Hello From Newport

Andy Land said:

You may want to read the latest Land Rover Owner mag as they buy a cheap one like this to do up and it has a prop missing and a blanking plate there. It shows you in depth all the problems they found and the causes.

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Nah, I like surprises

Ours has the flange the front propshaft bolts to, and the IRD case is incredibly clean for a car with 74k miles on it. I'm not usually an optimist, but the way this car is shaping up it might be the bargain we hoped for, if not it will stop me getting bored for the next few months, at least there is plenty of room under there to work, even before I gt it up on axle stands

I've now got a drive train, the VCU needs to be recon, so that will go off next week, I'll get the new bearings at the same time, Sunday is supposed to be dry, so the IRD will be in for a visit from my spanners to check it out, drop the oil and take a look at the crown wheel etc.

The wife loves it so far, and the way it heats up is brilliant, less than half mile and hot air from the vents, the fbh on the freelander works a lot better than the one on my R75, so some jealousy here for now

Ok buddy, thought it would be of interest that's all ... regarding the crown wheel, the one they inspected had lots of broken teeth ... hope you don't find the same! Good luck

Andy Land said:

Ok buddy, thought it would be of interest that's all ... regarding the crown wheel, the one they inspected had lots of broken teeth ... hope you don't find the same! Good luck

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I'll keep my eyes open when I do the shop tomorrow, it might be interesting to get hold of a 4x4 magazine anyway, and some surprises aren't that much fun

If the ird is banjaxed it's £615 quid, at most, for a recon, although I'm not really that keen on changing the thing with the FL up on axles stands, however I'm even less keen on paying someone else to do what is a relatively simple job, I just wish I was still 19 and living at home with my Dad's garage, complete with inspection pit, still available

This place is making the whole concept seem a lot more doable, it has to be one of the better owner's club sites I've used.

TRXnMe said:

I'll keep my eyes open when I do the shop tomorrow, it might be interesting to get hold of a 4x4 magazine anyway, and some surprises aren't that much fun

If the ird is banjaxed it's £615 quid, at most, for a recon, although I'm not really that keen on changing the thing with the FL up on axles stands, however I'm even less keen on paying someone else to do what is a relatively simple job, I just wish I was still 19 and living at home with my Dad's garage, complete with inspection pit, still available

This place is making the whole concept seem a lot more doable, it has to be one of the better owner's club sites I've used.

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I'm totally with you on the DIY element ... I have to let a mechanic do some jobs on my Defender but I hate parting with money for something I can do myself, I just have a big problem with getting the time ... sure you'll be fine but I am curious to see just how close to the LRO magazine project vehicle yours is. I think they paid £750 for theirs as a non runner.

Andy Land said:

I'm totally with you on the DIY element ... I have to let a mechanic do some jobs on my Defender but I hate parting with money for something I can do myself, I just have a big problem with getting the time ... sure you'll be fine but I am curious to see just how close to the LRO magazine project vehicle yours is. I think they paid £750 for theirs as a non runner.

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We paid a bit more for ours than that, it's a runner, with a good MOT on it, crappy mismatched tyres (wife is saving the pennies for a full set), everything apart from the drive train appears to be in very good nick.

We didn't get any paperwork with it, but I suspect that when we get hold of the previous owner it's going to have some service history, it's only had 2 previous owners and is an early 2003 reg vehicle. The DVLA website confirms that the mileage is genuine, it's done between 8 and 10k miles per year, almost all the MOTs at the same garage.

Happily, in this weather, even the fbh is fitted and working, toasty warm in about half a mile. I'm hoping this doesn't mean I'm pulling the 'stat and replacing it when the weatehrh warms up

TRXnMe said:

We paid a bit more for ours than that, it's a runner, with a good MOT on it, crappy mismatched tyres (wife is saving the pennies for a full set), everything apart from the drive train appears to be in very good nick.

We didn't get any paperwork with it, but I suspect that when we get hold of the previous owner it's going to have some service history, it's only had 2 previous owners and is an early 2003 reg vehicle. The DVLA website confirms that the mileage is genuine, it's done between 8 and 10k miles per year, almost all the MOTs at the same garage.

Happily, in this weather, even the fbh is fitted and working, toasty warm in about half a mile. I'm hoping this doesn't mean I'm pulling the 'stat and replacing it when the weatehrh warms up

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Think you may find this has been the cause of the problems initially ... so important to have evenly worn tyres on these, if some are a little more worn they must go on the rear!

Andy Land said:

Think you may find this has been the cause of the problems initially ... so important to have evenly worn tyres on these, if some are a little more worn they must go on the rear!

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That's a good chance, wife has to buy the four new tyres, dratted 17" wheels, while I get the new drive train sorted and bolt it all on.

To be fair to the thing, I've not seen a single diesel Freelander for sale with four tyres the same make, not at the age and price we could afford anyway.

Drive train being picked up tomorrow, £58, knackered VCU but new bearings and all the bolts are with it

I got the landy owners mag BTW, interesting read, I now think that what I thought was the flange for the front propshaft to bolt too might be the IRD blanking plate, too late and too cold to go out and take a look now. Got to take a look at the Haynes later tonight as it could be either when I look at the propshaft...

Useful to see how much of the crown wheel is visibile with the IRD still in place though, not sure I'll be buying any more, but I don't regret buying this one

TRXnMe said:

That's a good chance, wife has to buy the four new tyres, dratted 17" wheels, while I get the new drive train sorted and bolt it all on.

To be fair to the thing, I've not seen a single diesel Freelander for sale with four tyres the same make, not at the age and price we could afford anyway.

Drive train being picked up tomorrow, £58, knackered VCU but new bearings and all the bolts are with it

I got the landy owners mag BTW, interesting read, I now think that what I thought was the flange for the front propshaft to bolt too might be the IRD blanking plate, too late and too cold to go out and take a look now. Got to take a look at the Haynes later tonight as it could be either when I look at the propshaft...

Useful to see how much of the crown wheel is visibile with the IRD still in place though, not sure I'll be buying any more, but I don't regret buying this one

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Well I hope it all goes well buddy, admire the way you take everything in your stride and nothing seems to phase you ... a good lesson for lots on here who throw spanners around for a broken wiper blade! Look forward to reading about your findings ... best of luck

Andy Land said:

Well I hope it all goes well buddy, admire the way you take everything in your stride and nothing seems to phase you ... a good lesson for lots on here who throw spanners around for a broken wiper blade! Look forward to reading about your findings ... best of luck

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Only an idiot throws spanners about. You only have to walk after the damn things and bend over to pick them up I'm far too lazy for that sort of sh1t

I grew up with clapped out cars and motorcycles being all I could afford, I still wont buy new, or even expensive, some one else can take the hit in depreciation it does mean I get to keep my skills with the tools though, and can be more interesting than a day in the office

I collected the secondhand drive train today, looks like I got a bargain, even at £58, brand new VCU bearings fitted, reconditioned front CV joint fitted, just need to split the VCU out and get it off to be reconditioned now.

The snow is coming down here now, so I'm not going to be crawling under the FL when the wife gets in, if the CV is there good, if not I have one so I'm not bothered.