Brown's latest activity

The wiring looms on TD5s deteriorate. The metal composition in the wires is rather stiff and brittle and the insulation can break up too. Especially where they're housed in those corrugated plastic tubes that Land Rover used to 'protect' them. So...

The casing looks very like my R380, but maybe it's an LT77. My bellhousing is different as I've got a TD5, but you're probably right. Even so, if there's any torque getting through, they can be reluctant to shift.

That looks like an R380 gearbox. They're very reluctant to go into gear if there's any torque getting through from the engine at all. This is good, inasmuch as it helps to stop you grinding the gears. So before taking the gearbox off the engine...

If I were you, I'd disconnect that propshaft and see if I could get it to work when it is free to move. The transfer box is a very simple two speed gearbox, and the lever moves a splined sleeve from side to side to engage the larger or smaller of...

Yes, the wiring on these things does deteriorate between the accelerator ('driver demand') pedal and the ECU. I'm not the only one to have had this happen. You can look at the input from the pedal on the Nanocom and see the voltages changing as...

There's certainly been some weather in Wales over the last few days. There was a sudden flurry of snow and hail as I was coming out of Welshpool on Wednesday, with all kinds of frozen stuff hammering on my windscreen. As well as hailstones there...

How's the outside looking? Have they done an nice lintel or arch? I hope it's not just a bit of exposed I section.

They also do a 'cylinder head early' so I assume that might be a better match for the earlier 10p engines. Ask them, they're very knowledgeable about which bits fit which engine.

As well as the door latch mechanism itself, don't forget all the bits of plastic and bent wire and suchlike that go to make up the handles, lock button and so on. I had a similar situation some years ago in that I'd be driving along and suddenly...

These days I find myself using the wiring diagrams on the LR workshop website, despite having the electrical manual. Nice and colourful too, so I don't have to remember all those letter codes (what's NU again? Brown with a blue stripe?). My TD5...

Standard springs can vary a bit, and may 'sink' over the course of their lifetime. I put some new ones on mine and it sat considerably higher. So much so that I went and got the boxes out of the bin to check if the shop had given me +2s by...

I can tell when my propshaft joints are getting loose because I get vibration at about 50 mph. So I would be in 4th or 5th at the time because with anything lower the engine would be screaming! Other vehicles may vary of course, but that's what...

Has the fluid changed colour? Sometimes, as the seals deteriorate the fluid starts looking very dark. It's possible to put new seals on, but complete master and slave units are not that expensive so I (and a lot of other people, apparently)...

Manure is even better.

The standard springs seem OK for most situations and not too uncomfortable. If you're after a 1970s American land yacht experience, the Land Rover isn't the best choice of vehicle, but otherwise they're not too bad. A steering shimmy at a...

In answer to the other question, I've just checked in the manual and I can only see one seal per side. It's a few years since I last did mine and I couldn't remember.

It's got a seal, but no actual bearing at that point. The end of the shaft is held in place by the diff and the driveshaft on the other side of the CV joint has a roller bearing where it goes into the fixed stub axle. It's got to be free to move...

Cats love sitting on paper, especially if it's in our line of sight. I wonder what they used to do before paper was invented? Perhaps they sat on papyrus in ancient Egypt. Is that the one that makes a mess during the night?

It's good that it was just idlers rather than anything more expensive like the alternator, power steering pump, air conditioning pump and suchlike.

I expect the growth rings are very close together too. From the days when virgin forest and open-grown trees were being harvested.

Personally, I'd rather have moss than grass. Moss is nice and spongy, doesn't need cutting and in some species is apt to stay greener in dry weather. The trouble is with domestic gardens that people mow the grass down to the very limit of the...

I think he does quite a nice neat job though. His metalworking and woodworking looks very professional. The plate and box section finish in his tunnels would look good gracing @landowner's hallway.

Considering that once upon a time people used to have to do this sort of thing with moulding planes by hand, it seems to me a big improvement. Can you imagine filing out the desired profile on the blade, creating the corresponding profile in the...

I'm not quite sure how all the dirt gets in there. A couple of months after buying mine I decided to tackle the persistent leak from around the pump when the tank was full. It turned out that the retaining ring had been cross threaded so was on...

I particularly like that piece of precision woodworking around the pipe. There's a future Sheraton or Chippendale at work there for sure. At least the person doing the plumbing appears to have used a pipe bender rather than doing it over his knee...

Yes, it's worth having fan spanners for the TD5. It makes lots of things easier if you can get the fan off, like changing the fan belt. Whilst it's possible to prize the idler pulley back far enough with a lever, it's easier to put a socket on...

It's hard to bend the arm accidentally as they're made out of very stiff wire in my experience and you've really got to put some effort in to bend them. If it's arm bending that has taken place, it sounds like the float has bent upwards compared...

Yes, it does the alternator, power steering, water pump fan and air conditioning if you have it. It may be the bearings on one of the pulleys that's getting noisy. There's a lot of things that can clunk in a Land Rover transmission. As well as...

I watched the man change the windscreen on my Land Rover and there were a few things I noticed that made it easier. First he put the rubber onto the glass first, before attempting to get the whole thing into the metal frame. He had a spray...

I seldom bother with the rear washer, wiper or heated screen on mine. When I first got the vehicle 12 years ago I used the heated screen to demist the rear window - a couple of the bars seemed to be working but not all of them. I just use the...