Effortless

I believe it's the 4.5 meters mentioned above...

Hi, Not sure what the minimum is, but I believe the legal maximum is 4.5 metres, and this seems to be the length of most commercially available ones. Mine is a 4.5m 12 tonne nylon rope (24mm dia springs to mind??) with sleeved soft eyes either end, and it's served me very well over the years. I use Crosby bow shackles (3/4"???) to attach it to recovery points, and also have 2x 1m bridles available if the other vehicle has 2 recovery points. In terms of materials, synthetic is better than natural (my opinion!!) as it doesn't rot, and I believe that nylon is better than polypropylene as it has some stretch to it which reduces shock loads on each vehicle. If you are planning on making some up, get good quality rope that has UV stabilisers incorporated into it, as this will limit UV degradation of your tow-rope over the years. If you look at some of the commercial rope and wire suppliers, some will already have this sort of stuff made up, and this will probably be a cheaper way to buy than trying to get some made up for you (assuming off course that you don't want something out of the ordinary. Also remember that for towing anything any distance, a bar is far preferable to a rope, as Mart suggests. HTH, Effortless.

Bought my ign/light switch from Dunsfold last year, cost me £70 IIRC. HTH, Effortless

Weber adaptor ring, and it is just a friction fit... i know, 'cos I've got one... Cheers, Effortless.

I do find it genuinely puzzling why so many on the forums (not just this one!!) feel that General SAG's are close to death-traps. Bear in mind they come in cross ply... ...or radials... I've run the cross ply version for close to 10 years, in all weathers, at all times of the year, and never, ever had a problem with them. I also did 460 miles in one day on them, and and over the years have never ended up in any ditches. OK, they are a little noisy, but I don't notice it with the engine screaming, the gearbox howling, the canvas flapping, the bodywork rattling. They may also not have the lifespan of Michelin XZY's. They might be a bit wayward on wet, greasy roads, but I have NEVER, EVER had the back end let go without me provoking it. On snowy roads it is great fun in 2wd, but the combination of short wheelbase and achingly slow steering box make it tricky to balance at 30 degrees for any length of time. I've also towed with it, and never ever had any problems. But off-road, the story changes... they are AWESOME. I've never once been bogged, and I've done a few black runs at various Pay 'n Play sites (OK, I've stopped a few times, but only 'cos I've drowned my petrol 2 1/4). Some SAG porn for you (few) SAG lovers out there... I love my SAG crossplies, and would recommend them to anyone running a Series vehicle. In fact, my current ones are running low, and if they were still available, I'd stump up some cash for another set. Anyone feeling the love yet?? I'll get my coat..... Just my views, Effortless.

Challenger seems to get the vote, there is also Dunsfold? Cheers, Effortless

Er... Sea-water, and a landy??? Not for me thanks... Effortless.

Hi all, can anyone tell me if twin-lip hub oil seals are available for Series vehicles please?? Cheers, Effortless.

You have email. Finished it about a year ago, but took nearly 10 years to fit!! I have most parts for a complete winch, bar the dog selector (310) and the clutch dog (371). Cheers, Effortless.

Gone I'm afraid... 'cos I bought it! If you're not in a hurry though, keep an eye out on eBay, on the sales sections of this site and the Series 2 Club forum, and OLLR... bound to get one. Also, if it's certain parts you need, post up here and someone may have bit lying about. I've broken my old winch for parts, most still available... what is it you need?? HTH Effortless Cheers, Effortless

I had this a year ago when my headlamp/ignition switch failed. My eyes popped out at the price of NOS ones. I did a bit of shopping about, found plenty of cheap switches that would do the job, but then decided that as the old switch was of good enough quality to last 50 years, I would get another one. Duly done, from Dunsfold, for about £70 IIRC. I'm happy as Larry now, and have completely forgotton the pain of buying it. Also, oil pressure and water temperature gauges weren't standard fitment, although there was a 52mm twin capillary gauge available, with both oil press & water temp dial on the same dial, with 180 degree sweep. I had one fitted on my '65 Aussie army 88". HTH, Effortless.

Pete, I would try and get the winch working if you want to maximise your income from it... there is a good link http://www.series2cl...ic,44878.0.html on restoring/refurbishing these winches. I have one fitted, and although I don't use it much, I love it. A fantastic piece of period engineering. There are not many of them about, and while quite a few have gone for some of the suggested figures of between £200-250 I would personally try to hold out for a bit more, maybe £300-400, for someone that wants a period piece to set off his restoration, or for someone who needs a commercial-grade workhorse... remember these winches have a 100% duty rating... unlike electric winches, which, if you are using them hard, may need to cool down between pulls. The engineering on these is wondrous to behold, and they will pull way in excess of what they are normally rated at... the problem is that the chassis mounting is the limiting factor for these winches, as in they are so powerful they could rip right out of the chassis (or pull a house down). One way around it would be to tube all the mounting holes in the chassis. And just for some gratuitous winch porn, here is mine at work... HTH, Effortless.

Have alook at reply number 22 on this link, it has some info I dug up. Cheers, Effortless

I have a Series 2 from 1960, so I find my Kamasa set very useful... AF, metric and Whitworth all in one box. Quality is fine for me, not managed to break anything in 15 years. Cheers, Effortless.

What a touch!! Very unusual to find something like this, it looks immaculate. All you need is a US owner of a fully restored Classic to get wind of this, and they'll be falling over themselves to buy it. I would personally Ebay it, get it listed for the longest possible period, and do the rounds of the US forums drumming up some business. For what it's worth, I would estimate this lot could go for somewhat north of £1K... If you think that brand new Superwinch PTO drum winches now go for about £5-7k, this would be a bargain. It's brand new, never been fitted, never been used, and it's in its original packaging... what more could they want!!! Cheers, Effortless

If you're looking at extra fuel, this is what I did on mine... Twin fuel tanks Hope this helps, Effortless.

Hi all, a question for some of you clever people on here... I suspect the gasket in my fuel change-over tap is responsible for getting me stranded today... not had it apart yet, but it has failed before, and I suspect it's done it again. And yes, I had to get recovered by the Big Yellow Taxi, only the second time in 15 years The Heap has let me down. It's the same type of tap as the military used on their twin-tank set-up... The cork gasket apparently has a habit of going hard and shrinking when used with petrol (supposed to be OK with diesel), and subsequently lets in air, so no fuel gets to the carb... Does anyone have any suggestions for an alternative gasket material that I could cut a new one from? It has to be fuel-proof, easily cuttable, about 3mm thick, and retain some compressibility for sealing when assembled in the switch. Hope someone can help... Cheers, Effortless.

your photos are awesome awesome awesome!! Thanks for posting!! Effortless

Hi Finn, as your reply from Superwinch says, this is an old winch and you are unlikely to find spare parts for it on anyone's shelf. I know, as I have 2 of these winches, and have tried to rebuild one without success. There are various threads about this process which you have probably seen but I'll include the links here... http://www.series2club.info/forum/index.php?topic=37510.0 http://www.series2club.info/forum/index.php?topic=34091.0 http://www.series2club.info/forum/index.php?topic=20150.0 I have seen a thread on one of the forums about a company called PG Winches, which has apparently been resurrected from the old company when the owner died, by what seems to be an old employee. However I can't find the link at the moment... sorry!! Will post when I find it. Ah!! Found it!! http://web.ukonline.co.uk/jpgordon13/x9.htm I think the only way you are going to find spares for this winch is to find alternative parts that might fit, for example this should be relatively easy with things like oil seal and bearings from a good bearing and seal dealer. The bearings should have a part number on them, and any bearing supplier should be able to locate equivalents easily for you. If they can't try another one!! For specialist parts I would think you're going to have to make it yourself or repair what you already have. I have about 10 of the shear pins you mention in your original thread, and I can give you the exact dimensions if you want, but without knowing the alloy used for these (looks like brass of some sort), these measurements are meaningless. Most people just use a mild steel bolt and hope for the best (not very safe, but this is sometimes the only way that these winches can be used). Some info you may find useful, an extract from one of the Superwinch manuals... And how the shear pins look... Gaskets are easy, just buy some gasket paper and make your own, or use some form of instant gasket... not ideal, but needs must if you want the winch to run. There is someone on the Series 2 Club forum who has recently rebuilt one of these winches, and offered me plenty of advice. He is a truck mechanic, and has fabricated and modified his own winch. PM me if you would like his details And finally, my other winch is in pieces, and you are welcome to any parts you might need, if they are in useable condition. I had a look at you photo, but couldn't identify which parts you needed. Quote me a part from the user manual (which incidentally looks like mine that I scanned and posted!!). And just as an encouragement, here's a video of my winch finally working!! Hope that some of this helps, Cheers, Effortless.

They will probably be the same part no's for a 110 or Series. I think the drive shafts were all the same at 3/4" dia (19mm or so), and I would expect the UJ yokes to be the same. Off my post on the OLLR forum "Also for anyone that would like to know, I have the GKN part number for the uj's for these winches. You need 3. GKN pn 18035 £17.34 + VAT + P&P Tel: 0121 313 1661 I have managed to get equivalent uj's down to about 9.50ish + VAT from local bearing factors, but speaking to people who have used these winches, the uj's are under a lot of stress, and don't generally last too long, so I made the decision to go for OE spec ones." Hope this helps, Effortless.

Don't know much about accompanied Saharan safari's, which is what I think you're asking about, but there are a few good books on planning your own trip, which is still relevant, as there is still lots of good advice for preparing for a trip, vehicles, what to take, where to go etc. Sahara Overland by Chris Scott, first edition 2000, I,SBN 1-873756-26-7, is a good place to start, there may be an updated version now Sahara Handbook by Simon Glen, first edition 1980 ISBN 1-872815-20-0, has masses of general info, although you get the impression that most of the material collected for the book was obtained on his overland travels in the 1970's, and could do with an update (maybe there is one, haven't checked!) Vehicle Dependant Expedition Guide by Tom Sheppard, first edition 1998, ISBN 0-9532324-0-9, is a great and technical insight into expedition planning (can tell he's a test pilot!) Other than that, a good place to start might be STA Travel in London, specialising in student travel. Also check student biased web-sites or newspapers/magazines, they normally have lots of accompanied tour adverts in the back. I know this is not exactly what you're asking for, but I hope this helps in some way, Effortless

I might have to re-do the rear bracket, even though it's just been galved!! Doesn't cost a lot, I just leave my bits them with some agricultural engineers near here with a request that the next time they send off a load to Medway Galvanising, they chuck my bits in with them. I use an old wire coat hanger to wire all my bits together so they don't get lost. Last load cost me 51p, which is a saving when you realise that Medway want £70 as a minimum order, which is a lot if you're just doing a hand throttle quadrant and vent quadrants!! The rear bracket won't spin, as it had mounting lugs for the alloy casing of the winch, and as the winch is asymmetric, I can't just turn it over. Cheers for all the replies so far chaps, keep 'em coming!! Effortless.

Hi Finn, mate, that looks very much like the PTO that I have on my Series 2 (with Series 2 gearbox). But just to sit on the fence, it's difficult to put money on it without comparing them side by side. The way it's meant to fit is with the flat on the top the mounting flange horizontal. So when mounted, the PTO drops the shaft down and to the left off the back of the transfer case, at about 30 degrees. Hope that explains it, but I'm not feeling very articulate at the moment... sorry!! Your PTO looks to have been re-drilled by a PO to "clock" it, to alter this 30 degree angle, who knows why, maybe to clear something that's non-standard. I've not posted links on this forum before, so not sure how, but I'll try and post the PDF of the Mayflower winch manual that I have, for you. Is that the carcass of a Mayflower/Fairey winch in the back ground of your photo mate?? Is it serviceable?? I have most of a Mayflower PTO drum winch which is in pieces and not going anywhere, due to me losing a vital bit, so if you need bits, give me a shout. Cheers, Effortless.

You might have a point. The winch does seem to be too high at the back (or too low at the front), but I can't see how to alter the position of the winch. The side plates are bolted as far as I can see in the correct place, and sit squarely on top of the chassis legs, which is irritating as the whole winch does seem to be canted forward a bit, which raises the rear to the point where the UJ won't fit. Effortless.

Hi folks, the latest problem in the long line of problems in fitting my Fairey PTO drum winch to The Heap, my 88... the UJ connected to the worm on the winch fouls the front cross-member. A few photos might help.... The UJ sits too high up for it to clear the front cross-member... This is a photo taken from under the right-hand chassis rail looking across the vehicle to the left hand chassis rail, with the front cross-member on the left (the one with the PTO hole - the hole is not used in this application) The winch as far as I can see is bolted correctly to its side frames, and the side frames sit correctly on the chassis rails. The side plates are located by the 4 normal bumper bolts, and then these plates are further bolted to the chassis by a vertical bolt at the back of the frame (seen here close to the radiator grille), and by further bolts through the side frames. This all seems correctly located. How accurate are the dimensions of replacement chassis? It may be that the front cross-member here is too deep compared to factory spec. Has anyone here had experience of dimensional changes in replacement chassis? This one is from Marsland, about 10 years ago. And here's another picture, taken from just behind the front cross-member, showing the PTO hole, and showing how high the worm UJ is... not enough room to clear the cross-member!!! The clearance is so tight I had to dismantle the UJ just to get it onto the input shaft of the winch. Very frustrating, as I just have to fit the centre joint and shafts, and the winch should be up and running!! Anyone on here have any advice?? Cheers, Effortless.