Thread: What did you do on your Defender today ? (well, this week anyway)

Refitted my dump pipe to turbo flange as the exhaust "specialist" decided that only one of the three fasteners was enough. Soot all over the engine. He did also use a small bolt, but didn't tighten it up. The other stud didn't have a nut on it due to the thread being damaged. I'm guessing this is why they didn't fit a nut. I had to remove the flange off the turbo to remove the damaged stud. Found new studs/copper pinch nuts and refitted all back together with nickel antiseize. Good fun doing up the nut closest to the block due to NO room at all. It took me 40 minutes with a stubby open ended spanner turning it about a twentieth of a rotation at a time, having to flip it over each time due to the off set angle of the spanner. It was fun. I've been back to the shop seven times now chasing leaks.

Originally Posted by Xtreme

Hope all your thorough preparation pays off & you have a trouble free, safe trip John.
That was a decent run for your first day out, the County must be going well.
Will be following your progress.

Arrived in Perth. Biggest problem is we got lost (with GPS aid!) finding the motel. I think I must have entered the address incorrectly. My passenger put the same address in google on his phone and got us there.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Arrived in Perth. Biggest problem is we got lost (with GPS aid!) finding the motel. I think I must have entered the address incorrectly. My passenger put the same address in google on his phone and got us there.

Well done JD. 3,600kms (or thereabouts) in four days in the County is good going. Hope you can relax a bit before returning.
Also good to hear that your only problem was a minor geographical embarrassment which was quickly overcome.

Not quite the only problem. At Wilmington the end cover on the aircleaner came loose (it was serviced by the bloke who did the injectors, not me!), and also the high beam fault has returned (not a real issue - driving lights work, and they are are lot better than the high beam anyway).

Paid duties on my R380 with HD bearings/LT230 with steel bush/extended sump + ATB from Ashcrofts. Total came in around $5200 delivered. Cheaper than sourcing local unfortunately. Why so expensive here?

I cleaned up (including pushing out the old bushes) and painted the rear upper suspension arms that I removed the previous weekend. Pressed in new bushes and started to reassemble with new bolts. That went pretty smoothly.

Then I connected the new A frame ball joint to the other end (greasable type) but no way could I line up the big bolt with the mounting plate on the axel. All the bolts are loose so I can move things around a bit. The vehicle has stands under the chassis and I jacked the axel up as it says in the Haynes manual but still no luck. Then I ran out of time.

So what’s the trick to lining this bolt up with the mounting plate? Just keep fiddling with the axel height?

And does anyone know what the torque rating is for the four 13mm headed bolts that connect the plate to the axel? Everything else seems to 130 lbs.

Cheers - Simon

Originally Posted by travelrover

I cleaned up (including pushing out the old bushes) and painted the rear upper suspension arms that I removed the previous weekend. Pressed in new bushes and started to reassemble with new bolts. That went pretty smoothly.

Then I connected the new A frame ball joint to the other end (greasable type) but no way could I line up the big bolt with the mounting plate on the axel. All the bolts are loose so I can move things around a bit. The vehicle has stands under the chassis and I jacked the axel up as it says in the Haynes manual but still no luck. Then I ran out of time.

So what’s the trick to lining this bolt up with the mounting plate? Just keep fiddling with the axel height?

And does anyone know what the torque rating is for the four 13mm headed bolts that connect the plate to the axel? Everything else seems to 130 lbs.

Cheers - Simon

Hi Simon,

Try putting a bottle jack under the nose of the pinion and using that to adjust the angle of the diff in conjunction with jacking up the whole axle.

Cheers,
Stan.

Originally Posted by Standard

Hi Simon,

Try putting a bottle jack under the nose of the pinion and using that to adjust the angle of the diff in conjunction with jacking up the whole axle.

Cheers,
Stan.

Thanks Stan

That makes sense I shall give that a go next weekend! Need a bigger block of timber for the hack I guess I guess..