Thread: What did you do with or to your Disco today

Ah! yes... forgot to post here.

Anyhow, Finnius, nice pic of the D1 in it's preferred environment

Back to mine:
Had a leaking front main seal for a few months, no time to sort it(due to new job).
So time came, got some parts, done. Belt fitting has to be one of the most excruciating processes. Tried Mike(from Britannica on YT) method, to no avail. Just too tight to get it on around, etc. Just had to be patient will the exact right spot was hit upon, and it's on. Everythign back on, checked rechecked and test drive done.
Idiot me forgot to pop viscous fan on, but no problem little Tdi that (sort of) can runs cool enough on the freeway not to really need it much.

My first time doing belt ended up a disaster as I botched the harmonic balancer with completely sub-par crank holding tool I made(Auto tdi here). the flat bar snapped as I was at the end of the 90° section of the big bolt, and metal flew everywhere. I thought I had it, but didn't. Harmonic came loose and killed the front alternator bearing(of the new alternator) too.
Got a replacement for the alt, no problem, and new harmonic balancer, a light dab of removable locktite(can't remember the number, but says so on the smeary stick package) and no problemo 4 years henceforth.

SO with much confidence this time around, 30K klms short of the time to do the belt, seeing as it had to come out to do main seal anyhow, I got into it. Easy peasy with some knowledge, more importantly the proper crank holding tool for the harmonic balancer made it so much easier to do it all too.
New woodruff keys fitted, balancer on started up ran nice.

Exactly as 4 years ago tho.. about 1K klms later and having my bonce into my posterior, I didn't notice the HB wasn't running smoothly. Took out the (now 4 yo) alternator, but only in that it's making supecharger noises. Sounds nice if it were supercharged but not a long term proposition. Still had the original Alt that blew it's regulator/brushes. So out with the 4yo alt, and easy job to do too and it comes out with a rattle-rattle sound.
Normally this would be bad, but I'm thinking this sounds good... hope the rattle is what is causing the blower like whiny noise. Turns out a small bolt came loose on the regulator and the bolt just sat at the bottom of the alt body. bolt refitted, alt refitted but whiny noise still there! Doh! So in the end, 4yo alt came out, it's reg came out, was fitted into original alt, refitted, no bearing noises and full charge still coming into batteries

Got a HB to be fitted over the weekend, but also went for a new timing cover too this time. 5 years after I discovered the fan hub bearing has 1mm of play, I finally decided to renew it. Been looking at doing the bearing fitting job, but a couple of the threads in the A/C adjuster are also a bit weak. So bit the bullet .. new cover.(should'a done that long time ago too tho).

ps. I'm pretty much 99.9999% sure I did the HB bolt properly(and securely). 80Nm then 90° it says in every instructional form I could find(I think Britrest also had this info) as well as a PDF I downloaded on the job first time around.

Before I checked the tightness of the bolt this time around, I did a quick and dirty measurement of the final torque of the HB bolt and it was about 160-170 ish Nm without any more tightening from the bolt.

Now I aint' no mechanic, but not a stranger to doing mechanical work.. even timing belts for various other vehicles. Never had issue doing the belt itself, other than it's a PITA to fit(radiator still in place). No issue with the belt fitting process, timing torque values etc. The 70K klms belt I removed still seemed almost new, other than a light covering of oil obviously. Can't work out why so much trouble with the HB... again!
There was zero play in the HB once fitted up and finally bolted down. New HB I got is 'just in case' the current one has any wear at all.

Anyhow ... D1 still survives(my butchery), and maybe I need some re educationing, or something, on the topic of HBs .. specifically for Tdi's tho.
(zero issue with the brothers TD5 H.

Cleaned back the very first bit of lifting clear coat in ds rear corner of bonnet and gave the area a few coats of spray clear. Came up ok. That will stop the peeling.
Then thorough wash and full polish.

Originally Posted by edddo

Cleaned back the very first bit of lifting clear coat in ds rear corner of bonnet and gave the area a few coats of spray clear. Came up ok. That will stop the peeling.
Then thorough wash and full polish.

Pictures? .............

So I kernackered the woodruff key for the harmonic balancer.

20210405_120018.jpg

It must have rotated as I slid the HB on to the crank, the larger half was still in the keyway, the smaller half was wedged up against the bottom timing pulley. The HB hadn't gone in all the way.

oops!

Anyhow, HB off, new timing cover(for the fan bearing and stripped threads on the AC tensioner) on ....

20210405_115928.jpg

Woodruff key confirmed not sliding around again ... HB on and off a couple of times to see where key was sitting .. HB on, rotating nice and smooth again.

Originally Posted by Xtreme

Pictures? .............

@Xtreme, You can just see the patch I clear coated in this pic. It is in the very corner, an area of about 100mm by 100mm.

Looks much better than cloudy lifting flaking plastic. Not at all noticable from any distance.

peel.JPG

Inkedpeel_LI.jpg

Yesterday I spent some time learning more about how to use my twin Trutracs in cross axled situations.

Posted in another thread. See here: ATB Diffs

Moral of the story is I had not been using the brakes firmly enough.

Finally replaced the window regulator on the drivers door, has skipped a bit ever since I bought it.
Couple of teeth chewed out on the reg.
20210424_103947.jpg