Thread: What happened to your Discovery 2 today?

The winch control box has been fitted to the winch bar and wired in. The winch winds in and out. It only took three attempts to get the wiring correct

The instructions state to connect the negative (-ve) cable to the battery. I do not have a spare connector on the -ve battery cable. At present I have the winch -ve connected to one of the earth points on the body. Methinks this may not be enough when the winch is used in ernest. Am I right?

Originally Posted by Bohica

.... At present I have the winch -ve connected to one of the earth points on the body. Methinks this may not be enough when the winch is used in ernest. Am I right?

Theoretically it shouldn't ... but it may.

Can you earth the winch at the body side of the battery earth lead?
Just keep all contact faces clean, and regularly check for any uncleanliness.

Originally Posted by Bohica

The winch control box has been fitted to the winch bar and wired in. The winch winds in and out. It only took three attempts to get the wiring correct

The instructions state to connect the negative (-ve) cable to the battery. I do not have a spare connector on the -ve battery cable. At present I have the winch -ve connected to one of the earth points on the body. Methinks this may not be enough when the winch is used in ernest. Am I right?

As in the instructions they state all connections straight to the battery for good reason
I would be looking for a longer battery cable before you have to use it in anger
You do what you want but it is wise for good practise before you have a major melt down in the most inappropriate situation

This may be a dangerous thing to say, but I have just got myMY 2004 (build date Sept 2003) TD5 D2a Auto to the stage where, as far as I know & can tell, it now has no known problems.
This is a first for me, and has taken 4¾ years.

After buying the car at 178,000 km, I set about fixingthings that needed it, as I discovered them.

Things that have been done / fixed:

No odometer illumination, weak clock and climate-control illumination.Globes replaced.
Water leak into front passenger's footwell whenever it rained. Causefound and fixed.
One headlight had been glued back together behind the scenes after acar-park smack (before I bought it), but that didn't last well. Replaced withnew after I found out.
New flexible rear drive coupling, engine mountings, fuel pump, power-steering pump, water pump, XYZ switch, viscous-clutch fan, torque converter, aux drivebelt, coolant hoses, oil cooler/heater.
Replacement front drive shaft after I found fragments of needle bearing on my driveway – replaced whole thing with reconditioned shaftwith greasable joints.
Starter motor repaired with new solenoid contact set after several episodes of embarrassing refusal to start.
Auxiliary AGM battery mounted in the SLS compressor cradle, Traxide controller.
Option B 3-Amigos fix.
New driver's door window regulator.

I've done quite a lot myself, and sent it out for jobs that I don't have the facilities to do or that I thought were probably beyond me.
I've learnt a lot, and I still have only one torque wrench (a rather beautiful old Norbar SL2)!

Much of what I have learnt has been from others on this forum, and I thank all concerned.
Rave, Haynes, and Atlantic British have also been major sponsors!

The car was bought in January 2014 for a Gibb River Road trip, but never made it past Port Hedland, because of a big-end bearing failure. So that was a flat-top to Perth and complete, rebuilt short motor, reconditioned oil pump, head overhaul and radiator service.
Cost: almost as much as my initial purchase price.

It has completed two trips from Perth to the coast at Ningaloo, one to the Rudall River, and one to Karijini.
Plus a number of trips through the WA wheatbelt and beyond to the east of Norseman.

Excluding standard servicing, filter and fluid replacements, tyres and tools purchased, my stock standard 15-year old Disco 2a has cost me just over $42,000.
This does include initial purchase price of$15,000.

I reckon it looks and drives like a million dollars, so maybe I've had my money's worth!

Purchased bias plate, springs, Railke bush and circlip, some Penrite 75w85 fully syn gear oil and ttomorrow will be a day of looking after the r380 and getting back the shift quality.

Cheers

I purchased a 2003 TD5 D2a about 6 months ago as a bit of a project with a view to making it my DD and a tow tug for the van. It had a few issues but (with help and a fair bit of AuLRO searching) I have worked through most of them enough to get it relatively reliable and usable. Being new to the D2 scene (I have RRCs, D1s and Series Landies), it seemed a little daunting with all the "tech". It has been quite a task really, but in hindsight all the work has been very much within the skill level of the average DIY mechanic.

The most recent issue is that I had a viscous fan bearing collapse on me a couple of weeks ago. When it first happened, the fan was at a horrible angle leaning on the radiator so, to the uninitiated it appeared to be a water pump issue. I ordered a pump from Mario prior to pulling the front of the motor apart only to find the P/S and water pumps, viscous fan etc. were not as expected and it was in fact the double row fan bearing that had collapsed. As I basically had the front off the motor by now (and had a new water pump), I thought I might as well replace the pump, hoses, belt, hub bearing and the damaged radiator.

So after a few long days (still have to work for a living as well) it is all back on the road (till next time ).

Well, I fitted a new front driveshaft. I won a Hardy Spicer with about 1000Km on it for $150. What a win.
Went to test for vibes on the M1 only to find 80Kmh limit which I had forgotten about, Took the Peats Ridge exit and was able to get to 100Kmh er plus a bit and no vibes.
Then went home and fitted a new GM radiator. Its a bloody big job on a TD5 , but it seems to run cooler already. In fact it would not get over about 82 C on the gauge and on downhills it went down. The gauge reads about 2c cool at 80-85 Vs Nanocom.
Probably Halo effect. Also cleaned out the intercooler seeing I had it out.
I intend to pull apart my old radiator to see what they are like after 16 years.
Regards Philip A

Nice Phillip.

So today I tried to get the 5mm alan key out of the selector yoke in the R380. No go without heat so after impact wrench etc didnt bother with heat as the Railke nylon bush actually looked good despite the high mileage. So changed bias plate and springs and dropped old fluid and replaced with 2.2 litres of 75w85 and then made up to 2.8litres (ie just over full) with 75w90 - both fully syn Penrite Pro gear oil.

Shifts nicely now.

Took out Tom Woods shaft. Got grease into centre ball. Greased unis. Put back together with Grade 8 Nylocs.

Awesome now. The old Nylocs had back off slightly and was vibrating slightly.

Cheers

Old oil.and new shown. I cleaned up all grease before new bias plate and spring fitted.