Who is doing what maintenance today?

[stuzbot]

New ones are fitted. But I'll carry the old ones as emergency 'get you home' spares, should a new one fail.

 

[Bob]

I saw that you had fitted new ones. I just wouldn't trust old ones as spares but not going to harm you to have them I suppose.

 

[Higgy]

Hats off to your Old Truck Bob,....The mileage is impressive, Id like to know the High Miles recorded on a 95.... Long may it continue

 

[BobMurphy]

If they fail on the road you'll need more than a replacement lower ball joint .

The wheel will end up under the car - ripping out the brakes, ABS, Driveshaft Tripod Bearing, damaging the steering arm and wrecking the tyre.

DAMHIK

Bob.

 

[flint]

Just cleaned the sunroof rails and gave them a nice bit of silicone grease, cup holder was a bit sticky too (oh the trauma) so did that as well.

 

[BobMurphy]

HA ! I had the 'Inverse of Maintenance' today.

The two RAV4s had reached the end. I went underneath with a hammer and the box-sections were rotten; so, along with all the other issues (seized 4x4 system, power steering not working worn-out suspension bushes (not replaceable), smoking engines) took the final decision,

I felt dreadful, we've had these for over 10 years, it was like having the family dog destroyed. I didn't want any lingering reminders so didn't save wheels, radios etc.

The deed is done .

Scrap is paying £130 per ton at the moment - I received c. £200 for each of them !

They were good - but had cost me a mint in maintenance.

Now on to the next 'money pit' .

Bob.

 

[TonyP]

Sadly when it's time, it's time

 

[karl webster]

I couldn't have scraped them.

 

[BobMurphy]

I couldn't have scraped them.

I went through a lot of angst before deciding that they were no longer fit for purpose as they both looked good:

The black one:

The grey one:

But - the problems were all underneath or in the mechanicals. The black one had 220,000 miles, the grey one 181,000 miles. The engines were noisy & smoky and they banged and rattled on bumps. In addition the 4x4 'clutch pack' had seized on the black one meaning the rear tyres squealed on corners and as the transmission 'wound-up' it would jump sideways ! The clutch was going and the power steering stopped feeding back (no apparent trail).

The Power Steering on these is a complex electronic motor unit built into the steering column - switch the ignition off and you can't turn the steering wheel. My worry was that it would just fail and lock the steering one day - on either of them.

We have a lot of road salt up here and that is what does for cars eventually, these were well rotten underneath and with the complex electronics likely to give trouble I took the difficult decision.

Both daughters have newer cars now - the elder one has got the 184BHP black BMW X3 SE Auto she wanted and is very happy with it (The mileage means the cam chain needs changing - I've warned her !) so the RAVs were redundant.

Time to move on.

Bob.

 

[Higgy]

Christ, they look a lot better than the stuff that's on the road around our way, Shame Bob,.....its where they all end up eventually .... And you sent them to their Deaths with a Disco... Really Bob

 

[BobMurphy]

And you sent them to their Deaths with a Disco... Really Bob

Yup - my neighbour "Landrover Bob" to the rescue again (I counted 12 Landrovers around his cottage the other day). I've been working on the black RAV throughout the year and haven't finished the bodywork renovations on the '100' yet. Naturally the black RAV's owner is now mumping at me for not having it ready as she wants to take her horse to competitions . . . DAUGHTERS .

And I have a confession to make . . My younger daughter's husband's brother was moving home and had to find room for two non-working Landrovers . . Guess where they ended-up .

An Ex-Army Defender 110 with a totally seized TD200 motor. Judging from the signs of coolant around the head I'd say water in the bores and rusted-in rings. A power bar and scaffold pole on the crankshaft produced no movement at all. The engine oil looks OK.

A 2004 Range Rover (a P38 ??) with an Autobox that won't reverse - a common fault on these BMW-engined V6 Rangies. About £1,500 for a reconditioned box according to 'Landrover Bob'.

So, with No.1 daughter nipping my ears about the '100' I now have Mrs M complaining about living in a scrapyard.

I can't win .

Bob.

 

[James GrP]

Had the truck on the ramp to check over a resent knocking on the rear end, found the below... Rubbers and bolt in the arm had seized and the rotation force ripped the mount clean off.

Lil bit of tig'ing later...

All cleaned up and a bit of plate on the front and side - shes back to normal. Took an age to free up the bolt and remove the arm, 30 mins with a gas gun and some patience. Freed everything up, greased and reinstalled.
A easy enough job once the exhaust was of but that was a bugger to get off and back on again, those pliers for removing rubber mounds are a blessing!

Changed the engine oil, fuel and air filter, added some engine cleaner to the tank, greased every nipple I could find but mainly the prop shaft as she was beginning to clunk when dropping her into gear.
Changed front tires - pretty worn in the inners, chucked some KO2's on her which now don't match the KO's on the back but they definitely look good!

Need to order up replacement rubbers all round - will book the ramp for a wet weekend and make sure there is plenty of gas around for the torch, I expect a good few hours heating things up...

 

[SteveJB]

Dropped out engine oil changed filter greased up props then refitted bash plates then removed bash plates as snapped a bolt found drill bits easily now where is the tap and die kit best part of half hour later found it and for the first time centre punched upside down right in the middle of said bar starred snapped bolt so drilled it out tapped it put it all back together ready for Gavs Avalanche meet

 

[Rob Cowell]

I do a few jobs but don't usually mention them because generally they go wrong and the sepia tint on photo 1 gives away how long they take. Hoping to drive to France next week and took a quick look underneath for any bits hanging off and noticed one of the lower balljoint gaiters was shredded. I had a ball joint on my shelf of spares and was hoping I could just swap the gaiter because I've taken wishbones off before and it was an awful job (see above). Sadly, having popped balljoint it was definitely rattly, not loads, but would have played on my mind if I didn't replace it. So imagine my surprise when the camber adjusting nuts just tapped out.

And having heated up the wishbone the ball joint tapped out with a club hammer. And having removed the metal sealing ring from the new balljoint gaiter because the biggest socket I have is 50mm and it needs a 51mm socket to sit on the ball joint to press it in, the ball joint pressed in easily with my 10 ton bench press.

At this stage I was a bit worried that this was a portent for impending armageddon or all of use agreeing on Brexit, but fortunately I cross threaded the shock absober bolt when fitting it so I'll need to get a new one on Monday. Everything else back on though. Still a bit shocked (and damp from the every-ten-minute-downpours).

 

[Towpack]

The braided hoses came yesterday so started the changeout. What should be 1/2 hour turned into 1/2 a day. As I expected the steel brake pipe had frozen to the old flexi hose fitting and sheared off. Not that big a deal as I had some copper pipe and flaring tool etc except the male fittings I got locally, supposedly same 10mm thread, were a really loose fit in the female end on the new hose so had to clean up the old ones and reuse them. Then the banjo bolt into the calliper rounded off so had to get the calliper on the bench and careful use of some heat, a slightly smaller socket and a rattle gun sorted that. Good job I bought new bolts. What I expected to be the awkward bit, the spring clip holding the pipe union to the axle, was a breeze with the old clip coming off easy and the new one a perfect fit. A bleed out with the pressure bleeder and job done! Expecting the new rear callipers to arrive tommorow so 3 more to go.

 

[Chris]

Not the Cruiser or Hilux today. Was putting new pads in the front of daughter's Corolla and noticed a wee spot of rust. Ordered parts from Germany. 2 hours later..... No the parts didn't come in 2 hours. Work with me here people ...

New lower wishbones. I'm sure there's only supposed to be one hole in there..

 

[karl webster]

I have an e300 merc estate chris and same happened on that. was a death trap.

 

[Chris]

After a good bash with the hammer, there was actually strong metal all around the edges so it looks worse that it probably was. But an MOT failure for sure and couldn't have her riding around in that. Rubbers were quite battered too so never any question about swapping them out. Brand new SKF arms were £40 each.

 

[Beijing Ballie]

After the brake pipe saga at Avalanche last weekend, a big thanks to all those that helped out in one way or another. For detail see below. The front right brake pipe failed at the base of the coiled section.

I now have this little lot to play with today.

I will try and take a few photos as i go along to keep you up to date with this gripping tale.

 

[Towpack]

I'm currently involved in the same process. I bought a flaring tool and some pipe and unions locally and since found out the guy on the counter gave me imperial unions instead of the M10 x 1 metric I asked for. The male imperial fittings will actually screw in but they're a loose fit and just didn't feel right. Now got the correct ones. The eezibleed kit is essential IMO.