Thankyou all. I'm in Derby. I'm working from below - the perils of a cab-forward layout means there's limited room over it to swing a bar.

OK, a longer bar got me to 210Nm. I think I might have more scope if I locked the crank, but I'd be quite surprised if it came loose any time soon. If it does, I'll obviously report back and hopefully save anyone else from a similar fate. (whoops - posted before refreshing browser). I should be...

No :-( I've probably managed about 45 degrees or so. The equivalent 200tdi torque is 330Nm though, so I'm only about 2/3 of the way to that point.

My impact gun is a basic one with no torque control; I'd be nervous that I was going to rip the head off the bolt! More pertinently, I don't think I can get a gun on it without removing the rad :-( I'll try coming up with a longer bar to get a bit more torque on it.

She's in gear and the drive's on a slope, so while the drivetrain is winding up a bit, it's my physical limits that are hampering me! My torque wrench is about 24" long - much longer and it would hit the ground beneath. I guess I could use a breaker bar and cut a piece of scaffolding bar to slip...

The 300tdi crank pulley should be torqued to 80Nm and then another 90 degrees. I don't have a crank immobilising tool, so getting 90 degrees is a bit of a challenge. I've gone instead for "as tight as humanly possible" which by my torque wrench is 190Nm. That's a bit below the standard torque...

Oh come on. Only some swivels leak. These are the other sort - the ones that have no oil left in them.

I was all ready to be outraged there for a minute :)

Needed to lift the sofa a few inches. Benpalmer kindly donated some swivels. A little lathe work later...

Many thanks to benpalmer. First one's been through the lathe and turned into a ball-shaped foot for a sofa:

No worries - you're pretty much doing it as a favour, so I'm not going to get antsy if they don't arrive instantly!

Thankyou very much - that's very kind :) I've got a sofa that needs to be a few inches higher; I think that with a little lathe work they would make great hemispherical feet!

Would you consider posting four? How much would you want? Thanks in advance.

Yes - Ray Legge is a local specialist who might have some in his scrap pile too.

You're right, that's a bit of a trek!

Anyone got some scrap front hub swivels near Derby? I'm looking for some to make into furniture. I need four in total. Thanks in advance.

Just got my 300tdi running after about four years standing. It seems good; next step is to overhaul the engine. I'm going for new timing belt with the later type pulley, and obviously new accessory drive belts too. Anyone got experience of whether the water pump suffers if left to stand? Clearly...

Thanks all - I've got the sedimenter mounted on the bulkhead now, but can't get fittings to suit it - they're not the same as the fuel filter banjos, which really surprised me :( I do intend to plumb it in somehow though as I'd rather all that water ended up in the sedimenter rather than in the...

Thankyou to you both - either solution would be better than multiple runs back and forth from engine to bulkhead. As it happens, both have the same bolting interface, so I could swap a filter for the sedimenter without any difficulty, I think.

Someone must know? Any horror stories of removing the sedimenter on an overlander and breaking the lift pump?