Back from down under....

...under Her Landyship, that is!!

Jeez, what a marathon!! 3 weeks, working mostly in the pouring rain - under the watchful (and infinitely patient) eye of Teflon, I've learned to disassemble brakes & make up brake pipes - HUGE thanks to G-Man for the pipe and ends!!
dismantled hubs and bearing assemblies, replaced bits as necessary, changed ball-joints - the drop-arm ball joint comes in a self-assembly kit, which according to the book of lies is 'too complex for the home mechanic and is best left to professionals' - PAH! Like everything it's easy when you know how; Tef has done a step-by step 'how to' on this which he'll be putting on his webby when he has time. The play which the MOT tester said was in the ball joint was actually in the steering box, but the ball-joint was manky anyway so it's get a new one now New transfer-box drive shaft seal (I had a nice self-lubing handbrake full of EP90 )
Still got a couple of little jobs to do; I'm waiting for my delivery from Paddocks of handbrake cable (the old one is stretched beyond redemption) and the 3 little retaining clips which hold the actuator through the handbrake backplate; which were completely missing and has not been there, AND gone through MOT's without comment in the 6 years I've owned her!!! In theory, that actuator could have gone askew at any time and locked up the transmission brake; just goes to show that an MOT won't show up every potentially dangerous defect on a vehicle!!

I've got away with minimal spanner-rash, considering; but I have a nice collection of bruises on my legs from bracing spanners, bars etc on 'em (8 stone doesn't give you an awful lot of 'grunt' ) there have been times when I could quite happliy have walked away going :hurt: - particularly when cold, numb and soaked to the skin!!

She's now sitting on my drive again, and I'm so glad to have her home again
MASSIVE thanks to Teflon for all his tuition, patience, loan of tools, sensible answers to stoopid questions, lifts home and feeding me for the last 3 weeks raise:
And special thanks to my "lovely apprentice" Rhys (aged 9) for his excellent assistance in bleeding the brakes yesterday :clap2: :clap2: :clap2:

I've learned so much and feel a lot more competent and confident to continue getting her back to tip-top condition (I'm reaping the rewards of laissez-faire and neglect over the last couple of years I'm afraid . )Hopefully she'll get her 'golden ticket' early next week and we'll be back on the road again :cheer2:

well done girty,good on yer for getting stuck in and getting on with all the jobs on yer landy,tis a nice feeling when you do the jobs yourself and it all works as it should when you have finished,also a big hand for teflon for teaching you as well.:clap2::clap2::clap2:

well done all the bruises will be worth it once she's got her ticket to ride

nice one.. innit great to learn new stuff and get dirty making your landrover go sweet again.. teflon I expect got his reward watching you bend over the bonnet .. bet he regularly made yo look at bits right at the back of the engine bay for no apparent reason..

mjltigger said:

teflon I expect got his reward watching you bend over the bonnet .. bet he regularly made yo look at bits right at the back of the engine bay for no apparent reason..

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:hysterically_laughi well, I did notice that my buttocks have made it into several photos...... and yesterday, when I had my head under the front wheel-arch bleeding the brakes, a couple of boy racers went past and shouted "yeah, oohh yeaaaaahhhhh!!!!" apparently at my bum, which greatly amused Tef's daughter Shinika and her friends

OI! You told me to take them photos for your 'fanny-club!'!

mjltigger said:

nice one.. innit great to learn new stuff and get dirty making your landrover go sweet again.. teflon I expect got his reward watching you bend over the bonnet .. bet he regularly made yo look at bits right at the back of the engine bay for no apparent reason..

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Tried that one; trouble is, our lillipurtion Landy Loveley is too little to lean over her bonnet........ asked her to have a look down the back of the rad at the drop arm ball jopint, and this is how she did it:-



anyway, glad your happy to have Her-Landyship home....
Grin on your face when you had her all back together and had tested the brakes was all I needed to know it was worth while....
And thanks for helping me get that ruddy caravan shifted.......
Anyway, a piccy to sum it all up......

Has it Stopped Raining Yet? Can I come out?

And with a bit of luck, that should link to a selection of high-light pics of the adventure I've posted to the gallery you can add some words around to show what you've got up to!

But think this one's worth a glimpse:-

Cold, wet, wrestling with a pipe flarer, in the dark......
She's some woman, this Girtie of ours, folks...... two and a half weeks, putting in full days, plus over time, in the wet, fighting with stuff people twice her size would think 'a bit like hard work', and NOT giving up.....

Teflon said:

OI! You told me to take them photos for your 'fanny-club!'!

Tried that one; trouble is, our lillipurtion Landy Loveley is too little to lean over her bonnet........ asked her to have a look down the back of the rad at the drop arm ball jopint, and this is how she did it:-

anyway, glad your happy to have Her-Landyship home....
Grin on your face when you had her all back together and had tested the brakes was all I needed to know it was worth while....
And thanks for helping me get that ruddy caravan shifted.......
Anyway, a piccy to sum it all up......

Has it Stopped Raining Yet? Can I come out?

And with a bit of luck, that should link to a selection of high-light pics of the adventure I've posted to the gallery you can add some words around to show what you've got up to!

But think this one's worth a glimpse:-

Cold, wet, wrestling with a pipe flarer, in the dark......
She's some woman, this Girtie of ours, folks...... two and a half weeks, putting in full days, plus over time, in the wet, fighting with stuff people twice her size would think 'a bit like hard work', and NOT giving up.....

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way to go gerty.

feel proud of yourself Janie. Nice arse by the way.

Teflon said:

And thanks for helping me get that ruddy caravan shifted.......

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Hey, no problem at all; it's the first time I've driven 'off road' in someone's back garden!! It'll be fun to see the vid you took of that!!

Teflon said:

She's some woman, this Girtie of ours, folks...... two and a half weeks, putting in full days, plus over time, in the wet, fighting with stuff people twice her size would think 'a bit like hard work', and NOT giving up.....

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awwww, there's no way I could have done it without all your help Mike!!! Look out for a nice dollop of karma coming your way soon!

Well done DG .. glad you will be back on the road soon

well done makes a change to see pics of a women working

90boy said:

well done makes a change to see pics of a women working

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Cheeky twot!! Most women work all day; every day, there's just not usually anyone around taking pictures!!!

Dirty Gertie said:

Cheeky twot!! Most women work all day; every day, there's just not usually anyone around taking pictures!!!

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snigger

good on ya for gettin in there an doin it yourself!! its nice to have someone there who knows what their doing and to jump in and help when needed but nothin beats doing a job yourself:clap2::clap2::clap2:

well done to Teflon for having the patience to teach someone, its summat i struggle to do and try to avoid whenever possible!! the temptation to send a spanner towards some idiots head when he hasnt listened and undone the wrong nut is my biggest downfall

well done,
i spent 8 months with mine on axle stands, got it all back on the road myself, must have spent about £1,500 (don't regret it, would rather have it than a new van, given the learning curve and experience) getting it all into shape and sorting all the neglect it had suffered(i bought her impulsively and took several weeks to calm down).I even learnt to weld, and sorted the inner wings for myself.
It was a right mellow buzz when she passed the MOT first go
with no advisories....result....big thank you to this Forum and the help of members anorl.
She really pulled her weight last week winching and pulling tree stumps out of clay, what a machine.

I'm sure you'll get your ticket no problems gertie, you worked for it, stands to reason.

Here's your first 'How To' Girtie...
You'd better tell the lads your top tip for fitting C-Clips, too......

Ball Joint Trouble
Excessive play in the drag-link is a common MOT fail, and oft cause for a largish garage bill, as the manuals don't tell you how to do this, but reffer you to a specialist! But, two things, first it may NOT actually be play in the ball-joints, it might just be back-lash in the steering box, which CAN be simply adjusted out; but if that's not good enough, you can get drop arm ball-joint repair kits for about a tenner, and it is NOT a difficult DIY job, as reletive novice mechanic Dirty-Girtie proved.

Teflon said:

Here's your first 'How To' Girtie...
You'd better tell the lads your top tip for fitting C-Clips, too......

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ha ha!!! Yes, the foolproof method for fitting the fiddly little spring-clips that hold the gaiter onto the ball-joint; this is actually a different slant on a technique for removing rings from the fingers of deceased people!!
In the case of the departed, it's a matter of lubing the finger with some hand cream or similar, and slipping one end of a doubled piece of string about 10" long, between the ring and the finger, and then gently 'winding' the string round and round the finger; it will gently work the ring up and off the finger; preventing having to cut the ring!!
Translating this into mechanical terms, we used a cable-tie and moly-grease, and wound gently downwards over the gaiter, the tricky little spring-clip was nicely seated in no time, and with NO sweary-words!!!