Discovery 300Tdi Off Roader

Yeah was worried with mine, went through and deleted loads of pictures of past cars from other forums just to save this as I was nearly full. got about 10% used space now so should be fine for a while.

Yeah exactly mate, hoping next weekend will be good fun!

Well had an interesting day yesterday.

The NS rear wheel hub when I bought it was notoriously hard to undo and tighten up wheel nuts. Was always something I had on the list of things to do, but in future I'll just do it from the start! However, could just be coincidence.

Either way, was driving down the M2 doing about 45mph when all of a sudden there was thing clunking happening from the rear, no vibrations unless I had my foot on the pedal, I thought great that's my rear prop doughnut gone/going, nursed it to where I could pull over and the doughnut is perfectly fine, was around the car for a while and can't notice anything until I looked at the ns rear wheel. The nuts were loose! The thread was ****ed and the wheel bolt holes were slightly elongated with fresh metal showing. Great. Just my luck. I'm especially paranoid about wheel nuts as my first car had a similar issue when I first bought it. Luckily no damage was done but it has always made me check wheel nuts whenever fitting them and taking off etc. Just the usual checks really.

Maybe somewhere down the line I didn't do them up right? I don't know. I was out the previous week and did over 100 miles and did my usual post off roading check that I didn't break anything, (I damaged the front wing where the tyre caught it) but that was the the only damage I could see.

Now, the NS rear wheel is also the wheel that is closest to my gate. Part of me think that someone came and loosened the nuts. I will hold my hands up high if it was my mistake but nothing adds up here to be honest as I'm usually very careful of this sort of thing. My area is generally okay these days, we have been burgled twice in the past (one attempt and one got inside) but they was about 15 years ago in the same month. Maybe someone has it out for me? Or maybe it's just my **** up. I don't know but I'll take it as both as I should have checked BEFORE I went out.

Just let this be a warning to anyone out there, check your wheel nuts! Could have ended horribly. Got the wheel nuts tightened up as much as I could get them with a massive heavy duty bar just to get the wheel home on the hub.

Looks like I'll be needing a new hub as the threads are ****ed. Possibly going to have to change that tyre over to my spare wheel and vice versa as the holes are not perfectly circular anymore but will get it all apart in coming days to see.

Tomushh said:

it was notoriously

Click to expand...

notoriously what??

I would bin the wheel if the holes are no longer true and get a new one. not worth the hassle or worry.

Cheers

Sorry typo on the following word. Meant to say "it was notoriously hard to undo and tighten up"

Yeah I agree, going to sort the bits out int he week.

Tomushh said:

Sorry typo on the following word. Meant to say "it was notoriously hard to undo and tighten up"

Yeah I agree, going to sort the bits out int he week.

Click to expand...

LOL, that makes sense, I should have been able to put an" r" in there to make it work, but it is Monday morning and the brain is a bit slow today..LOL.

Sounds like it make have been cross threaded for a while or the threads damaged some other way. Good luck and keep safe.

Cheers

Not to worry haha, same here! Thanks for pointing it out, and cheers always try too!

I had both front sets of wheel nuts come loose after I forgot to torque them up after re-bleeding the front brakes for the umpteenth time trying to get a better pedal, happened to me on the E314 North of Genk, rumbling a little so pulled straight over and looked, had 10mm gap on drivers wheel and maybe 5mm on passenger side, I jacked em up & removed the wheels to check the studs to be sure but everything was fine, when I put them back on I remembered not torquing them up and as I keep my 24 inch torque wrench in the Disco I torqued em up to 100lb/ft and job done, checked torque again when I got to Nijmegen and click, click, click all tight.

Can be an easy thing to miss/forget, especially if you're on your own working late into the night trying to get ready for the morning, I'm certainly in the habit of checking them weekly on all 3 vehicles, takes minutes and along with tyre pressures saves lives!

It could have been a whole lot worse. As neilly says, bin the wheel if the holes are knackered. It'll never be right otherwise.

Agreed, could have been much worse. Will certainly be on top of this sort of thing in the future! Thanks for the info all.

Busy life so took longer than i wanted to get a hub sorted.

Going to collect one tonight for a tenner. Will get some timken bearing kits in the process as I may as well do that whilst I am there.

Also ordered a set of new rear speakers as the paper ones were rotten and crap. Vibrating under bass which is extremely annoying so bought a set in the caraudiocentre sale for 22 quid. Sony XS-FB1030 3way speakers. Should help. Not too bothered about bass for now just want some clarity in what I am listening too!! If they are good then I'll get another two for the front doors.

Looking at ordering another Gwyn Lewis Propshaft in the near future as well. Was so impressed with the front one I'm going to get a rear wide angle one as well. Works out twice the price of a 200tdi prop with spacer but the build quality is magnitudes better and hopefully will last forever on whatever land rover i own (plan on a defender in a few years or even a RRC). So I'll need to get a 4bolt flanged diff for the rear as well.

After than is sorted I'll take some attention back to the suspension. Going to take the stupid spacers off the dislocation cones front and back and get 1.5" spring seat spacers and then gwyn lewis dislocation cones that have the hook on them.

Not forgetting underside protection too so I'll be getting a tank guard in due course as well.

Got the new speakers fitted last night, much better than standard. The Sony's that I ordered were on back order so I chose another set which actually had a little higher RMS wattage so that didn't matter too much, still 3 way speakers as well.



The paper speak was much better than the other side, the other one was mouldy and falling apart, threw that away ages ago.





Think I might order a set for the fronts as well, was very pleased with them. Obviously not as good as having a sub and amp but these are decent to hide the odd noises

Thanks for posting pictures .Good read takes me back ten years when i did mine .Almost blow by blow .How about an update 15 months on ?

Nothing makes long distance drives more pleasant than a decent stereo, decent aerial and a bloody good set of speakers.

I fitted some 6X9s in mine with spacers for mounting, going to upgrade the front doors to 6 inch soon when I upgrade to a DAB radio.

Thanks guys

I thought about putting some 6x9's in the back as well, I may even do that in the future. This was just a quick fix really but I'm fairly pleased with them. I've got a DAB radio mainly because I didn't have a radio antenna when i bought it, just bought a windscreen dab aerial and all works well

My stereo is currently held in place with duct tape as it keeps falling out when going off road haha

Just ordered Timken wheel bearing kit so I can sort that rear hub, may as well do them whilst I am there.

Also ordered center pipe delete and rear silencer (already had the decat front pipe) so will have a straight through exhaust system. Should make it sound fairly nice!

Also ordered the speakers for the front doors.

Was a long wait to payday.. lol

Okay went a bit mad, also order another propshaft, this time for the rear. Gywn Lewis one as well lol. My poor bank balance.. worth it though.

Just need to get a 4bolt diff, easily done.

Tomushh said:

Okay went a bit mad, also order another propshaft, this time for the rear. Gywn Lewis one as well lol. My poor bank balance.. worth it though.

Just need to get a 4bolt diff, easily done.

Click to expand...

You gonna swap the whole diff out of just the drive flange?
Land Rover Defender Discovery 1 & 2 Diff Drive Flange Kit 4 Bolt - STC4858

Might be cheaper/safer bet than a used unknown diff with duff bearings?

Not sure yet only as I've heard it's a proper pain in the arse to get it off and fit a new flange, but if it does turn out to be easy then I'll likely do that! Cheers mate

Chris did a great tutorial on this.



Should help you decide.

Thanks matey, looks easily done. However, past experience is that any video always looks easier lol! Might give it a go though!