Defender Repairs in SW London (Kingston / Richmond area)?

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kurt-ldn

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Hi all

New to Landyzone and the proud new owner of a 2005 Defender 110. There are a few things that may need doing, e.g. diff lock is stuck (due to lack of use most likely), new side steps needed etc. - Can anyone recommend a good and reasonable (is that mutually exclusive?) independent anywhere within a reasonable distance from the Richomond/Kingston SW London area? Tried the search function above, but it does not seem to work at all at present?
Thanks a lot
Kurt
 
Not much I know of round central but that isnt that far from you, takes around an hour to get there. They do good work and very reasonable. Welded up all my doors for a lot less than most wanted.

I don't know of many other Landy friendly garages in that area that won't charge you an arm and a leg for work.
 
I cannot help with garage locations and this Might not exactly be what you are looking for, but neither of those jobs should be that difficult, so maybe for the same price you could just get some overalls and a spanner set. You can learn the “joys” of working on your own Land Rover. After all for many of us here that is at least half the fun in owning one!
The diff lock is likely to just be a stiff linkage so crawling underneither with a wire brush and a can of penetrating oil might be all that is needed.
 
kurt-ldn said:
Hi all

New to Landyzone and the proud new owner of a 2005 Defender 110. There are a few things that may need doing, e.g. diff lock is stuck (due to lack of use most likely), new side steps needed etc. - Can anyone recommend a good and reasonable (is that mutually exclusive?) independent anywhere within a reasonable distance from the Richomond/Kingston SW London area? Tried the search function above, but it does not seem to work at all at present?
Thanks a lot
Kurt
Click to expand...

You don't really need a garage to do those things. Diff lock should free up with a bit of oil on the linkage. And bolting on new steps needs a couple of spanners, if you really need steps at all.
You will be constantly fixing little things on a Landrover, well worth spending the money on tools instead of a garage.
 
dag019 said:
I cannot help with garage locations and this Might not exactly be what you are looking for, but neither of those jobs should be that difficult, so maybe for the same price you could just get some overalls and a spanner set. You can learn the “joys” of working on your own Land Rover. After all for many of us here that is at least half the fun in owning one!
The diff lock is likely to just be a stiff linkage so crawling underneither with a wire brush and a can of penetrating oil might be all that is needed.
Click to expand...

Similar words said to me when I joined many years ago. Saved me thousands taught me more.
 
Thanks, all very true indeed. I've not managed to find tjhe diff lock linkage just yet and suspect it may not be readily accessible from below on my TD5, but will look and see what I find online. I do of course have basic tools, oil and a lovely overall! :) Cheers
 
kurt-ldn said:
Thanks, all very true indeed. I've not managed to find tjhe diff lock linkage just yet and suspect it may not be readily accessible from below on my TD5, but will look and see what I find online. I do of course have basic tools, oil and a lovely overall! :) Cheers
Click to expand...

Try removing the transmission tunnel to access it from above. You may be able to get at it via the centre seat base, can't remember.
 
You can just about access it from below if you know what you are looking for but it is awkward. Access is easier with the centre seat and access panel removed, but the best bet to make things nice and easy is to remove the tunnel.
This will involve removing the carpet around the gear leaver and floors (if yours is fancy enough to have that), this should then reveal about 10 (from memory) screws which hold the tunnel to the floor, seatbox, and bulkhead. Unscrew the gear knob and difflock knob, lift off the gear leaver gaiters, unscrew the screws holding the tunnel down and then remove the tunnel. This will then reveal the difflock linkage giving you access to clean and lubricate it all, as well as observing how it works when you move the small gear stick.

The description I have given of how to remove the tunnel sounds far more involved and difficult than it is. In reality it is very straight forward and logical and should not take very long at all.
 
dag019 said:
You can just about access it from below if you know what you are looking for but it is awkward. Access is easier with the centre seat and access panel removed, but the best bet to make things nice and easy is to remove the tunnel.
This will involve removing the carpet around the gear leaver and floors (if yours is fancy enough to have that), this should then reveal about 10 (from memory) screws which hold the tunnel to the floor, seatbox, and bulkhead. Unscrew the gear knob and difflock knob, lift off the gear leaver gaiters, unscrew the screws holding the tunnel down and then remove the tunnel. This will then reveal the difflock linkage giving you access to clean and lubricate it all, as well as observing how it works when you move the small gear stick.

The description I have given of how to remove the tunnel sounds far more involved and difficult than it is. In reality it is very straight forward and logical and should not take very long at all.
Click to expand...

Carpet? :confused:
 
Turboman said:
Carpet? :confused:
Click to expand...
I don’t know either I have heard tell that some land rovers are fitted with such things to ensure they are permanently damp and that the foot wells rust quicker than normal. OP’s is a fancy new one at only 13 years old so may be full of such modern luxuries.
 
dag019 said:
You can just about access it from below if you know what you are looking for but it is awkward. Access is easier with the centre seat and access panel removed, but the best bet to make things nice and easy is to remove the tunnel.
This will involve removing the carpet around the gear leaver and floors (if yours is fancy enough to have that), this should then reveal about 10 (from memory) screws which hold the tunnel to the floor, seatbox, and bulkhead. Unscrew the gear knob and difflock knob, lift off the gear leaver gaiters, unscrew the screws holding the tunnel down and then remove the tunnel. This will then reveal the difflock linkage giving you access to clean and lubricate it all, as well as observing how it works when you move the small gear stick.

The description I have given of how to remove the tunnel sounds far more involved and difficult than it is. In reality it is very straight forward and logical and should not take very long at all.
Click to expand...
Thanks that sounds very helpful .I indeed have the fancy carpeted xs version and will try and work on this over the weekend.
 
dag019 said:
I don’t know either I have heard tell that some land rovers are fitted with such things to ensure they are permanently damp and that the foot wells rust quicker than normal. OP’s is a fancy new one at only 13 years old so may be full of such modern luxuries.
Click to expand...
So I managed to remove the soggy carpets and other bits and pieces - the diff lock linkage seems to be working just fine, except that when i push the lever to engage the diff lock, it seems to catch on a screw on the transfer box, which MIGHT prevent it from moving over fully. The screw where it is catching is portruding at the very bottom of the linkage. It does move, but maybe not far enough. Strange. I am unable to fully access it, as I only removed the immediate parts around the gear levers, but I saw this when under the Defender whilst my son was moving the lever.... Due to rusty screws, I cannot yet remove the overall tunnel, need to get myself a special rusty screw remover first ;-)
 
kurt-ldn said:
So I managed to remove the soggy carpets and other bits and pieces - the diff lock linkage seems to be working just fine, except that when i push the lever to engage the diff lock, it seems to catch on a screw on the transfer box, which MIGHT prevent it from moving over fully. The screw where it is catching is portruding at the very bottom of the linkage. It does move, but maybe not far enough. Strange. I am unable to fully access it, as I only removed the immediate parts around the gear levers, but I saw this when under the Defender whilst my son was moving the lever.... Due to rusty screws, I cannot yet remove the overall tunnel, need to get myself a special rusty screw remover first ;-)
Click to expand...

Best of luck, get some lube on it and try moving the lever around, it should free up, sometimes the pin can cause issues, a bent nail can be effective.
And when you have removed the screws and sorted the linkage, it might be better to get some rubber mats in the footwells, the carpet has probably caused the screws to rust, by holding water around them.
 
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