Well my Lannie's steel wheels look rough and flaky as the climate of our isles takes its toll. So I decided to get them spruced up a bit. I have no wheel removal machine so will have to take a bit of care not to mess the tyres up. This is the first tyre on the hopper to get done.

How easy was it to remove the checker-plating? Mine is riveted into place.

I think there are exceptions to that rule and Defenders seem to be proving it fortunately/unfortunately. Even before the prices skyrocketed they have always held their value pretty much.

The spare tyre even on a defender seems to be of a lighter grade and slightly narrower? I just began the labor of overhauling my steel wheels and the spare tyre I mounted was lighter than the non-spare wheels were.

Mine does. :) It came with the vehicle when I bought it.

Thought I'd start this thread about the quirks of the Defender, namely the 300 TDI one. 1. Stored Defender for several months, battery disconnected. Reconnect battery, I find the immobilizer isn't doing its job ie I can start the thing with the keys and no need to dongle the immobilizer to get...

Well said Landy brothers! Yet I can recall seeing not so long ago an actual company casting / forging the engine from scratch and selling them from their website. Spare parts is good, but I want to own my defender until I shuffle off this mortal coil and I'm a young dude!

Just wondering with the end of the Defender if there are enough companies to keep the legacy vehicles going. My machine is getting on a bit and would be reassuring to know it's still gonna have parts available to keep on truckin'. :)

The new one is a DINO. Defender In Name Only.

Angle grinder if all else fails, but last resort only, the breaker bars are the hero's choice I think.

No, you get punished for the crime of injuring, not for just having an object that could, in some very unlikely event, inflict the injury. Put it another way. I can go to Britpart and buy headlight guards for my defender which function EXTACTLY the same as bull-bars and they are fine and dandy...

Any way to prevent the bulkhead from rusting out? I've a 300 TDI that's getting on a bit.

Yeah I remember scouting for quotes for shipping a defender to the states. The only port city I could get to do it was down in Southhampton and the cost was about a grand for one vehicle in a container on the slow-boat west...

Wow, just wow. With the 200s and now the 300s coming into the fore for export eligibility to the USA this is going to be a serious thing. People really need to do their homework on the export-monkeys who are pulling these scams.

What standards? The standard to be bent over and shafted royally because 'muh safety'? Make no mistake the people want a return to the days of pre-EU rulings not just out of the EU. There's a legal case going through the courts by the English Democrats that pretty much is going to ensure this...

Alright folks, I got it off in the end. I couldn't tap the bolt out as such as it was rocking about too much, but instead I wiggled the bumper off after jiggery-pokery and then grinded the stub off.

Their selling history on Ebay for Landrover engine-work is nonexistant. No listed address for the usual VAT bollox either. Looks like a spare username from some friend or family member they've taken over for using.

That law, going off memory, only covers new vehicles at the factory stage. Aftermarket ones are fine.

They 'safety grounds' were the EU regulations as we were in the EU at that time. Now that we are supposed to be out of the EU (Article 50 going through the courts as we speak) those safety grounds should be null and void.

Aren't you exempt from that ****e if you got your license before 2007? As long as you aren't exceeding 7,500 kilos the tacho is not applicable isn't it? Also I think there's a bunch of exemptions if you aren't traveling far from your place of business.