It's not too difficult refurbishing axles outdoors in the winter - I've done it. Anyway, it's pretty much spring now. It doesn't take too long as there are a limited number of nuts and bolts to undo, so if I were you I definitely would do it before moving house.

Well I will have some time this week so it should be on the cards

Great. Looking forward to the pictures.

Radius Arms & Rough Edges.
The 110 Posted by Nicky Smith Fri, March 25, 2016 18:25:09
Have you ever really stopped and looked at the folk that jog and keep fit? Most of them are not the young and beautiful because, well they are young and beautiful already.
Do you remember that? being able to eat and drink whatever the hell you wanted then still wake up fit as well as looking good?

Well if you are young and reading this please please enjoy it to the max because one day you will wake up and notice a pot belly appearing then the real work will begin...
The thirty plus group have to work hard to stay in shape and the forty plus folks even harder. This starts to take it's toll on our bodies but in mind we are all still twenty something so we keep pushing chasing the fountain of youth that seems to have passed us by in a blink of an eye!
But if and when you arrive here can I give a tiny bit of advice. Don't run around in very cheap partially see through leggings.
As I was on the ground about bumper height a rather large lady passed by jogging to her hearts content which in itself is a good thing but she had a pair of these leggings on so everything was there to be seen.
This leads me to the main question I just have to ask...

Do you ladies prefer to to jog in thongs? This just seems odd to me because surely it must chafe to hell!

Right then onto the 110. I have been working back shifts so have had time during the day to play so with these unexpected extra hours I decided that I should have a stab at fitting the radius arms. There was an axle rebuild on the cards at first but I decided to follow a different path because I was sick of the damned arms looking at me every time I went into the shed.

The off side was first up for no other reason than there was more space on that side on the driveway and I didn't have to move the motor.
There was plenty of dust and rust so I was expecting a bit of a pig to get the nuts and bolts undone but they played ball from the off all coming undone very easily.


Then I had to remove the track rod end which promptly snapped off of course.


But not to worry soon enough it was all off and ready for the new arm to be fitted.


The new arm slotted straight into place and with very little persuasion from me it all bolted up with no issues at all.
That was it for the day though because work was calling so I popped the wheel back on leaving the nearside for another day.

That day was today because even though I have the pleasure of working just about every bank holiday we have the driver I had in for assessment didn't get past the first hurdle so instead of a ten hour day it was only a short six hour one.

Surprisingly for a bank holiday the sun was shining in a clear blue sky and I had the rest of the afternoon to play on the 110. The other radius arm was in sight and even though the first arm was a straight forward and easy affair the second was it's polar opposite.
There was grinding banging a few choice words and lots of prying until the bloody thing finally hit the ground free of the chassis. Not one of the nuts and bolts wanted to come free of their thirty year hold and they fought me the whole way.

Still rough with the smooth eh. Once it was off I could get to the very last bit of welding that needed to be done on the chassis and it was with a big smile on my face that it was finally completed!


No more welding for a while on the 110! Now you would think that the replacement radius arm would just fall back into place as easy as the other but oh no it did not want to do that!
I had to jack it up pry it sideways just to get the bolts into place but we were not finished there. The back rubber had to be trimmed by a couple of millimetres or the nut would not have never gone on it all! It all tightened up no problem though so finally I could stand back and admire my handiwork.





The track rod end on this side is shot as well so that has been taken off and I will refit all new ends and bar on Wednesday because that is the first chance I will get to do it.
Then if time allows I will make a start on that axle rebuild...

Great, a little bit more progress. It's all looking very nice under there now, and the new bushes will last a good few years I hope, so you won't need to be doing that again for a while. Looks like you've got a lot of travel on that bottle jack - must be very useful.

I had to waggle my axle around a lot to get the holes to line up, using a jack, as well as pry bars. They went in eventually though.

Yep should be the last time I have to do those for a fair while I hope! The bottle jacks are great and from Sprinter vans as well as very cheap too boot!
The 110 finally is getting somewhere now!

Jet Wash & Train Sets.
The 110 Posted by Nicky Smith Sun, March 27, 2016 13:08:29
You know we are buying a house so every penny has top be watched at the moment but luckily for me I get the odd bit of pocket money thrown my way to play with. This usually goes straight out on bits for the Land Rovers but this month I got myself something a little different...

After a very pleasant lunch out yesterday with Wifey we ended up at Masson Mills just for a look about at stuff we didn't really want or need. Part of this messing around was trying on new hats ready for next winter. Apparently the one in the picture suits me to a tea I am told...



Deciding against the furry mop on top we ended up downstairs in the toy department which in itself was probably a mistake because I am just a big kid at heart.

Each time we come here I get side tracked by the Train Sets and the Scalectrix. The ten year old that never left my mind goes crackers over these things but each time after some serious longing and contemplating I normally walk away more than a little disappointed. But not this time oh no this time Wifey "made me" buy a train set!
I walked up to the cashier with a big grin on my face and she just smirked back in that knowing sort of way women seem to do as I paid for my new toy.

Not long after we got home I showed my 15 year old daughter and her friend what I had bought and much to my surprise they seemed as excited as me about setting it up.
It didn't take long to get the track sorted and within minutes of the train starting to move the kids had run off to get my Land Rover collection to add to it...


So with my impulse buy I had also managed to remove two teenagers from the internet for over two hours and didn't get a looking at my new toy but it was fantastic to see the happy looks on the girls faces.

As they were shoving pulling and towing the Landies around I realised that I needed to get back underneath the 110 to pressure wash off a load of oily gunk off before we moved home and went onto the dreaded water meter.

With this in mind my job to do this morning before the bad weather hit was just that.
I dug out my heavy duty wet weather gear and got set up with the pressure washer ready to get stuck into the gunk...


I mean how are you supposed to get to anything nut & bolt wise under thirty odd years of crap? The pressure washer soon made short work of it though and while I was under there getting covered in gunk and soaked to boot I decided to give the whole of the underside a good wash down in preparation for the final coat of under seal...


Looks a hell of a lot better under there now though! And seeing as I did it now on a concrete driveway instead of a gravel one it was a damned sight easier to clean up as well.
A quick engine fire up to dry it off and charge the battery as well as moving it up and down the drive a touch to keep everything moving freely later and today's work was done.
All that is left to do before the big house move is buying and fitting the new rear steering arm next week and that folks will be it for a few weeks I would think.

www.nickysmith.me

You're never too old for train sets, will be something I'll get into when age/space allows. Do you have your moving date? It all seems to be happening quick, mine took nearly 4 months, and there was only 3 of us in the chain.

We should complete over the next two to three weeks No chain at all as we are coming out of rented and the seller is going into the same.
As for never being too old....damned right!

Discokids said:

You're never too old for train sets, will be something I'll get into when age/space allows. Do you have your moving date? It all seems to be happening quick, mine took nearly 4 months, and there was only 3 of us in the chain.

Click to expand...

playing trains is for kids of all ages. I play trains too - and a good friend of ours, who just happens to be 94, plays trains too - so, deffo never too old for playing trains!!

And now I have back up it's an excuse to get some more lol If it gets teenagers off of electronics it must be fun!

Another pal of ours, in his seventies has his whole loft converted for a G gauge layout - signals and all sorts !! tis amazing!

It IS fun !!

Steering Rods & Sadness.
The 110 Posted by Nicky Smith Thu, March 31, 2016 12:54:47

It was a hell of a day yesterday running around like a blue arsed fly. Now this was not my intention for the day oh no I intended to just have a slow final potter around the 110 before walking away from it until after the house move but the best laid plans and all that...

My shift pattern is all over the place at the moment so I find myself awake when I should be asleep then vice versa fighting myself to stay awake when all my body wants to do is sleep. Don't get me started on the food side of things because my body clock is so messed up I don't really know what to eat when so I find the easiest option is to just go with the flow and that is how I find myself eating Southern fried chicken when it should be cornflakes and then curry at 2am. Be a trainer they said....it will be fun they said...

Hey ho not to worry at least I have a job. The day started well though with me up at the crack of dawn when I should have been sleeping finding the sun already blazing in a deep blue sky. This always makes me feel good inside so happily I hopped into Wifey's car and headed off to Paddocks in Matlock to pick up a new rear steering arm and track rod ends for the 110. I love the scenery in Derbyshire it takes away all of the worries of the world leaving me happy and relaxed as I drive through it. Not even the knackered old tipper truck that was in front of me for 5 miles driving at a steady 35mph throwing bits of fresh tarmac my way could dent my relaxation.
As I got to Paddocks I was surprised to find no one else queuing for parts so I strolled in got the bits in minutes and headed out again...a rare occurrence there indeed!
I headed back home via Matlock Bath taking in the views of one of my favourite areas and I found myself home again in less than a two hour round trip.

Then the phone rang with my solicitors calling giving me an update on the house purchase and wanting rather a large sum of money for the deposit on it all. So off to the bank in town I headed thinking all I wanted to do was play on my Land Rover then I got stuck in road works traffic queue's and among the pleasant happy faces of the stressed city office workers.
Finally after parking up I wandered through the crowded throng of shoppers ( I hate crowds of people with a vengeance it puts me on edge) to my bank where with a great deal of nervousness I transferred more or less our life savings over to a solicitor getting charged £20 for the pleasure as well...

That was more than a little unnerving I can tell you.

Then it was the same queues getting back out of the city centre but two hours later I found myself at home once again looking at the 110 with a cup of tea in my hand.
I had already removed the old steering arm with the help of a grinder so all I had to do now was measure up the new one to get the track rod ends in more or less the right place tighten up the clamps and fit the bugger.

The first bit went ok but when I came to slot the track rod ends through the steering arm the would not go all the way through? I admit I was getting a bit tired now with my body deciding that I should be sleeping now after all before going back to work but I lay there under the Land Rover feeling a little dazed and confused to figure out why it would not go on.

A couple of minutes later I realised that I had not removed the protective plastic cups that cover the track rod ends whilst they are in storage...no seriously. I was trying to fit the bloody things with them still on... like I said I was tired and that's the story I am sticking with ok.

With the covers promptly removed and for some reason I was looking around from underneath the 110 to see if anyone had noticed my school boy error the new steering bar was fitted nicely into place.




After double checking it all over to make sure I had not missed anything else it was with a heavy heart that I packed all of my tools away for the last time before the big move. There will not be the chance now I doubt to do anything else to the 110 before then but if I am honest I have managed to get a lot more done to it than I expected before we head off to our pastures new that will at least give me a car port to work under on it!

It is starting to look good under there though...

www.nickysmith.me

I feel for you on the shift working thing - my son works shifts, and I can see in his face what this does to his body clock - i reckon the other name for the clock, circadian rhythm is a good un, as, I think it explains what is wrong with shift work - the rhythm isn't - its out of wack

I know what you mean with spending large sums too - so easy to do, and takes years to accumulate. A house is a damn fine thing to spend it on though - about the finest thing there is IMHO.

Glad you are getting a bit more done on the 110, its all progress !! And i, for one, really enjoy reading about your endeavours - even the mistakes, which we all make, even me

Best of luck with the move, I hope it goes well for you all.

Ah, I see those ball joints have grease nipples on them. Maybe it'll be possible to make them last a bit longer.

Moving big sums of money around makes me feel quite wobbly. The biggest purchase I've made in recent years is the Land Rover itself, and when making the bank transfer to the vendor I felt rather jittery. Especially as it didn't work the first time.

Yep moving the money made me sweat l indeed! But it is for what will hopefully be our last house purchase in this lifetime as with a little forward planning this place should be good for our old age as well. Well Wifey did want "something to grow old in" after all

The shift thing will be over in a couple of months once I have got all of our drivers retrained thankfully so only a while to go whilst I am decorating a new house too boot

Normal Landy service should be resumed pretty damned quickly though!

Brown said:

Ah, I see those ball joints have grease nipples on them. Maybe it'll be possible to make them last a bit longer.

Moving big sums of money around makes me feel quite wobbly. The biggest purchase I've made in recent years is the Land Rover itself, and when making the bank transfer to the vendor I felt rather jittery. Especially as it didn't work the first time.

Click to expand...

I hate making bank transfers for large sums. If you enter the wrong account number the money could go anywhere and your chances of getting it back are slim. I always send a small amount, say £10 and confirm it has arrived before sending the balance. That way you have confirmed the sellers details and they are in your computer so it is just a matter of resending.

Towed Away...
The 110 Posted by Nicky Smith Sat, April 09, 2016 20:48:19
It has been a hell of a week indeed. We have finally bought our own home and the first thing we find is that the toilet sounds like the Space Shuttle launching itself off of the ground each and every time that it flushes. Oh and it leaks, well it did I have managed to sort that bit out for now. There is also a rather large hole dug into the garage floor (no not a handy pit) and the waste pipes out of the bathroom are not connected properly together but these are easy enough things to sort.

So the great redecoration of it has begun and there is more time needed here to do this than I planned but hey ho I suppose I should view it as a challenge.
I have to be perfectly honest here we thought there would be at least one more move for us after this one but I doubt that. I am not as young as I was and my nerves could not take another move I don't think. My anxiety is high most of the time and I expect that it will stay that way until we have the place sorted so will I move again..nope. I think that this place will have everything that we need for us until we are done.

I had to get the 110 over though and a good friend offered to move it over to the new place for me so at around half past eight this morning there was knock on my door heralding in the start of a busy day.
Driving it off of the driveway then the 20 yards along the road is the furthest I have driven the 110 and it brought a huge smile to my face!
It was soon up and onto the trailer even with the rather alarming play in the steering! Then away it went onto it's new home.

Soon enough we had arrived so the time had come to have another good drive around in it...



It then was parked up in it's new home...


Then it was time for a bacon cob and a brew looking out at the best view in town...

Busy behind the scenes...
The 110 Posted by Nicky Smith Thu, April 21, 2016 17:48:22
There has been a distinct lack of anything from me of late and this is due to the fact that I am working my backside off behind the scenes folks fixing up the house to get ready to move into and having the pleasure of night shift to boot!

This has not stopped me buying a few bits for the 110 though and the most important of these is the replacement door tops for the proper door bottoms as well as a new set of hinges. These are not the military type I would have preferred and hopefully those are still in the pipeline but they will get the old boy back on the road which is the main objective before this winter kicks in if possible!

So stay tuned as normal service will be resumed over the next couple of weeks, hopefully....

Well, stick some pictures up of the painting, woodwork and plumbing instead. I'm sure I can't be the only one who likes that sort of thing. I put some pictures up of shelves I was installing in a garage a few weeks ago and loads of people commented.