting and deburring operations. If I'm cutting sheet steel at home I'll use the plasma, but then deburr with the cordless grinder. If I'm anywhere on the farm the I'll use it for some pretty arduous tasks. Obviously any tool will be limited by the battery capacity. I have four 3 Ah batteries, and will probably buy a bigger one at some point for the grinder. Exactly. This is one of my main reasons for loving cordless

One way to make your bleeding easier would be to raise the front of the vehicle, either with a jack, or a pair of ramps. It's worked well me in the past

They look nice Ed. I might have to investigate. A while back I saw Bosch's SDS CLIC system. Bit more spendy. https://shop.bosch-professional.com/gb/en/accessory/sds-clic-quick-locking-nuts-m14--2609079

Steve, I've had the genuine 1/2" impact gun for a while now. Generally it'll manage an LR wheel nut, but it's no match for the yellow brand latest offering. It is however pretty compact and not too heavy. Loved by scaffolders too. I recently picked up an older model brushed motor 1/4" impact driver. Screwfix had them on offer at £49.99, which kinda negated a good amount of the savings of the fake tools.

Good tip Bowie, thanks. I think that'll work 72.386%, no maybe 81.62% of the time. Sometimes the pins are too fat for the holes 😧

I recently thought I'd take a chance with a Fakita cordless angle grinder. I already have a genuine one, so can make a reasonable comparison. My plan is to keep a slitting disk on one tool and a flap wheel on the other. I'm always using one then the other, so this would save the constant wheel changing. There are subtle differences on the casing design, and it's clear the fake didn't come from the same mould as the genuine article. I'll add my thoughts on it below, as although it's not the same tool it is a comparison of the real thing and a copy of the same brand and I think similar issues will apply whether it be an impact tool, drill or other. Performance wise I haven't had a chance to test them side by side in identical applications. The genuine one has a brushless motor, as does the copy (according to the casing anyway). The fake has an interesting feature of 3 speed settings. It has soft start on the motor but no instant spindle brake when you switch off. The genuine is instant start and instant stop. Here is a photo heavy comparison. The grubby unit is the genuine tool Side by side very similar The red button is the speed selector and the LEDs indicate setting. On the gen tool the LEDs are a battery gauge. Much slimmer gearbox on the fake Different drive features, but same size thread. The flanges are not interchangeable but luckily spanner pin pitches are the same. Nearly every other grinder I've owned has different pitch pins which means needing to find the right spanner each time. The absence of the third battery connection on the fake. This is how the tool uses intelligent battery monitoring. Without this I would question whether the fake tool could over drain the battery and lead to it's early demise. I have batteries with inbuilt LED guages so can keep an eye on things that way. Fake has a basic wheel guard with no quick adjust facility Fake guard is made of thinner metal Even the wheel spanner is half the thickness Much thinner and shorter side handle, and without the vibration absorbing rubber overmoulding.

When I had my V8 engined 88" series II I fitted a series III heater box, and made up ducting for inside from 40mm waste pipe. Now it's well known that V8s generate a fair bit more heat than other engines, but the star of the party was the blower fan I grafted in that came from a mk3 Vauxhaul Cavalier. That was a 3 speed device, but it was the design of the fan housing that meant it really did shift some air. This combination of parts enabled very rapid demisting, and almost ferocious cabin heat. Clearly the matrix was in good shape, and the V8 kept it well fed with hot water

Well bodge or not, that looks like a reasonably tidy effort considering the size difference. Is the significant heat output gauged with it fitted to the truck or on the bench? It's astonishing how much heat is lost into warning the bulkhead up. I lined my 110's heater ducting with foam to combat the cold steel surfaces soaking the heat away. It's hard to say how much it's helped but it does produce good heat.

Welcome to LR4x4. Looking forward to reading of your exploits.