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Lemforder have been 12mm forever, but the QH ones have always been UNF, however the two new ones are definately metric, the pin is shorter, a slightly smaller body (roughly 39.5mm OD vs 41mm OD) and sport a phosphate finish. The boot does have a substantial lip on the taper which at least looks beefier, oh, and no grease nipple. No part # on the bottom cap either although both types sport the same logo on the cap, a loopy arrow. It's barely morning here ATM and a holiday to boot, I'll take some piccies later and get onto the supplier tomorrow to see if they can dig out some old stock QH. These things are so cheap I'm half tempted to cut them open to see how they all compare internally

FWIW I ordered three QH TRE's yesterday and one is greasable and looks like these with a 1/2" UNF thread above the taper pin, the two RH thread ones came in a rectangular QH box (the other box is square) and are non greasable, have a slightly smaller OD for the body and a 12mm pin. I'll take some pics tomorrow.

Excellent, thanks for that Paul. Mike, I can't believe the size of the bleed hole in the divider plate of a stock radiator, no wonder 300Tdi's are a bit marginal in cooling capacity here in summer. I still haven't fitted my cooler yet, only had the t/stat housing and pipes for seven years...... The fix here is to run Castrol Syntrans 75W-85, and even that can thin out too much in the top end (Top of WA. NT, Qld) behind a TD5 towing. It's a tougher trans fluid than MTF94, which isn't available here anyway. I've gone to Motul Gear 300. Solves the high temp issues.

Very true Si, although as mentioned I've gone through several sets of boots on TRE's so far. One vehicle I had (Ford F100) still had original TRE's and uni's at 500,000km and the boots were carp, but regular greasing with a decent (not brilliant) grease kept wear at bay.

For those wondering where the ROW coolers are fitted, as already mentioned the TD5 ones are just a loop of pipe up alongside the engine on the drivers (RHD) side. Wolfs have a large cooler right in front of the radiator, its supported between the A frame that supports the bonnet lock, so well above the gearbox height. There used to be some piccies on here years ago of Wolf coolers. T/cases get stupidly hot too, there was a recent thread on AULRO with some insane t/case temps recorded here in Oz, particuallry with an OD fitted.

The R380 cooler plate has a t/stat inside it that, as I mentioned in the above post, cracks at 74*C. It's standard fitment outside the EU for TD5's. I've run tests on a non cooled Tdi 'K' spec R380 and it hit 75*+ in about 7km of highway running @ 100km/h. Auto tranny's run quite a bit hotter than a manual gearbox, once the fluid gets hot shifting goes to hell IME and obviously gear rattle and noise increases. (35*+ ambients, high load/speeds)

John, the crack temp for the radiator and engine t/stats are 74*C (IIRC they use thesame t/stat) but I agree, I'd rather use a dedicated air/fluid cooler.

Probably not much difference in life. I've replaced the boots at least twice. I washed the carp out of the joint with brake cleaner and packed as much CV joint grease in as I could and installed the new boot and the tie rod ends are still original @ 285,000km. The only joint I've had to replace was the drop arm ball joint.

?? Lemforder is a ZF brand, QH is a Klarius company. Is ZF procuring them from klarius ?

Thanks Ralph and Harry, BTW I didn't realise you could get greasable Lemforder ones without drilling them yourself. I'll ask my parts importer about them.

The OE Lemförder ones seem to last very well and are pretty cheap, but I really would like to pump some grease into them at service time. Are the QH greasable ones up to standard ? Something better ?

FWIW Ashcrofts don't make a Sals locker (yet) so won't fit pre '02 110/130's.

You fella's reckon a standard 300Tdi exhaust is loud sans silencers. You should hear a 3" 300Tdi system without any silencers whatsoever Nasty is the only word that comes to mind, and not in a good way.

With those specs it should be fine for average use.

What are the specs ?

The other point is that aftermarket oiled foam and oiled cotton filters pass more containments, ie. more dirt and sand than a paper style filter. In a dusty environment this can have a marked reduction on engine life. Be a little careful and probably best to stick to the OE panel filter as some aftermarket ones don't seal well in the airbox either. and FWIW, the air cleaner is more important than the oil filter for engine life too. Dirt ingestion, shown up as a combination of high silicon and sodium levels in oil tests also corresponds with high wear metal levels.

Talking of gauges a VDO mechanical gauge uses a thermowell that screws straight into the original temp sender location of a 300Tdi. You can watch the t/stat crack and modulate with one, and FWIW I'm with tacr2man, viscous fan all the way here. As he mentioned, Nissan Patrols and Land Cruisers have the ability to be opened and replenish/top up the viscous fluid too, we buy it in small sachets from a Toyota dealer. IMO they are more reliable on a working 4x4 than an elecktrickery one in this part of the world.

You'll need an LT85/Isuzu bellhousing and it will have to be modified (holes welded and re-drilled) to fit the R380. There are some kicking around in Australia but are almost as rare as rocking horse poop. has been done quite a few times in Oz, but a kit is now available to fit an Isuzu 5 speed (MSA g/box) to the LT230 so we don't have to go begging/thieving almost non-existent bellhousings

Sounds OK then, use at will (We don't have too much JCB stuff/dealers around so aren't familiar with it unlike the UK)

Les Richmond Automotive in Australia used to sell an angled bush in one of their suspension kits but no longer make/sell it.

They're Super Pro bushes, made in Australia (or copies) Pretty sure Bearmach use the original though. They work very well and last a very, very long time, fantastic bush which allow plenty of flex (far better than OE) and are overall a much better bush the OE ones.

every 6000 miles Mike, Isn't that a little OTT ? Anyway, if you convert to oil lubed bearings you don't have to bother re-greasing, ever (and an RTC3511 seal is worth it's weight in gold, even on a greased hub) I've run Patrol front wheel bearings for 150,000km on Neo Z12 (no longer available) and the bearings were fine, but going that far is not something I'd recommend and it's only achievable with a super grease like Z12 or CV2. (BTW, they are the originals and that vehicle has now done 365,000km) If intent on using grease, use the best high temp EP grease you can get your hands on. Look up the specs sheet, you want an NLGI #2 using either a lithium complex or if possible a calcium sulfonate complex thickener. You want a high drop point (350*F minimum, 500* is much better) and aim for something with a high Timken OK load number, 40lb is adequate, 60lb much better. Neo's old Z12 was rated at 70lb. A high weld load (400kg or higher) and small wear scar are good too. I'd suspect JC 'blue' is just a general purpose chassis grease, you'd probably want to replace it frequently.

LOL, I was going to suggest you only need a high TBN oil with high sulphur fuels and then read you are travelling. FWIW look for an ACEA E4 oil, their TBN needs to be >12

Well, I've been told you aren't supposed to use a moly fortified grease on needle rollers but please don't tell all the uni's I've greased for the last thirty years with Castrol LMM. (lithium complex, 3% MOS2) I bounced it off a triboligist (oil blending specialist) once and he said he always used a moly grease on uni's too..... BTW, the best chassis grease I've seen specs for is sold by CAT, it's a calcium sulphonate thickened, 5% MOS2 grease. The best marine greases use a calcium sulphonate thickener, it's more water and rust resistant than any commonly used thickener.

FWIW I ran 33PSI (tubeless) all round on a heavily laden 130 on two sets of 255 BFG MT's. Dropped that to 25/26psi when running exclusively on dirt/gravel roads. Funnily enough I had to bump the pressures up to 40 all round now using Maxxis 762's in the same size but am probably running a few hundred kg's heavier now too. (3000kg ove rthe weighbridge) Different case construction/more flexible sidewalls with the Big Horns vs the old style BFG's