What are them pipes there??

In this months LRO there's a piccy of a raised air intake (cyclone type) fitted, but there are what looks like 4 blue plastic pipes cable tied to it and leading up to finish just beneath the cyclone. They're about 5-10mm I guess.

What are they? Logic would suggest they're coming from other places that need to breath underwater but can anyone explain...

a) What those places are (fuel tank, diff?)
b) if this extra snorkelling is either common, or in the panel's opinion, necessary?

Jon

axle and GB breathers

cobnut said:

In this months LRO there's a piccy of a raised air intake (cyclone type) fitted, but there are what looks like 4 blue plastic pipes cable tied to it and leading up to finish just beneath the cyclone. They're about 5-10mm I guess.

What are they? Logic would suggest they're coming from other places that need to breath underwater but can anyone explain...

a) What those places are (fuel tank, diff?)
b) if this extra snorkelling is either common, or in the panel's opinion, necessary?

Jon

Click to expand...

Axle and gearbox breathers.

Yes they are necessary. You have them as standard but they only come up so far. These have been extended for deep water wading.

As Sean says ..

They're extensions of what's there already to better prepare the vehicle for deep wading.Snorkels help a lot with 'clean' air when it's dusty, and obviously for wading. But the axles and gear/transfer boxes also benefit from breathing correctly, adding extensions keeps them from getting water in as the standard axle breathers, for instance, only extend the breather a short way. Water getting into the axle and hence diff is NOT a good thing!!

Great, thanks. What sort of depth are we talking about when the standard breathers are likely to be compromised?

Jon

cobnut said:

Great, thanks. What sort of depth are we talking about when the standard breathers are likely to be compromised?

Click to expand...

My 300 Tdi handbok suggests (If I recall correctly) 0.5m or about 20" .. which sems about right for the axle breathers. In practice I find that the tops of te wheel rims is about right, though I've been deeper quite a few times, even before I extended my breathers to bonnet height. I don't have a snorkel yet ..

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg7jmpdJ7d0"]YouTube - Wading[/ame]

When extended the depth can be as deep as you like, almost!!

gearbox and front axle breathers run to the top of the bulhead in the engine bay. for most applications this is fine. Its the rear axle which is the issue. It only extends up the A frame and stops roughly where the top of your wheel would be.

Extend this one to the engine bay, or if you want to extend the lot, the top of the snork is always a good bet.

If you have water upto the top of the bulkhead IN The engine bay, then your either ****ed or crazy

G

Griffdowg said:

If you have water upto the top of the bulkhead IN The engine bay, then your either ****ed or crazy

G

Click to expand...

AND wet.

in both cases, indeed

G

Thanks folks, useful info. I can't see us - intentionally - getting into anything that deep that'll need to extend the breathers further than the engine bay then, although to be fair, it seems like a pretty simple task to run them up the snorkel so it's a case of 'might as well while I'm here' if I'm extending the rear axle.

Next (related) question is then - is there any recommendations for snorkels? I've seen about half a dozen different types advertised, all roughly the same price and have no idea of good/bad. I like the cyclone type but my primary concern is that I don't buy one then find myself saying 'I wish I'd bought that one' 6 months down the line. This is for a Defender 110 2003, BTW.

Jon

personal pref at the end of the day mate. plenty of people will say safari, mantec make nice ones. paddock do standard ones, southdown do a nice one

I ran a mantec for a while, good snork. had to change to a standard paddocks model when i fitted the roll cage. Dont get sucked in by the blurb on the RAM air effect of the safari snorkel top. it wont make a difference.

Both safari and southdown have the pipes connected directly, probably the most effective, water tight solution over relying on gaskets and mating surfaces that the others have.

others will be along shortly to spout off about what they have and why its best

G

Thanks Griffdowg; leaning towards the Safari at the moment - don't really like the Southdown, bit flashy for me

Paddocks seem to have a good deal on the Safari at the moment - £145 ex VAT which seems to be a lot less than many other sites.

J

ebay sometimes throws up surprises, keep your eye out if your not in a rush.

G

Of course if you're mechanically minded and have access to the materials it's always possible to make a snorkel yourself

Hmmm... (eyes old vacuum cleaner hose & roll of gaffer tape...)

J