Yes, Xylia likes nice flat engineered surfaces to walk about on. It's one of the reasons I got a mower, to cut the tops off the tussocks and ensure that the bramble tripwires do not get too firmly established across the paths. Whilst I stride about my property without too much difficulty, a lot...

I think the hens might quite like the weeds if you just leave them. They eat the leaves and seeds, and they like hiding in vegetation too. Ours used to do this. They can reduce waist high grass and weeds to mud in a season - and manure it as well.

I try and remember to start my engines periodically so they're not left standing too long. Particularly for things that are not used for several months at a time like the chainsaw. The two strokes usually take a bit of getting going. The JCB with its yellow iron ingot 4 1/2 litre Perkins starts...

I've had some success with two stroke carburettors by immersing them overnight in a strong solvent like acetone or thinners. If they're a diaphragm type I take the diaphragm out, in case the solvent damages it. This helps dissolve the congealed two stroke oil in the tiny holes. I was told once...

I was coming back to the east midlands from Wales yesterday and was delayed somewhat by a massive traffic jam that stretched most of the way around the A5 ring road around Shrewsbury. Eventually we got to the cause of the delay - there was an accident, which seemed to have involved a car and a...

I remember just after decimalisation being given 10p a week pocket money. In those days it was enough for one of those big orange iced lollies. Around a week and a half's pocket money was enough for a Matchbox toy car. Shortly afterwards we moved house yet again and pocket money was suspended...

Plus of course when it is in use the front of the shaft is held steady in the socket in the back of the crank/flywheel, so a little movement in the input shaft bearing can be tolerated. I got a reconditioned gearbox and it was much tighter. But a well used one can appear to have an alarming...

Yes, might as well change the bearings whilst you've got it apart. Hope the gears are looking good and not starting to resemble circular saws!

If you screw it in, away from the engine, it pushes the shoes further apart, whereas if you screw it out, towards the engine it allows the springs to pull them closer together and hence off the drum. I've had some funny noises off Land Rover handbrakes when the friction material starts to...

It's over five years since I last had an R380 in pieces, but I don't recall it being too difficult. I put it bellhousing downwards (on blocks of wood so the input shaft wasn't touching the ground) and just undid all the bolts that hold the two parts of the case together - there's even a little...

There's a push rod that goes from the servo to the master cylinder which can be adjusted. If you loosen the nuts holding the master cylinder on, you can usually flex it away from the servo on the metal pipes, and the pushrod can be adjusted by holding one bit and rotating the other. If you make...

Well, your mileage may vary. I'm sure that there are switches who have been mollycoddled with the mere 70 milliamps needed to throw the relay, yet have failed in a few weeks, and lights wired with 35 square millimetre meter tail cable that still refuse to glow at any more than a crepuscular...

This sounds a little bit like the symptoms when the switch fails. As the full headlamp current passes through the switch the plastic gets soft and after a while the contacts no longer make contact. I've had this happen a couple of times. Of course, do your own checks as per @v8250 's post...

In the past I've filed (or rather used a grinder) the points of circlip pliers to make them fit tiny holes. Is this not possible?

Some disc and pad combinations can yield an unsettling vibration under under hard braking. For example a few years ago I put EBC discs and pads on, having been seduced by all the advertising about better braking performance. All was fine for a couple of years and then they started juddering. Oh...

Well, yes I know that. Having done some of my regular trips in more economical cars than the Land Rover, it's 'cheaper' but only by the price of a coffee and bite to eat in a motorway service station (not that I waste my money on such things, but it puts it into perspective). Given the price of...

One swallow doesn't make a summer! I thought we were going to have another baking summer last year in the UK after June was hot and dry, but then it drizzled through most of July and August. Just as well too, because I'd planted loads of little trees the previous winter and I'd have lost a lot...

Glad to hear your experience has been better. Some tenants are like me and try to keep the place in one piece and go round filling holes, touching up paint, renewing tap washers and screwing door handles back on when they fall off. So the minor maintenance on this place from the landlord's point...

Oh, @marjon's already said something similar.

It's a bit like electrical resistance. It'll lower the effective pressure when the water is flowing - the more you let out the more the pressure will drop. With everything turned off, the pressure will be back up at 8-10 bar pretty quickly. So the poor old hosepipe will be straining at the seams...