Need help fitting accessories...

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Lattsa&VJ

Lattsa&VJ

Member
Posts
14
Location
London
Hello,

Apologies if this is in the wrong section.

I'm not very mechanically minded and have bought some accessories for my MY07 Defender and after some trying and YouTube watching - I am clearly not able to do them with the small selection of tools I own. I was wondering if there was someone close to me who could help me on these jobs for some cash in hand.

I live in Ealing, West London - W13.

Items to fit - Land Rover steering guard, new mudflaps front and rear, and I have some new door, cross member and rear door bolts to replace the rusty ones.

Many thanks,

Matt
 
Hi mate. Entering into the world of land rovers your going to need more than a small selection of tools. Part of Landy ownership is the getting stuck in and learning and understanding how things work. There's loads of great advice on here. But really I suggest you go out buy a good socket set a good set of combination spanners and the basic grips and screwdrivers etc and have a go. The jobs you want to do are quite basic and the satisfaction when you've done them will egg you on to do more.
Have ago mate I promise the frustration will be overcome with satisfaction.
Enjoy it.
 
Lattsa&VJ said:
Hello,

Apologies if this is in the wrong section.

I'm not very mechanically minded and have bought some accessories for my MY07 Defender and after some trying and YouTube watching - I am clearly not able to do them with the small selection of tools I own. I was wondering if there was someone close to me who could help me on these jobs for some cash in hand.

I live in Ealing, West London - W13.

Items to fit - Land Rover steering guard, new mudflaps front and rear, and I have some new door, cross member and rear door bolts to replace the rusty ones.

Many thanks,

Matt
Click to expand...
They're sone of the more simple things to sort. You could pay someone or buy tools you need and have a crack yer self. One will be expensive. One will be expensive but will be of some benefit.
 
Thanks for that advice guys, I would like to be able to do all these things but it's also time that I don't have to do these jobs.

Plus the truck is parked on the public road and I don't have a garage or access to a workshop either so I'm limited to when I can get anything done.

The LR instructions provided with the sump guard aren't much help - I've bought a socket wrench and some different socket sizes. I did my SVX headlamp upgrade today and I think I did that wrong as there's a big gap and space around the bezel!
 
Had you thought of building your confidence and getting a better idea of the tools you might need by taking the Defender to a LR independent garage and asking to watch them do the jobs ? Ealing isn't too far from the garage I use in SW Herts and they are excellent, let me know if you want the details?
 
IGP50 said:
Had you thought of building your confidence and getting a better idea of the tools you might need by taking the Defender to a LR independent garage and asking to watch them do the jobs ? Ealing isn't too far from the garage I use in SW Herts and they are excellent, let me know if you want the details?
Click to expand...

Yeah that would be great thanks!

I am trying to do the jobs but not having much success - I can't seem to remove the bracket for the mudflap on the underside of the rear crossmember. The screws are loose but just spinning round. Any ideas?
 
Lattsa&VJ said:
Yeah that would be great thanks!

I am trying to do the jobs but not having much success - I can't seem to remove the bracket for the mudflap on the underside of the rear crossmember. The screws are loose but just spinning round. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
I might be wrong on the "spinning" bolt issue, but I seem to remember reaching the nuts with a long 10mm spanner. These might have been captive nuts originally and have loosened. By captive I mean the nut is either welded in place or held in some fashion that stops it turning when you tighten or loosen the bolt/screw. Solution would be to fit a RivNut (Google it) in place but you would need to buy/borrow the equipment for this. I would suggest this as a must have tool for any LR owner.
 
I started out the same way, first thing I bought was the full size socket set from Halfords. If you look they are often 50% off, sometimes more, well worth it as they also have a lifetime warranty. Since then the set has paid for itself 100x over, 3 years on and I'm pretty confident in tackling the majority of faults my Landy throws at me.

I'm not to far from you in Orpington/South London/North Kent, usually pretty busy but when I'm free I can give you a shout if needed.

Steering guard is pretty easy to fit, did mine on a hill outside my mates house in the rain before I bought my own tools. Took about 45 minutes to do. As for the mudflaps I lost 2 off roading, 1 fell off so I got rid of them, ended up just forcing them off as they where rusted in place!

Door bolts are equally pretty simple, just change one bolt at a time, use plenty of Plus Gas (releasing agent, much better than WD40) to make sure the door doesnt shift.

Think this is the video I used to fit my guard -


It all does look and seem very daunting to start with but honestly it does get so much easier, just watch videos, do plenty of research, build up a selection of tools, everything gets easier and easier. Until it doesnt because its a Land Rover haha
 
Don't worry about not having anywhere to work either. I've done all my maintenance and refurbishment in the street. That includes quite extensive rebuilds of the braking system, axles, gearbox, suspension and a few other jobs. The only problem is that I've got to hide all the tools every time I need to go in for a pee. I haven't done a street engine swap yet, but maybe that'll come up in the future.

If nuts and bolts are rusty and won't undo, the main thing is to find some means of cutting them off without causing too much collateral damage. Hammer and (freshly sharpened) cold chisel, angle grinder (if there's room). Those fluted sockets for damaged bolt heads are popular on here too. In fact most of the time I've put in on the Land Rover is about undoing threaded components that have rusted themselves into a solid mass of iron oxide or have welded themselves into the hole into which they're screwed. It requires a bit of patience and ingenuity, but you can usually prevail in the end.
 
The garage I had in mind if you want to watch someone else do it and build your confidence a bit is Harris Mayes in Rickmansworth - they are nice guys and have got me out of a spot on more than one occasion, and I reckon are about half an hour from you. Their number is 01923 711800 ( I know because I've just booked my Defender in for some work) .
I absolutely agree about the Halfords socket sets, well worth it when they are on offer. If you have a bit of spare time you might also think about an evening class in basic maintenance to build your confidence some more, confidence and common sense will get you a long way. Good luck with it
 
One thing that has helped me more than anything is this forum. When I have some spare time at lunch, etc... I trawl through any threads that are related to my Landy, read them through and learn something new. I find it really useful to do even when my Landy is running fine as if something does go wrong I can more easily diagnose it with the knowledge built up from here :)
 
bankz5152 said:
One thing that has helped me more than anything is this forum. When I have some spare time at lunch, etc... I trawl through any threads that are related to my Landy, read them through and learn something new. I find it really useful to do even when my Landy is running fine as if something does go wrong I can more easily diagnose it with the knowledge built up from here :)
Click to expand...

+1 I've learnt a lot about how to do different jobs on the defender from youtube videos and step-by-step guides on various forums. I don't even have a defender yet and feel fairly confident carrying out a few jobs when I do get one. Best way I find is to watch guides then get your hand's dirty, learn from your mistakes and laugh about it later!
 
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