RichardAllen

<br /><br /><br />Mark, Those are just what I have in mind for 10mm straps, so I just need some a bit smaller Regards Richard

Mark, Any idea where I might get such fittings ? Regards Richard

I was thinking that. Unfortunately I can only use 20mm wide ratchet straps (they are for holding closed a fold-down gas cooker on the rear door) so the fixing points should not be that much wider. I am hoping a pair of molegrips, propane torch and ball/pein hammer should do the job. I'll keep you all posted. Regards Richard

Thanks to all, a trip to storage it is. regards Richard

I want to make some low strength ratchet strap fixing points. For each fixing point, the plan is to form a tab each end of a short (50mm) length of round mild steel bar by simple hammering. The tabs will then be punched, drilled and rivetted into place. I could do the hammering hot or cold, but getting my heating kit out of storage will be a pain. My question is whether it is very much easier to hammer form mild steel when heated bright red, or whether cold forming is easy enough ? (I do have a chunky bit of 50mm steel to use as an anvil.) Regards Richard

Does anyone out there have a cunning means of storing ratchet straps neatly ? I use quite a few for strapping down roofrack loads, and they always end up in a horrible tangle. Someone must know how to do this better. All help gratefully received on a minor but irritating problem. Regards Richard

ej, It could be. I have seen a long thread on here (I think) which concluded that Ali MIG was very difficult to do well and that even then the results were not really very satisfactory. For the small amount I do, I could probably live with that, but I do fancy a TIG setup if I can get something reasonable at less than a grand. Regards Richard

I want to make up some drawers/shelves and other bits and pieces from 2mm or 3mm aluminium sheet, tubing etc. I am clear that there are a number of alternative materials and a number of ways aluminium can be made into things, especially rivetting etc, and I could easily get someone to make me stuff. However, I have some experience with MIG and gas welding (including a City and Guilds course) so I am keen to try AC TIG. So the questions for you knowledgeable chaps out there: Money is not limitless, so am I better off buying a working second hand set off the Bay from a more reputable manufacturer, or go for one of these new £400 - £500 chinese copies (I suspect) from Cobel or similar ? (I don't mind fixing an old set if the bits are available and it is fairly easy to tell what needs to be replaced) I am not going to be doing all that much and certainly not hours each day, so is a foot pedal a necessary or a nice to have ? For the amount of MIG I have been doing, the baby disposable gas bottles work out fairly reasonable against the annual rental for a larger one. Is this likely to apply to TIG, or do I need to factor in renting a bottle too ? Any other advice graetfully received, including any good links on here I may have missed. Regards Richard

I expect that the main problem will be the number of different axle/wheel/tyre combinations you will need to cope with. As far as I know, there is not a good cost effective compressor + reasonable sized air tank specifically for Land Rovers which tucks away somewhere, hence the number of threads on DIY on-board air. So a hybrid suggestion is a bog standard decent capacity compressor/cooler/tank system which does tuck away with simple air distribution pipework, ending, say, in an air connector in the bodywork above each wheel. If you could keep the muck out of the connector, all you then need is a simple racecar type inflator with a dial which can both inflate and deflate. This would mean the driver or navigator having to go round each wheel rather than having a fully automatic system, but has the advantage, for people such as overlanders of having on-tap air at each corner available for other air tools, such as a an impact wrench, air bed inflation etc. This idea does keep air hoses away from vulnerable areas such as axles. But does give the engineering challenges of a tuck-away system, keeping muck out of the air connectors or a self cleaning connector. As for pricing, I would pay £200 - £300 for purpose designed on-board air; say a bit more than a similar workshop system. I would also expect people would be happy to pay £100+ for fitting. I would want to do it myself, but I can imagine routing air hoses around, with fairly large holes/grommets would be a pain. For me, with overlanding in mind, the likely complexities and price of a fully automated system would be of less interest, though I note that many military vehicles have it, especially trucks, so I go along with the point (also emphasised by Tom Sheppard), that use of different air pressures can make a big difference. Regards Richard PS If someone does already make a purpose-designed tuck-away air system, I would like to know about it.

Thanks to all. SWMBO has just decided she does not want to wqork for a while, so the axminster tool will have to wait. The workshop practice book is expected from Aamzon any day, so I can read up and plan my design and maybe santa will give me a metal working toy for Christmas. I am also amazed at how generous two baby daughters can be at the end of the year. Thanks again for the advice Regards Richard

Just to close this one off, this is how it turned out. The hi-lift sits in a tray welded to the wheel carrier lower bracket and bolted to the chassis. The hi-lift rack is fixed near the top by a bolt though the bodywork with a backing plate and the spanner with a nut welded into it instead of a wing nut. The hi-lift is also padlocked through the base, and the spanner will be padlocked to the rack for extra security when I get round to it. Note that for this solution, I did have to move the fog light. I have also shortened the rack a bit so none of it sticks out, following an earlier post on here where someone caught their hi-lift on a tree while laning. Regards Richard

I need a replacement turbo for my 1997 300TDi Defender. Can anyone recommend a good supplier for an exchange unit ? Likewise anyone you would avoid, given that I am already not keen on either Paddocks, or anyone selling Britpart without being clear about it. All help gratefully received Regards Richard

Looks like the axminster tool, sheet ali and a thin angle grinder wheel with precautions - I never could achieve good results with my jigsaw. Thanks to all. Regards Richard

I have no sheet metal working experience, but want to have a go at making some small drawers, fascia bits etc out of sheet aluminium, so I am after some advice. This http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Axminster-750mm-Sheet-Metal-Worker-23170.htm seems to do a bit of everything and it is affordable. If I want to make a shallow box/tray, say 300mm x 600mm by 50mm deep will this machine do ? I am clear that I can use the shear to get the right size plate to start with, but can I also use it to cut the corner notches. ? Can I bend all 4 box sides fully using the press brake ? If so, do I just bend one after the other, or is it easier to do it a different way ? The spec says it can bend/roll/shear 1.5mm aluminium. Does this mean that there is no chance of working 2mm chequer plate, even if annealed ? Apparently I should not cut aluminium sheet with an angle grinder - is this hard and fast, or are there ways around ? If not, I do have a 2 speed wood working band saw, can I buy a blade for cutting Aluminium on it, if so what spec ? I have had a look through the threads but may have missed the "Metal Working for Dummies" one I have also failed to find much help on the net, apart from a couple of youtube video's, so anyone know any good sites covering basic sheet metal working ? All help gratefully received. Regards Richard

I'd like to add that the small PDA screen meant for me that the 1:25,000 maps were almost useless for walking and completely useless for driving. You either zoom in to use the detail and have no context, or get the context and you might as well get Tomtom with the voice directions too. I ended up with a £200 10" screen tablet for navigation TC1100 off fleaway(1:25,000 works briliiantly on it off road and navigator 9 for on-road directions). I still have the old PDA with Tomtom as a backup, but mainly use it with the GPS as a digital compass. For what it is worth. Regards Richard

Navigator 9 works very well on my PC. Tomtom with an emulator was just about unusable. Regards Richard

Another vote for the Sealey for whizzing nuts on/off. But I always check wheel nuts by hand afterwards. Pretty expensive, battery does not last that long, spare battery is ridiculous price even on eB*y. Would I buy one, or the air powered version again ? Probably not. I'd save my money for a decent torque wrench set (1/2" and 3/8"), 1/2" and 3/8" ratchets and long/short metric and imperial sockets + 3 different length wobble extension bars. My Teng stuff has lasted well. Regards Richard

Rivetted for now, took minutes. Will probably do button screws and nylocs when time allows. Didn't think of the sealant, will put that in when I do the nylocs.

I run a 2kW Ring inverter off a dual battery system which does drill, 4 1/2"grinder, hot air stripper, and wife/daughters' hair dryer (hence needing 2kW), as well as recharging the phone, laptop, camera batteries cordless impact driver, cordless drill etc etc. My setup is for expedition use, on the basis that why have a generator, which needs petrol, when you have a large engine, alternato rand battery. The setup is horribly energy inefficient, but the cost of diesel for charging is not noticeable. Regards Richard

I've got some black chequerplate to reinforce the 90's bonnet and wings for roof-rack access. Are there any pro's and con's to bolting it on with hex socket button screws rather than pop rivets apart from time, and cost ? I have a real dislike of rivets as they can be such a pain to get out, even with the right size drill. I am also no fan of self-tappers' ability to strip the thread and/or rust solid. Finally, is there any easy way to fix a chequerplate panel inside the rear door, other than pop rivets ? Apologies if this has been covered before, all wisdom gratefully received. Regards Richard

Martin, It seems we do the same research again. One thing I have spotted is that there is a small market for second hand little-used sat-phones bought mostly by yacht-types for thransatlantic crossings and similar. I have seen one or two turn up on eBay. Apart from potential phone reliability problems, the main cost issue seems to be that the talk-minutes you buy expire a year or so after being bought, and even the cheapest package is horrendous. So second hand ones are only much use if you buy one with plenty of unexpired time just before you go. Back to the main topic. Buy Tom Sheppard - "Vehicle Dependent Expedition Guide" from the Royal Geographical Society. All you wanted to know about expeditioning and then some. Though he does appear to like automatics - hmmmm. Regards Richard

Thanks guys. The spanner + nut is for securing my hi-lift. I have welded a tray onto the bottom bracket of a Mantec wheel carrier and fixed a bolt through the bodywork above the rear window. The hi-lift base sits in the tray and the bolt goes through the rack near the top. The spanner + nut the goes onto the top bolt and the hi-lift is secure. I could have used a wing nut, but with a ring spanner, I can put a padlock through the rack and handle end of the spanner for security. I have also drilled through the tray and put in a padlock through tray + hi-lift base. Overall the stowage is quite neat (should be, I copied it off a Camel or G4 I saw at Billing). Though I still have to work out how best to stow the adaptor; probably just bolted through the rack. Regards Richard

I want to make a handle with a M10 female thread in it which has to be pretty strong. My plan is to use a 17mm ring spanner and MIG weld an M10 nut into it. Given the different types of steel nuts and spanners are made from, and the finish on the spanner, will this plan work ? All help gratefully received. Regards Richard

Thanks a million everyone. Authoritative advice and help as always Regards Richard

An unmechanical friend of mine recently had a cambelt go on a 300TDi in a 110. It had recently (a few hundred miles ?) been replaced by a very well known vehicle preparer. There is mention of a 1 in 20 problem, though it is unclear whether this was a suggestion made by the preparer or someone else. A couple of questions for you guys: Is it possible to drive a properly sorted 300TDi engine (standard fitting in a 110) so as to cause premature cambelt failure ? Is there authoritative mention anywhere of a 1 in 20 chance of premature cambelt failure ? What might cause such a failure ? Mechanical damage to the belt while fitting, seems unlikley, swarf or other sh*te getting it, again unlikley, incorrect/wrong tensioner installation, idler/tensioner bearing, Brit***t bits ? I ask both on my friend's behalf and because I did mine about 2,000 miles ago. All suggestions welcome Regards Richard