My new (old) Defender .. ;)

So, Disco drop arm delivered, went on, everything connected up .. 'cept the Steering Dampers!!! Both are fecked anyway, but to use the Disco HD drag link I'll have to make a plate up to suit the Defender steering arm, or use the Disco, which is completely battered so loathe to use this. Tracked it all up nicely, hitting lockstops turning left, but steering pump end turning right, but I'll sort that later (supposed to be at work) but no tyres rubbing and nothing chafing on the brake pipes or other 'stuff' ...

Anyway, had to remove the steering wheel, heard all sorts of horror stories so made a little puller ...



... and it came off like hot butter off a knife .. just tightened the M6 nuts onto the cross bar, 1/2 turn at a time to pull evenly and no worries. The other holes in that bar are for other pulling jobs ..

Took the Defender for a drive and boy, do the HD +3" springs feel stiff!! Might be better after a few runs, and when it's got weight in and a winch etc fitted .. but for now it's a completely bare, not even a spare tyre, defender, so the lightest it's ever likely to be. Be interesting to feel it on a long run and in the lakes. Must say, I prefer soft suspension off-road .. but I haven't gone off road in it yet.

Still needs a service and all fluids changiing, and all the breathers added, but no time for the snorkel before the Lakes I think .. breathers will do for a week or three ..

not sure of our revised lakes route, but if its the one we did previously with the river crossing, you may want to fit the snorkal, mind you, your trucks are amphibious though, ain't they

johnlad said:

not sure of our revised lakes route, but if its the one we did previously with the river crossing, you may want to fit the snorkal, mind you, your trucks are amphibious though, ain't they

Click to expand...

Heh, not even got axle breathers on yet ..

Gonna try to mind ..

Paul D said:

So, Disco drop arm delivered, went on, everything connected up .. 'cept the Steering Dampers!!! Both are fecked anyway, but to use the Disco HD drag link I'll have to make a plate up to suit the Defender steering arm, or use the Disco, which is completely battered so loathe to use this. Tracked it all up nicely, hitting lockstops turning left, but steering pump end turning right, but I'll sort that later (supposed to be at work) but no tyres rubbing and nothing chafing on the brake pipes or other 'stuff' ...

Anyway, had to remove the steering wheel, heard all sorts of horror stories so made a little puller ...

... and it came off like hot butter off a knife .. just tightened the M6 nuts onto the cross bar, 1/2 turn at a time to pull evenly and no worries. The other holes in that bar are for other pulling jobs ..

Took the Defender for a drive and boy, do the HD +3" springs feel stiff!! Might be better after a few runs, and when it's got weight in and a winch etc fitted .. but for now it's a completely bare, not even a spare tyre, defender, so the lightest it's ever likely to be. Be interesting to feel it on a long run and in the lakes. Must say, I prefer soft suspension off-road .. but I haven't gone off road in it yet.

Still needs a service and all fluids changiing, and all the breathers added, but no time for the snorkel before the Lakes I think .. breathers will do for a week or three ..

Click to expand...

can you post a picture or 2 of the puller and can i copy it as i need to remove my steering wheel as its wonky compared to the front wheels.

Would copper grease when reassembling work?

Ed

Heh, the puller is just thick flat bar, drilled 7mm IIRC to accept two M6 x 50 bolts, assembled as you can see .. dunno the width between holes as they were done for other things too and already there! Spin a normal nut up each bolt, then a washer, I used penny washers 'cos they were there! Undo the steering wheel nut and remove it, place the puller over the stub, bolts through the puller and tighten the bolts into the threaded holes either side of the steering centre stub, then tighten the nuts evenly finger tight down onto the bar/puller, then 1/2 turn each till the wheel loosens. Very easy, but don't try and turn each one too much, it'll pull the wheel unevenly and might cause stiction and it won't come out at all.

So, just been back out for a small drive sort of getting a feel for it but not a full shakedown .. first small posing wall .. having a laugh.





No weight in the rear or front at all, so it's all a little stiff. However, couple of problems.

I now have enormous articulation at the rear and although there are dislocation cones in, the springs still dislocate beyond the cones! (Not seen on the pics), so that'll have to be sorted somehow, maybe with a limiter strap/wire/chain. I know the prop now binds, so a little judicious grindy poo (can't afford a wide angle or DC prop) should help.

The front end hardly moves, I think the springs are too hard, but gonna leave them and see what it's like with a winch on.

Like it though, smiles per mile is awesome. No steering damper, steering is as light as a feather but tracks straight, and doesn't wobble up to an indicated 65 mph ... even on bends! Might not even get one fitted, we'll see.

Jeez, the height getting out .. Getting in is awkward but easy enough, getting out with my dodgy knee might be trouble, so seriously considering going back to just +2" springs, which certainly felt softer! Getting out when articulated meant using the rear wheel as a step!!

Dunno what fuel is like, the gauge wanders about depending upon acceleration, deceleration and G-force on bends ... seriously, it seems to turn on a sixpence! Love it ...

Nice ..

So, with the new steering drop arm fitted ..



It all works! OK, there isn't a damper on, better without one than one fitted wrongly that might lock up!

Axle breathers fitted, this is front, but one on the rear too ..



.. which extend up to this two into one, and which will go into the snorkel when it's fitted.



For now wading depth is as standard .. I know, I need more ..

The bits you can't see 'cos they ain't photographed are me going round all nuts and bolts and tightening them, swapping all the fluids, including brake and clutch, engine oil, gearbox, transfer box and diff oils .. Brakes and clutch bled up nicely and work, handbrake tightened and adjusted and works fine, drivers front window can only be wound halfway down, doors still flap about 'cos of worn hinge pins, but they now all shut and lock (HA!!) on the same key as the ignition.

I also just received the V5C, and the original colour is Beige, which I didn't really like, but it's growing on me ..

... and just for completeness ... though YES, I know it ain't quite straight ...



I like ...

the finishing touches..

do civi defender not come with axle breathers up into the engine as standard? I see a few people fitting them but my military on already has breathers on everything (axles and both boxes)

flat said:

do civi defender not come with axle breathers up into the engine as standard? I see a few people fitting them but my military on already has breathers on everything (axles and both boxes)

Click to expand...

Yebbut .. I swapped axles for my Disco ..

So today I added a cb aerial, Onestop kindly loaned me a cb unit, but I also fired mine up in the shed and it works perfectly! However, the cb mount and aeial is fecked .. I suspect it's suffered from the water, it was very hard to solder a connection, and simply won't swr down at all ..



Moved onto the radio, set it up to work via the aux plug and my phone as audio server, as well as sat-nav and Memory Mapper in one! OK, it's a small screen, but the only laptops I have are way too large to seriously use with two of us in the front!

So whilst I won't be able to chat to anyone easily, I'll at least know where we've been ..

defender11069 said:

the finishing touches..

Click to expand...

Starting touches mate ..

So many little things to sort out, but having so much to do just to get ready for this weekend, they can all wait now ..

Excellent work

Paul D said:

Yebbut .. I swapped axles for my Disco ..

Click to expand...

Oh ****e I knew that but didn't click lol

Just trial fitted my winch bumper, and already got rid of the old one ..

Yes, there's a hole in it, yes, it's rusty at the ends, and yes the opposite side to the hole has been plated before, but the mounts and the winch plate are solid, which matters .. and I have a welder, can use it (though me bro is better) and have some small plans for the ends .. For now I'll just put the number plate on the side with the hole ..

Paul D said:

Just trial fitted my winch bumper, and already got rid of the old one ..

Yes, there's a hole in it, yes, it's rusty at the ends, and yes the opposite side to the hole has been plated before, but the mounts and the winch plate are solid, which matters .. and I have a welder, can use it (though me bro is better) and have some small plans for the ends .. For now I'll just put the number plate on the side with the hole ..

Click to expand...

i can see that turning into some thing special..

It's gonna be good ..

After the Lakes and my springs being rejected we're looking at either making slider mounts for them instead of cones, or mounting the springs to the chassis and trying the cones I have as reverse cones. They're way too small to use as they are, it's them not re-locating the springs that threw the springs out! If we move them to the axle I reckon the springs will move away as a straight line and the axle angled much less than how the srpings move when mounted on the axle. We'll be trying it anyway ..

Also still got to fit snorkel, caster arms at front, though it feels OK so far, DC props or wide angle, but they're for when we have a lot of money, tools and off-roading gear drawers, making it less stealable, and with the ability for me to sleep in it when wild camping!! I is a little fooker ...

Work in progress mate ..

So that was a trial fit .. it's now properly fitted .. Well inasmuch as I can drive round to pick a few things up ..



The winch sits reasonably ..



.. and I think looks the part already, without encroaching too much on entry angles and all that ..



However, the 'wings' of the bumper are ****e .. they'll be cut off, the winch tray itself is decent and will provide a good base for my own version of tapered ends with channels to winch at angles, something like dizzytims .. hope you don't mind me showing this Tim .. but made with materials I can find to hand or afford to buy!



I've taken the winch off, not gonna fix that in till other stuff's sorted, like proper lengths of cable of a decent size and a couple of other niggles at the front. Hopefully it'll all be done before the end of March .. got something going then for a friends birthday, something to do with a 'real' mud run that we've winched down before .. we're now gonna try winching up it!!

Last night changed drivers door hinges, it now shuts without having to lift it or anything other than a (pretty firm it has to be said) shove or pull ..

Also, thanks to top-cat fitted a window channel so now the window on my side goes down, and up again .. novelty!

This morning I looked at fitting a snorkel, with not much progress, but got side-tracked 'cos tc (again!) gave me some 70mm cable and it'd be impolite to not fit it, so pushed it through and tie-wrapped it all up from battery box to winch.

Checked the solenoid pack again, and all work well, as does the new remote .. well, at least on a croc-clipped together mini-loom they worked. Made a small plate up, bent and drilled is all, to hang the solenoid pack as high behind the grill as I can, toying with either rivetting it on or bolting, I think it ought to be bolts so it can be removed if needs be.

Re-checked the winch and that works, looks like North Yorkshire here we come .. just gotta make it all work together now ..

Now I've got to figure out how to fit a Southdown snorkel to the passenger side where there's no space 'cos of the heater inlet and heater unit itself. Might fit to drivers side and use exhaust pipe, or similar, to cross the engine bay, we'll see ..

CB ..

Well, it turned on, put a few numbers in the display and gave every indication of working, other than the aerial wouldn't swr down, so couldn't hear anyone.

WTF I though, can't hurt by opening it to have a look and a possible clean/fettle ...

How wrong can you be?





New CB setup needed methinks ..

Discovery Dickie seats into a Defender ..

Pair of Dickie (Dicky?) seats from the Disco with the fittings ..

All the bits and brackets need removing, but the hinge area bracket bolts need replacing so it can hinge, natch



These bits can be thrown away (actually kept as useful already bent possible brackets for 'stuff' sometime in the future) ..



These bits need keeping ..



They then need cutting ..



Drilling ..



Bolting into the Defender sides .. Unlike me, you'll probably drill and bolt the brackets on before bolting them to the seat .. it's way easier! Though bolting them to the seat back is a good idea to mark where the sides need drilling ..





Job's a good 'un ..






I'm going to make a bracket up to hold the foot to the floor and a strap to hold the seats reasonably securely when upright.

Now gonna check the law on side facing seats in the rear and the law regarding lap belts, specifically whether they're necessary or not!!