Who is doing what maintenance today?

[MarkW]

Just changed the oil & filters on mine, new BFG AT K02's and tracking tomorrow then I just need to grease the UJ's and I'm ready for this years expedition

 

[silvercruiser]

Oil and filter change when i got home tonight, also cut the slack clip off the CV boot and installed an nice heavy duty zip tie, so all nice and snug again. and the bash plates are back in place.

Bring on Lincomb

 

[flint]

Handbrake shoes and cable. Shoes were well down. Doubts about Mr Ts parentage crossed my mind at times, but I didn’t really want to take the half shafts out. Cable ongoing as new axle brackets need making up and fixing on.

 

[Chris]

Maintenance today... Hmm let me see.

Nope, nothing. Nada. Zip. Just drove it. And it was lovely.

Makes a change, I know.

 

[Gary820]

Got my gear dried out after last weekend in the peaks,
pulled the plastic trims off the tailgate ready for a trip to the bodyshop. Need to try get badges off in one piece or order new ones, going in for some minor surgery on her back end.

 

[clivehorridge]

I filled the windscreen washer bottle, after checking the level of all other fluids.

It was damn near empty, tsk-tsk.

 

[Chas]

Not exactly maintenance but while my garage is empty, 80 being at Julian V I've been on a tidy up and I've realised I can fit a trailer in there beside the truck, a problem I might have is manoeuvring it out of our access road.
To get to the public road I will have to drive round a 90 degree turn, can anyone tell me the turning circle of an 80 towing a 7' long trailer not including the trailer tow bar? I haven't bought one yet but that seems to be an average length.

 

[Julian T]

My rule of thumb has always been that most trailers for a car will cut about 1 meter to 1.5 meter inside your turn when comparing to inside rear wheel, longer the trailer the more it will track to the inside of the turn, getting the outside front Tyre as far over to the outside of turn has always been a good place to start.

If you are seriously considering a trailer and you are uncertain about how much road you will take up I would suggest hiring or borrowing a trailer or two and testing them out.

Also can you drive in forwards or are you going to have to reverse the trailer down the access road to your property?
Reversing a trailer can be a black art sometimes

 

[Chas]

My rule of thumb has always been that most trailers for a car will cut about 1 meter to 1.5 meter inside your turn when comparing to inside rear wheel, longer the trailer the more it will track to the inside of the turn, getting the outside front Tyre as far over to the outside of turn has always been a good place to start.

If you are seriously considering a trailer and you are uncertain about how much road you will take up I would suggest hiring or borrowing a trailer or two and testing them out.

Also can you drive in forwards or are you going to have to reverse the trailer down the access road to your property?
Reversing a trailer can be a black art sometimes

Thanks Julian, that gives me something to measure on the actual road, Unfortunately I don't know anyone near me who has a trailer, I'll see if there's a hire place nearby.
I can drive both ways on the access road so no reversing will be needed.

 

[Shayne]

No two trailers are the same Chas but i was thinking a narrow track sankey with its short draw bar might follow an 80's rear wheels quite well .

 

[clivehorridge]

No two trailers are the same Chas but i was thinking a narrow track sankey with its short draw bar might follow an 80's rear wheels quite well .

Agree with Shayne. I've towed all sorts of different things in the past, and its hard to predict the line the inner wheel will take until you try it out.

Generally, the shorter the hitch-to-axle dimension of the trailer, the more true it will mimic the back axle of the truck. If the trailer has a narrower track width that will help.

Reversing is fun, and needs lots of practice!

The only time (twice) I did damage was totally forgetting the trailer was there. Pull up, select reverse, reverse, crunch! Totally embarrassing, and it can do quite a bit of damage to both truck and trailer.

Some articulation limiting chains might be useful, depends on how forgetful you are!

 

[Chas]

No two trailers are the same Chas but i was thinking a narrow track sankey with its short draw bar might follow an 80's rear wheels quite well .

What's the difference in track between a narrow and wide track Sankey?

 

[Shayne]

I think old defenders were narrower than the newer so the widetrack was introduced , mind you an 80 has to be wider than even a new defender i would have thought ?

 

[Shayne]

Had a mess about with making sliders again but stopped because i can't decide how far out i should have them . Dumb question it would seem but with my steps removed its apparent that my tyres protrude about 2 inches past the bodywork .

I like the tyres to take the rub when things get tight - they don't need painting , but sliders are supposed to protect things i will probably leave the tyres exposed an inch anyway but i will sleep on it to be sure .

 

[clivehorridge]

I think I'd want the tyres to be about an inch wider than the slider. That would stop the sliders contacting a wall or post as long as you're going in a straight line, then if you were to slip on a side slope for example, the slider would protect you from body damage from a tree or rock.

I don't have sliders, but my tubular step frame acts like one and has saved my sills from being caved in on several occasions

 

[Shayne]

That's easy for you to say Clive i have to worry about aesthetics as well

 

[clivehorridge]

That's easy for you to say Clive i have to worry about aesthetics as well

Cheeky

Just checked, and if you want to emulate a real cruiser, my step tube is coincident with the tyre tread, which is half an inch inside the arches.
The tyre walls protrude about 1" outside that.

Actually, you can see all this just by looking at my avatar

 

[RobfromYork]

I spent yesterday morning replacing the front section of my exhaust on the 80.
While I was skinning my knuckles I noticed that the passenger side steering knuckle is leaking a lot of grease.

Another job to do now.

 

[BobMurphy]

On Tuesday evening I bought Trailer No. 5 on e-Bay . . . I think I'll call it "Mambo" .

Wednesday morning I headed off in the Amazon at 05:00 hrs, heading for Coventry, arriving at 11:45 after losing nearly an hour in a traffic jam on the M6 thanks to a "Stranded Vehicle" (according to the signs).

Collected the trailer and headed back to Edinburgh, arriving at 19:45 after stopping for food and fuel.

Averaged 24mpg going down and 22 mpg overall - 636 miles. The old bus ran well.

The trailer is a 2007 Ifor Williams GX106 3.5 ton Plant Trailer. It was cheap because it needs work - the brakes don't work for instance (it weighs 715 Kilos which is within the "Unbraked Trailer" limits so I didn't think I was doing anything stupid by dragging it home).

Today I started working on it, discovering what I've got .

Basically it is straight but hasn't had any maintenance for a very long time. Given that I would be replacing things like brakes, energy store, marker lights, hitch gas strut and boot over the first year or so of ownership it seemed sensible to buy a trailer for half the going rate rather than pay full price and then do the work anyway.

I now have a nice new spare wheel and have ordered some replacement marker lights. The front O/S tyre is a 155/65/R12C - it should be 155/70/R12C so I'll get a replacement tyre for that (does anyone want a 155/65/R12C 8-ply tyre rated for 900 Kilos at 90 psi - its in fair condition ??).

Tomorrow I'll be jacking it up on axle stands and removing the wheels, hubs and brakes. I have a reasonable spare set of Knott brakes from the Ifor Williams HB510 Horse Trailer so I may be able to get it all working properly without having to replace the whole braking system - I'm sure that will come though.

Once its road-worthy I'll be getting a Mini Digger for a week and tackling a lot of overdue maintenance in the garden .

This is it:










I really must concentrate on finishing projects instead of constantly taking on new ones. I recently drove up to "The Black Isle" (north of Inverness) and collected the remains of a 1963 Triumph "Tiger Cub" motorcycle. I now have two of them to restore - plus a 1931 Panther and a 1958 Ariel (and two modernish BMWs).

I'm getting ear ache from 'er indoors .

Bob.

 

[clivehorridge]

Great!

IW trailers are really well made IMO, I've had nothing that big TBH but I have had smaller single axle IW drop-side tray trailers before.