fishsponge's ongoing thread of problems!

[biolandy]

Thank you for asking: So here's a update, 3 weeks in August was just great.Did a lot of traveling each day, Gill's folk's were the center point from Taunton for a new location to live 30 minutes is the requirement. Looked at alot of house's and alot of Villiages, what a beautiful country you Brits have.

We compared the prices of things adjusted for the money exchange rate, and factored in all expenssand found out it is a little cheaper to live in Britain. Our biggest expenses in the USA are:
Heating for 6 months- $3500
Car insurance for 2 cars $2400 yr
Gas for cars a week $200@wk= $10,000yr
And the taxes are terrible here close to 60%
And health insurance if you can afford it is about for me $1,800 a month
Food cost were very close, chicken and eggs are very expensive about 2-1/2 more than use eggs@ $1.89 a doz whole chicken$1.69 lb
You got great cheese, yummm yummmm

So we have to get thing taken care of here and hope by Sept of 2012 the move is complete. And a 40ft sea container with all our stuff is in it on British soil

If you have any space left in the container,fill it with maple syrup-costs a bomb over here for the genuine article-you would sell it in pounds for what you pay in dollars,and welcome when you arrive

 

[fishsponge]

RIGHT... AN UPDATE!!

I'm half way through the service that I started August Bank Holiday weekend. I've been away a lot, so have only been able to dedicate a day and a half to it.

Before it all went wrong on the bank holiday Sunday, I got the following done from the service schedule:

Handbrake travel, seatbelts/mountings, ABS warning system, instruments, switches/controls, horn, interior lamps, front wiper blades, front screen wash, rear wiper, rear screen wash, instrument illumination, direction indicators/hazards, lighting system, headlights, engine oil replaced, engine oil filter replaced, transfer box oil replaced, battery terminals, washer bottle(s), brake fluid reservoir, power steering fluid checked, coolant level/anti-freeze strength, coolant hoses, auxiliary drive belt(s), crank case ventilation.

As you probably remember, the thread went in the transfer box drain plug, so Del (50 pence) came over with his drill to lend a hand on Sunday evening. I finally got everything packed away by 8pm that night (having started at 12 noon!).

Last Saturday I took it to the garage to have the transfer box thread helicoiled, inspection cover gasket replaced and transfer box, rear diff and front diff oils replaced (because my Draper oil suction pump is utterly CRAP). This sadly cost £100 NOT including the heli-coil kit, oil or gasket but at least it's done.

Tonight I thought I'd grease the UJs, prop shafts and "lubricate steering rack/box". I assume the steering rack/box also needs a grease gun, but couldn't find a grease nipple anywhere, even on the steering UJ near the bulkhead, so that must be done some other way.

As for greasing the prop shafts and UJs, you'd think that'd be easy....... my 1960s grease gun is missing something, I think, so when you let the spring up all the grease just comes out the back of the trigger mechanism, so I borrowed someone else's tonight.

Trouble was... although all the grease nipples are freely moving, I could only get grease into the rear prop shaft.

The rear UJ seemed to take grease forever, but never squeezed out from anywhere, so either the grease gun wasn't pushing any in or it was full and too corroded around the circlips for any to leak out.

As for the UJs on the front prop shaft, I couldn't get the gun onto either of the grease nipples - either not enough room around them or the gun nozzle was too fat around the outside. As for the front prop shaft, the grease gun "latched on", but just pumped all the grease out the sides of the nozzle, despite the nipple moving freely when prodded with a needle.

So overall, another evening spent under the car, and i've managed to achieve nothing! lol

 

[jamesmartin]

what you need is 6mm grease nipple but longer oneshttp://www.alibaba.com/product-tp/121479828/long_type_grease_fitting.html

 

[jamesmartin]

long type grease fitting products, buy long type grease fitting products from alibaba.com

 

[jamesmartin]

sorry not got complete hang of it yet ive a big box of them mostly change them on all trucks as most are difficult to greas with props in place

 

[fishsponge]

ah... thanks, james! somehow the garage managed to do it very easily when I got them to do it a year ago, so I was surprised that I was unable to!

Just need to find those products here in the UK now, and without a minimum order quantity of 5,000! lol

 

[jamesmartin]

best picture i could get but they do them in lots of places aricultural engineers as well as motor factors,some grease guns fit easier than others and prop angle helps but they do better

 

[fishsponge]

yeah, i jacked up the left side of the car just so I could rotate everything, but the grease gun was still just too fat! lol

also, where am I supposed to lubricate the steering rack/box/mechanism??

 

[jamesmartin]

just use spray lubricant like white grease for ujs on linkage ,you have pas box which doesnt require servicing,ball joints on track rods and drag links are most likely dont have grease nipples either just props

 

[fishsponge]

thanks for the info, james... i'm still only half way through the service, but I won't get started on all that again... just not got around to finishing it yet!

Anyway... back to the subject of wheels and tyres!!

I have 245/75R16 mud terrain currently. I want to keep the same size and tread style.

I also hate the 16" "Freestyle" alloys, so I was thinking of buying:

5x 16x7 Black Modular

At £34.80 inc. VAT each, this seems like a fairly good price to me. I doubt I can sell the alloys for that much each, but you never know.

QUESTION - will these fit perfectly despite their "+8mm" offset? Will I have to adjust the steering stops to stop rubbing when on full lock?

Secondly, regarding tyres, I guess any 245/75R16 tyres will fit on these rims, right? So it's just a case of shopping around and finding some at a good price.

Or... thinking about it, what about this package deal:

http://www.johncraddockltd.co.uk/pr...elivery_to_uk_mainland_restrictions_apply.php

are "Kaiman" tyres any good? Only trouble is (i think), 265/75R16 tyres won't fit well on my 2" lift Disco which has not even had the camel cut.

Lots of places have package deals, but they're all for 235 tyres of 265 tyres... nobody has deals on 245 tyres!

 

[matthew2riches]

Ah, you're back. Was wondering where you'd gone

 

[fishsponge]

yeah, i'm still about just been busy with the end of the steam rally season, and all my video editing!! just starting to be able to relax and think about the stuff that will need doing to the landy soon!!

 

[davek0974]

i'm still only half way through the service, but I won't get started on all that again... just not got around to finishing it yet!

Blimey, it'll be due for the next service soon, you'll have to go round and do it all again

 

[davek0974]

just been busy with the end of the steam rally season,

Someone mention steam rallies?

We possibly know or know of each other, i show my traction engine regularly, what shows? I do mostly Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge etc area

 

[fishsponge]

i did mention steam rallies... this year i've been to rushden, hollowell, cambridgeshire (swavesey), thurlow, haddenham, bedfordshire and kettering steam rallies and gt. chesterford steam-up! you can see my videos of all of these on my youtube channel (see my sig below).

Were you at any of those? If so, chances are I've got you on video and possibly photographed!

 

[Fur Trapper]

i did mention steam rallies... this year i've been to rushden, hollowell, cambridgeshire (swavesey), thurlow, haddenham, bedfordshire and kettering steam rallies and gt. chesterford steam-up! you can see my videos of all of these on my youtube channel (see my sig below).

Were you at any of those? If so, chances are I've got you on video and possibly photographed!

Liked the video You got yourself a steam engine?????????

 

[fishsponge]

nope... i don't own a steam engine myself... not enough time or money and too many other hobbies! if i owned a steam engine, the land rover, motorcycle, photography, video stuff and other stuff would all go to hell, probably!

i tend to exist on the crew of various other engines

 

[Fur Trapper]

nope... i don't own a steam engine myself... not enough time or money and too many other hobbies! if i owned a steam engine, the land rover, motorcycle, photography, video stuff and other stuff would all go to hell, probably!

i tend to exist on the crew of various other engines

Just love them steamers Will be lots of fun going around to different shows and seeing what they have Saw some in Taunton this August was fun walking about and looking

 

[fishsponge]

it is good fun, definitely. also bear in mind, if you're bored enough, the video you see when you visit my channel page is just a "best of" video... i have over 100 videos of off roading, steam rallies, road runs, motorcycle trips etc...

 

[fishsponge]

Right... back to tyres!!

I've made a spreadsheet... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgvVUvA3vc_GdHI4NllteHJQT2tmWS1EbDd2RWpjd1E

I've looked at "completed listings" only on eBay and decided that it's a fairly safe bet that I can sell 5 Freestyle alloys with perfectly good Mud Terrain tyres on 4 of them (with 3-4mm of tread) for around £100. If you think this is rubbish, please let me know!!

I still need to make a few phone calls to local tyre places, but looking online (at paddock, craddock, blackcircles, and a few others, I have come up with several possible solutions, my two favourites of which are listed below)

Nobody seems to do deals with 245/75R16 tyres, they're all 235 or 265. I want to stick with 245, so most of the "package deals" are not an option, sadly.

paddockspares don't even seem to sell any 245 tyres, so i'll phone them tomorrow. they must do... surely!

Anyway... the two favourite possible options (which will make sense when you look at my spreadsheet above):

SOLUTION 1
5x Black 16x7" modulars £174.00 (Paddock Spares - 16x7 Black Modular)
Fitting existing spare to new modular wheel £10.00
4x GT Adventuro Mud Terrain £378.52 (Event-Tyres.co.uk - mobile fitting included in price, apparently!)
Selling old wheels & tyres -£100.00
TOTAL: £462.52

SOLUTION 2
5x Black 16x7" modulars £174.00 (Paddock Spares - 16x7 Black Modular)
Fitting existing spare to new modular wheel £10.00
4x Kumho Road Venture MT KL71 £463.24 (Event-Tyres.co.uk - mobile fitting included in price, apparently!)
Selling old wheels & tyres -£100.00
TOTAL: £547.24

Blackcircles.com, fully fitted Kumho Road Venture MT KL71
TOTAL: £654.30

The question is... are "GT Adventuro Mud Terrain" or "Kumho Road Venture MT KL71" tyres actually any good?

And, has anyone ever used "Event-Tyres.co.uk" before? They do seem cheap, and asked me for my postcode, presumably to make sure they could come out to me to actually fit the tyres...

I'm happy to have the tyres fitted anywhere, but it seems cheaper to let these guys come out to me to do it rather than buy just the tyres elsewhere! Very odd...