pat_pending

I do the same, an annual task. in the winter it's just condensation. When I find a replacement front headlining it's gone and being replaced with an ally' blanking plate. Sun roofs in a Land Rover, whatever next, carpets?

They are, but as you've discovered, things like the hand brake changed over the years and holes were drilled in different places to suit, the basic castings are all the same though. I wouldn't even rely on the serial no's to ID, as it's possible to build in different internals and ratios and swap cases about. I'm still of the opinion you should drill and tap or swap the rear case to suit what you've got, it's far less work. If you find the correct bracket to suit the new hole configuration you may find the existing cable is different, then the correct cable for the new bracket doesn't fit the lever you've got.

You could stick a couple of bolts in there and cut them flush before drilling and tapping from the rear, that would restore the strength to the corner. I'd turn and thread a bit of ally' bar rather than bolts, but I appreciate not everyone has access to a lathe. Swap the rear casing. Or you could just contact the supplier and tell them it doesn't fit!

I think you need to have a run over it with a tape measure against a genuine 300 chassis. Something's wrong and if it's on the chassis, Richards should put it right. The rubbers would have to be totally shot to reduce that clearance.

Oh well, worth an ask, I remember thinking I'd have to swap to an Adwest when I considered replacing my 200tdi with a 300. I found this picture and it appears there should be plenty of clearance.

What steering box have you got? 6 bolt Gemmer boxes are bigger than the 4 bolt Adwest and were never fitted to 300tdis.

We had a trip to France many years ago, I can't say it was a success as far as laning was concerned, I did have a good laugh though. Going abroad is not really an option for me now. I can't see the situation here getting better though as no one will deal with it.

If I'm honest I think the decline has been going on for some time. I remember one trip to wales, probably mid/late 90s, we'd arrived at the start of a very out of the way route (so we thought), that we'd travelled on previous occasions. Each time we visited there was little sign anyone else had driven it. This time we could see a wide scar of churned up peat across the hillside. I later found out there had been a couple of lads in Unimogs leading paying groups about the area. At least I can say I've driven some extremely technical routes when very few people knew of their existence, most of which are no longer open and probably never will be. Has it just become too easy? When it took many hours of research and a particularly hardy soul to drive 200+ miles in a series on SATs, it limited who would bother. Now it's all on line and civilised 4x4s are readily available. It also seems there's more relevant discussion in this one thread than the whole of the GLASS forum.

That all makes for sad reading. TBH I've considered packing it in altogether. I'll update my maps with TW2 and give it a year, but I don't hold out much hope. Last time I was on the plain, we passed two groups, all the vehicles were covered in mud and I mean covered, right across the roofs all down the sides. It was the same at Thetford, you don't get that muddy just driving. We only did Thetford as we were passing, I drove it all two years ago in my bog standard Freelander. I think there are many ways to deal with this, and I'd rather hoped the GLASS forum would be alive with discussion, alas not. xx thousand members and less than half a dozen on the forum... That's telling in itself. I've about a hundred marked up OS maps from all round the country dating back over 35 years, I'll bet at least half the routes marked are no longer legal and most of the others unsustainable. It's all rather depressing.

So today we decided to drive a couple lanes across Kings forest south of Thetford, on our way to Norfolk. I've honestly never seen so many people out greenlaning, several groups of six, a group of nine and one group of at least fifteen, then a couple of bikers that rode past clear signage straight down a seasonally TROed route. Everyone had driven through the worst of the mud, even when it could be avoided. T. W. A. T. S. the lot of them. I expect most of those lanes will be shut next year.

Can you post a picture? The LT 230 was used in a number of different vehicles with differing handbrakes. I'd guess what you have is not from a similar vehicle to yours.

Thank you everyone, you've been a great help. On the strength of this, I've decided to rejoin GLASS in the new year.

Yes, there are some good on line definitive maps. I used to spend hours and hours researching routes in pre internet days, rather quicker now but still a lot of work. What I need, and I think GLASS's TW2 has, is all the information in one place. I want to pick an area, possibly at the junction of several counties, and see quickly if the the lanes in that area are open and what sort of condition they're in. Currently I'm using a my old paper maps, my Memory map track logs and then Where's the path, aerial view to see how wide/open they are and then using street view to check on TRO signs at entrances. It's better than nothing, but it's tedious, although less tedious than driving for two hours to find nearly every lane has a TRO on it.

Thank you David, that's very interesting. Well years ago I'd happily squeeze my old series or hybrid down narrow overgrown lanes. Churned up rutted muddy lanes, great fun, and an excuse to get the winch going. Don't get me wrong, I was never a hooligan mud plugger, but a challenge was challenge. Now, I see how Land Rover size vehicles can be intimidating on narrow lanes and the damage that they can cause. For the most part, I'll only drive wide, decently surfaced lanes, I'll also avoid anything short, near houses or built up areas or anything that just looks "wrong" to drive, even if it's legal. I think some lanes just aren't suitable for 4x4s and should be left to two wheels only. I still love a difficult drive, but the only place I'd still be happy doing that would up in the wilds of Wales. The last time I was there though we kept bumping into convoys of foreign registered vehicles and groups with "tour guides". It was only the fact that we knew some properly out of the way routes that saved the trip.

I'm looking for up to date info' for some route planning and Trailwise2 looks like it might be useful. The last time I was a member it all felt a bit stale and there was little activity on their forum. I was probably one of the first members when they started but I let my membership lapse about 10-15 years ago. I've been greenlaning since the mid 80s, used to spend nearly every other weekend away driving all over the country. What with work, family and other hobbies I only get out about half a dozen times a year now, and nearly always to the same areas, although I normally find a few lanes we've not done before. We have a traditional drive on new years day, but this year I've struggled to find anything fresh. I have piles of marked up OS maps, but due to reclassifications etc most are out of date, I also have a different moral stance on which lanes are suitable to drive now. A couple of exploratory trips in the past have led to wasted time with TROs and physically impossible lanes. So, if you are a member, is it worth it and how good is TW2? I was a member of the TRF and they were brilliant, but I don't ride anymore so that seems a bit like cheating to join them again. Ta.

From the UK testers manual... The maximum smoke level limit will be the level displayed on the manufacturer’s plate; or where there is no manufacturer’s plate information: For vehicles first used before 1 July 2008, the maximum level is: 2.5m-1 for a non-turbocharged engine 3.0m-1 for a turbocharged engine For vehicles first used between 1 July 2008 and 31 December 2013 the maximum level is 1.5m-1 for all engines. For vehicles first used on or after 1 January 2014 the maximum level is 0.7m-1 for all engines. And... Manufacturer’s plate means either the VIN plate or a separate plate or sticker, which is likely to be within the engine compartment. The plate or sticker may be marked 24 R followed by a number to indicate the smoke limit (such as 0.24 in the example below). It’s usually displayed in a box and often positioned in the bottom right corner of the VIN plate. Currently it's left for testers to find the plate and apply the correct limit to the test, some plates have been removed either deliberately or where body repairs have been done or are just not obvious. As this leads to an inconsistent level of testing, DVSA is rumoured to be working on a database of manufacturers limits that would be applied automatically by "connected" equipment, that sends the results of emissions and brake tests live to DVSA during testing. There may be a lot of vehicles suddenly failing their test. Edited to add... Connected emissions testers are already here, but currently only on new installations/equipment, I'm not sure if the database exists yet

Clearly aimed at me. Well, whoever was to blame the fate of the bike he hit wasn't mentioned until steve b asked, it then turns out the pillion was carted off in an ambulance. But it's OK because it was probably... All the emphasis was about the damage to his own vehicle. It all came over as rather callous to me.

So... you rear ended a bike because you weren't paying attention, putting the pillion passenger in hospital. And you've come on here to do what, get sympathy for the damage to the front of your vehicle? Unbelievable!

It's one of those oddities in the test, if it's obviously not working it's a fail, but there is no actual "test" to check it's working. However when using a decelerometer (as opposed to rollers) to test the brakes, it would be obvious whether it was working or not. There's also no requirement for it to display the correct or in fact any mileage reading.

No need to apologise, you're right, they're everywhere. I don't think the police care.

I'm curious to know what makes you think that we don't. If it's the amount of incorrectly spaced plates you see about, well a lot will be on vehicles under three years old so wont have had an MOT. Then when I do fail a vehicle on plates, after the normal round of excuses, they tell you the correctly spaced plates are in the boot, and could we fit them. Next time we see the car the old plates are back on, I've been failing the same vehicles for years like this. Also, it's possible to have a plate that's "illegal" as in it doesn't meet C & U reg's but still passes the MOT, yeah I know, go figure. That's exactly what we do, and if a manufacturers emissions equipment has been removed or bypassed and we can see it has, it fails. I'm sure of the point you were making there.

Yes, but you do need an MOT, and removing or bypassing emissions control equipment is already a fail for some vehicles, assuming it's spotted.

I've not read it but I doubt any of it will be retrospective. I wouldn't worry.

I seem to remember that when I tried testing an LSD equipped car in the rollers, it kept trying to jump out whenever you applied the brakes. Either decelerometer test it, we have a modern digital one that sits on the passenger seat, or pull a half shaft.

Interesting, civvy spec interior but a mil spec rear axle. With the right details I think you could get a record of it's service life.