Thread: 300tdi Defender, how to dismantle Binnacle

ok got it.

From research I'm not the only one having fun with the speedo cable.

The descriptions varied though.

My description is:

Using some needle-nose pliers, squeeze the plastic ridges on the white plastic connector (don't squeeze too hard as this is the bit you'll be trying to pull off).

Now that you've got a good grip on the ridges of the white plastic, pull it (the white-plastic) away from the binnacle - ie. back towards the engine bay.

With luck and a little bit of effort (they're in tough some of these little buggars) you'll pop the speedo cable off.

Before


After

So for the past few hours I've been struggling to get all the binnacle off so I can replace the mounting for it.

Suffice to say it takes time.

I finally got the dash off, after making sure to label all the cables so I know where they go back to.

With any luck I may accidentally fix a grounding issue I'm having with my low coolant alarm at the same time I'm doing this.

Trying to get to some of the bolts that hold the binnacle mount in is a tight squeeze in places and I was getting more than a little frustrated with the lack of progress.

Eventually I went to bunnings and got meself something that made life so much better - now for a plug because this tool made seconds work of what was taking me hours. Went down to Bunnings and got myself a small battery drill:





Here's some photo's of the work in progress anyway:











Original LR Binnacle Mount:


Raptor Engineering Steel Binnacle Mount:

Landrover Dash Console from Raptor Engineering | Dashboard Accessories | Landrover Accessories

That's the one, thanks abaddonxi.

There is an Aussie distributor, cost me about $105 (incl. shipping from Sydney). Well worth the money if you plan on keeping your beast for a long time.

Unfortunately my instrument cluster is also getting pretty old so when putting it back together one of the screws broke the plastic Oh well, it still sits nicely - look:



uh, wait.. I finished it - though when I took it for a drive I found I had put the Park Brake light in the wrong spot - and that's a buggar of a light to try and fit.

In the meantime I found a new icon on my dash! Anyone know what this icon is for? It's completely unavailable as there's no light behind it normally:

Of course now I have the fun of still trying to find the grounding of the Low Coolant Alarm - when I have no idea where to start or how to test

Hey Grizzley_Adams,

Just came across this post and am just about to do the same to my 130. Good descriptions but I cant see the pictures? It takes me to iCloud and then nothing. Are you able to update them or send them to me?

Cheers

Ben