I was alerted to this video earlier today, and thought it was worth a post here.
It features 2 lovingly restored Series 1 Land Rovers green laning in south Devon and Dartmoor. Being my neck of the woods I recognise quite a few of the lanes.
The Landys really are a credit to their owners.
Enjoy the video.
It was the dreaded MOT time last week, and with all the work I had done the previous week, including changing the steering box and drop arm, I am pleased to say it passed with flying colours.
I had to give the Landy a jet wash before taking her for the MOT, because even though the tester is a good friend, I think he may just have refused to do the MOT had I taken it in plastered in mud.
But anyway, its all done, so thats another years Land Rover motoring sorted!
Well, what a nightmare I have had getting the crank gear off.
Spent a whole day with various pullers and levers, trying to get the gear off but to no avail. I ended up having to fabricate a homemade puller with some threaded M5 bar which screwed into the holes on the face of the crank cog.
Even then it didn't quite go according to plan, and one of the threaded bars snapped, but with a bit of perservence and some brute force it finally slid off the end of the crank.
Upon inspection, the crank is fine (very lucky!), it was the woodruff key which had got mangled, which is why the crank gear was so difficult to get off.
Here's the pic's:
Oh joy, today the crank pulley broke and took out the dust seal and showered metal fragments into the timing case cover on the Land Rover.
It seems it had be disintegrating for a while, but it showed no outward signs until the failure today.
When I stripped it down, it's bloody luck the metal didn't break the cam belt. The woodruff key is shagged, but it looks as if the crank is ok. The timing case cover has been badly affected, and sourcing a new one of these could be difficult.
I had huge vibrations driving the Land Rover recently, which rapidly turned into grinding noises.
Upon arriving back at home, a quick look underneath revealed one of the UJ's on the front propshaft had bust, and all the bearings had disappeared. This was due to lack of greasing from both me and the previous owner - not good, and I should have known better!
Here is the first shot of the DC100 - Land Rover's "new Defender" concept.
What do you think? The jury is still out for me.
So I have had the new Land Rover for a few weeks now, and the first thing I noticed from driving around was the play in the steering box.
The steering wheel moved around 2-3inchs before it started to turn the wheels. The Land Rover steering box has some adjust built into it, so the play can be adjusted to some degree.
Its an easy enough job to do, and here's how I did it.
Its always the way, you aren't looking for another Landy, but when you least expect it one turns up which you know is too good to refuse. So when my friends off road 90 came up for sale, it got me thinking!
I have known this 90 for a few years now, and to be honest, I didn't think my friend would ever sell it. The 90 has had no expense spared on its preparation and maintenance, and has only travelled 4000 miles in the 4 or 5 years he has owned it!
So when I saw it up for sale, I knew I wouldn't find a better Landy for the money. I thought about for about 5 days before picking up the phone to Colin. Could I really justify another Landy, even one as heavily prepared as this one?
After one look at it in the flesh to remind myself how good it really is, and looking through a folder full of receipts for the modifications and work, the answer was a resounding YES!
How very clever lol
Trouble is, it wouldn't surprise me if the EU did introduce some stupid regulation like this.
Its 2 years ago since I started the Land Rover Blog (or Land Rover Discovery blog as it was known then!)
I still can't believe how much it's grown in the 2 years I have been working on it. Subscriber numbers having been growing on an almost weekly basis, and traffic has tripled over the last year.
So thanks again for supporting the Land Rover blog!
If you have a question make sure you get in touch.
