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Thanks for this advice. What capacity would you recommend, then?

I want to buy a bottle jack for my LR Defender. These are pretty thin on the ground where I live, especially since I won’t buy one made in China. “Mega” brand is available (Melchor Gabilondo, Vigo, Spain) and I’d be happy with that. There is a 3-ton model (costs equiv. GBP 18) and a 15-ton (GBP 36). Am I right in thinking that the 15-ton one, with its spare capacity and better able to lift a fully-loaded vehicle, is the one to go for? But how can I be sure it’s compact (low) enough to fit under the axle when I have a flat tyre, and extends high enough (gives enough lift)?

The third (under body) tank will be empty when the gauge says "E" and trying to pump from the u-b tank to the main tank doesn't alter the gauge reading. So far, I have not been able to get any fuel into the u-b tank.

Hi mmgemini The vehicle is a 110 CSW. The header tank presents no problem. The under-body tank, 60-litre capacity, is on the right, under the passenger seat on my LHD vehicle. The tubing from the header to the u-b is pretty wide. Presumably, Frontrunner would have made it wide enough for the u-b tank to fill with no problem. I am no nearer to a solution.

Hi pat_pending, OK, lets see if i understand this correctly. When you fill up from totally empty, fuel flows through the first (wing mounted) tank until the original tank is full. Then it fills the first tank until that overflows filling the third tank until all are full. In use the original tank empties and is topped up by the first tank acting as a header. when the fuel gauge shows empty you manually activate a pump that empties the third tank into the original. Your problem is that you don't believe the third tank is filling as the quantity of fuel added from empty does not add up to the total capacity of all three tanks. Am i right in my understanding? Absolutely correct. The capacities I mentioned were in fact related to the second time of filling, after the work was done, though there was a similar problem first time (just different amount in to start with and put in). Ok, think i've got your se up now, original rear mounted tank plus the side tank in rear arch plus a third under the body. Hi western probale cause is the diameter of the feed line to the 3rd tank. if it's smaller than the fill neck then it won't be able to fill the 3rd tank as fast & could cause a airlock. The inlet pipe to the third tank is quite wide (I will measure how wide), but narrower than the fill neck. Surely that's a basic design factor and would have been considered by Front Runner? On the second, most recent filling, I gave plenty of time, I thought, for the fuel to flow to the u-b tank, but it wasn't going; the level in the header was full and steady.

Might it be relevant to add that the noise, I've decided on relistening, includes a creaking sound. Sort of rattling + creaking + vibration.

by under fender if you mean inside the rear wheelarch behind the rear wheel Yes, that's where it is. My vehicle is a Td5, btw. The other 60 litres included in my 175 is the under-body tank.

I posted recently about a very problematic (but intermittent) rattle coming from sometimes one, occasionally two front doors on my Defender 110 CSW, 2005. The vehicle - from which the driver's-side front door lock actually fell out into the street, on opening the door after taking it off-road, a week after I bought it new - is still under guarantee, but Landrover seem unable to do anything about the rattle problem. (I don't know how hard they've tried or what they've done, but I am unwilling to live with the problem.) Actually, it's a kind of rattle plus vibration (no problem on tarmac, but problem on anything even slightly rough). When I lean back and put my ear to the door pillar, the rattling is very obvious, but I suppose that being amplified, presumably, inside the pillar, it would be (obvious). I don't think it's wiring or cable on metal: not that sort of sound. Definitely something heavier. Surely it can't be door on door-frame? Whatever it is, it's a really major irritant. Anyone had this with their Defender, and how was it solved? (Yeah, I know, buy a Landcruiser instead. But surely the Brits -I am one - could have sorted out this sort of thing by now.)

Landrover have just fitted to my Defender CSW the two extra fuel tanks I bought from Frontrunner, South Africa. One tank (60 litres) is "under-body", and the other (40 litres) fits under the rear fender. My understanding is that during filling, (diesel) fuel will flow from the outlet in the fender tank, filling the under-body one. Finally, the fender tank fills, giving a total capacity of 175 litres. Later, by means of an electric pump, fuel is sent from the under-body tank to the fender tank, from where it flows - as needed and of its own accord - to the original tank. The issue is that during fill-up, fuel is not flowing, apparently, to the under-body tank. Yesterday, on fill-up from almost empty (5 to 10 litres left in ??), I got in 121 litres, a slightly odd amount, given that the original tank is 75-litre capacity and the under fender tank 40 litres, as mentioned above. I wondered if the problem might be due to an air lock in the piping. But wouldn't the breather tube(s) presumably fitted resolve any problem in that regard? Please, any suggestions?

For LR Defender Td5 110 CSW (2005), is it metric bolt/nut sizes or inches? Should I buy a 1/4 inch drive socket set, or 3/8 inch? Which socket sizes are “must have” and what are the sizes which it’s a good idea to have?

Hi mmgemini, you asked me: Frankly I don't understand why this is being done. Why are you using such heavy cable ? Winch ? Idon't know why it's such heavy cable. I left it with Landrover to do, assuming that their full-time electrician would be fully conversant with how to do it, and fully competent. I never thought of fitting the second battery in the battery box under the driver's seat (LHD), and Landrover never suggested it.

Hi LandymanLuke, Yes, if the switch is in the negative cable, the switch will disconnect the second battery from the first, but not necessarily the loads from the second battery. However, the same would be true if the switch was in the positive wire... there's no difference. So it doesn't make any diffence whether the switch is in the neg cable or the pos cable?? The switch will not "necessarily" disconnect the loads from the second battery, you say. So it might, or it might not?? (I'm assuming that "disconnecting the loads" from the second battery is the same as "isolating" the battery.) However, switch in neg cable/switch in pos cable is, according to another poster on this thread, not a matter of indifference: If done correctly, having a switch in the Negative wire can work but why on earth would any auto electrician do it that way. Thats nuts! To use the negative to isolate the auxiliary ( leisure ) battery, you will have to isolate all the accessory negative wires as well. (Every diagram I've looked at, all involving negative earthing, show the cut-off switch in the pos cable. None of the accompanying instructions say that switch in neg cable/in pos cable is a matter of personal choice. and As to protecting your set up, if the two batteries and all cabling running between the batteries and the cable running to the battery isolating switch are in the battery compartment under the seat then you really don’t need any fuses or circuit breakers as everything is contained in a safe area, but if any of the cabling comes out of the battery compartment then it MUST be protected. You would say, on the other hand, that the answer is to use heat-shrink on open connectors and run cables through gromets rather than through sharp edged metal holes. I can see, though, the difficulty with fusing the 110-amp cable that's been fitted in my set-up.

Hi LandyManLuke Why did you choose a switch, rather than something like a VSR or a heavy duty relay? Well, I've let LandRover fit what they recommend and what they have to hand or can get (Salalah, Oman, is not the centre of the universe. Would you advise me about the following, please? At this very moment, my Defender is having fitted, at the local Landrover dealer, a second battery and sockets. 1. A cut-off switch has been put in the NEGATIVE lead joining first and second batteries. However, I have wiring diagrams that say "put the switch in the positive cable", and have been told, on this forum, that: If done correctly, having a switch in the Negative wire can work but why on earth would any auto electrician do it that way. Thats nuts! To use the negative to isolate the auxiliary ( leisure ) battery, you will have to isolate all the accessory negative wires as well. I have just communicated the above, politely, to LR, but have been told that "it's fine as it is; all the military vehicles coming in (to the country) (I live in Oman) have it done this way". 2. Fuses or circuit breakers have not been fitted in the cable with the switch in it. There is, in other words, no protection against a possible short circuit. (I should add, perhaps, that the second battery is on the floor between the driver's seat, and it wouldn't take much depth of water for the whole thing to become flooded.) I understand from an internet source that: The wire running between the batteries will be live all the time, so if that wire was to ever touch earth for any reason (known as a short circuit), the fuse will blow, and disconnect the power from flowing down the wire. Without the fuse in the circuit, the wire will have to melt before the power can be disconnected, or in rare cases if the wire is thick enough, the battery could explode. Another reason to put the fuses in the wires, apart from short circuit protection, is overload protection. A classic example is if a cell in the leisure battery were to die. When they die they short out internally, and thus effectively take 2 volts out of the battery, so the 12 volt battery is now 10 volts. You're pumping 12 volts into the battery to charge it, and the battery can only take 10 volts. Something will have to give, and it is usually the alternator that blows. With a fuse in the circuit the 25p fuse will blow instead of the £100 alternator. I have also learned, on another forum, that: As to protecting your set up, if the two batteries and all cabling running between the batteries and the cable running to the battery isolating switch are in the battery compartment under the seat then you really don’t need any fuses or circuit breakers as everything is contained in a safe area, but if any of the cabling comes out of the battery compartment then it MUST be protected. My second battery is on the floor, with all wires on the floor, too, so must be protected, mustn't it? I appreciate that fuses can't, I think, go in a 110-amp wire. LR tell me, however, that "circuit breakers are not available here (in this city)". Please clarify: (1) In which cable (pos or neg) should the cut-off switch go, and why? (2) Can this set up be run without fuses/circuit breakers in the cable with this cut-off switch in it?

Good idea re. the tube from rear axle. I'll have a look.

I have a Safari snorkel fitted to the RHS of my LHD Landrover Defender. I’m in the process of fitting a Mantec wader kit. Have got to the point where the front-axle breather tube and two engine-block breather-tube extensions are to be fitted either along the rear-outside of the snorkel or led through “a convenient grommet” (can’t see a convenient one) to the inside of the vehicle and thence to a high point within the vehicle. ( …….. “as you prefer”, say the Mantec fitting instructions. As for the rear-axle breather, this has to be led to a high point inside the vehicle. Have been told that engine breather tubes inside the vehicle will result in engine-oil smells coming inside, which seems a reasonable point. (Is it true?) Another point is that inside, at the RHS front, there seems to be no obvious way of leading the three tubes to a high point. How could three tubes be fitted snugly, conveniently and in a way that looked good along the inside of the roof-support at the right front corner??? (I don’t think they could.) I’d like to hear from anyone who’s fitted this Mantec kit, with any advice. Should I fit the breather tubes inside or out, and if outside, how best to fit them to the rear of the snorkel?

Thanks to all who replied to my earlier post about this matter. I have just had a second battery fitted to my Defender, for running auxiliary equipment. Both batteries are 110 AH, and 110-amp cable links the two batteries (I am told), with a manual cut-off switch in the cable between the negative terminals. Lighter-type sockets and two sockets from which household-type plugs can run have also been installed. The electrician hadn’t fitted fuses for two of the sockets, but I’ve asked him to fit fuses for all four. I have read that two fuse holders and fuses should be fitted in the main linking cable, one on each side of the cut-off switch, but the electrician says “not needed”. I have also seen that in a recommended set-up, the cut-off switch is in the cable running between the POSITIVE terminals. 1. Am I mistaken about the need for fuses in the main linking cable, or is he? 2. Does it matter whether the cut off switch is inserted in the negative cable or in the positive one?

mmgemini, where did you get those nice holders sitting on your door?

I have a Defender Td5 110 CSW (2005). The jack I have is the original one, sort of “high lift”. I wonder if it’s a good idea to buy a bottle jack. Seems it would be convenient and easy to use on flat firm ground (e.g. highway). Should I buy one, and if so, what capacity, bearing in mind that the vehicle is likely to be fully loaded? A crucial matter that I have doubts about: will the typical bottle jack lift a Defender high enough to be able to change a tyre? Please advise

I bought a twin fuel tank from Frontrunner (South Africa), and it’s been fitted to my Defender 110 Td5 CSW. (It’s the FRLR47, one under the rear fender and one under the body on the passenger side -LHD vehicle; don’t know if any of you are familiar with this one.) Though perhaps 2-3 cm above the level of the front-to-rear chassis member, it seems to me it’s quite low down; in addition, at the side, a whole sweep is fully exposed, well below the level of the sill. It seems rather vulnerable to rock or other damage, and I wonder whether to fit a thick metal plate along the side and underneath. Or would the tank already be pretty strong, and built by Frontrunner with its vulnerability in mind? Any comments, please?

A particular problem with my Td5 is driving me halfway round the bend. The driver’s door and passenger door rattle quite loudly on anything other than tarmac, though the intensity varies and the problem is intermittent. The vehicle is a Defender 110 County Station wagon, 2005 model but new in December 2006. I’ve done about 25,000 km. Land Rover have tried several times to cure the problem, but it keeps coming back. CAN ANYTHING BE DONE to permanently cure the problem? Please advise. I will be forever grateful.

On my LR Defender 110, 2005 I've already fitted rear window grilles and am about to have grilles made for the rear side windows and passenger door windows, to be fitted permanently (also on the driver and front passenger doors and windscreen, to be removable). The purpose of all this is anti-theft security on a journey we are going to make. I am considering the pros and cons of fitting the rear-window and passenger door-window grilles INSIDE / OUTSIDE. Inside: (1) harder to force off (should anyone go to that extreme): to get them off, windows would have to be broken (2) allowance needs to be made for retaining access to catches for sliding windows Outside: It will be difficult or impossible to clean the windows properly; but on the other hand, windows not likely to be broken by stones/rocks etc. Any opinions, please? I would like to hear from anyone who's fitted grilles, and anyone else, and if you have time or inclination it would be good to see photographs of how removable grilles (front doors and windscreen) have been mounted. Thanks.