jemclelland

jemclelland

New Member
Hi everyone. I'm looking to buy myself a Land rover for the first time specifically a defender 90/110/130. Can anyone tell me if a corroded front foot well is a major problem as a 90 i'm looking at has this. Any comments on Ownership of these vehicles welcome. Thanks.
 
I suggest you spend the rest of the day reading the defender section. Rust is herpes. Hidden most of the time, when you can see it its too late and you have it for life.
 
Foot wells get battered by spray from the wheels. it's pretty normal, and doesn't look difficult to fix. I need to do mine :) just make sure you spend some time checking the rest of it out!
 
Cheers Tombardier, i was going to ask if it was an MOT failure.The rest of the vehicle looks sound although some of the panels have been filled and the filler has cracked but they are only small bits. The last MOT has an advisory 'slight free play detected at steering wheel'. Surely this is normal for a 1985 Landrover?
 
Slight play in the steering could just be worn bushes or track rod ends (not difficult to fix) or could be a bit more of a bugger if the steering box itself is worn.

As for rust, every landy more than about 3seconds old has rust on it somewhere. So don't be put off just because you find some. The important bits are that it's structurally sound and the rust isn't too bad on the more difficult parts to fix, like the bulkhead etc. And that the engine, gearboxes and axles are mechanically sound.

I don't like to be the guy that says do a search, but there are many discussions on here on what to look for when buying a landy. I did come across a really excellent guide someone had written up, im sure youll find it, its well worth a read.
 
Thanks, i'll have a good rummage around the forums. Weird thig is, i'm looking forward to 'getting under the bonnet' so to speak when i get my lanny. If nothing else i should learn a bit about them.
 
i,ve had 3 landrovers now and still love them. theres not much you cant bolt or screw down. providing you have some edge to key to,whack a bit of plate down. Tex screw it in. Care to where they protude and finish with a good old dollop of underseal.Of course if you have the dollers and outlet go and buy the real macoy. plenty of web sites for pre formed panels.
 
"The last MOT has an advisory 'slight free play detected at steering wheel'. Surely this is normal for a 1985 Landrover?"

Normal on a vehicle that has worn components, not normal on one that has been maintained correctly.
If it was an advisory last year then it could be a failure this year but as there are several causes you can't work out how much it will cost until the exact cause has been identified. For instance a worn steering column UJ or TRE's are cheap & simple to replace but a worn steering box while still being relitively simple will cost a lot more so check.
 
get under the bonnet and check out the steering column. See if there's any looseness in the UJ's. Also see if you can turn the steering column an appreciable amount before anything is transmitted through to the drop arm at the bottom of the steering box. You can tighten the steering box, although I don't want to advise on how to do that because I did it once, and fecked the box itself by doing it too tight, so make sure you know what you're doing, as I'm still not sure myself. My new box is a bit slack too, but I've got a PAS box going in with my new engine soon anyway :)
 
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