Author Topic: Is there a place here for modified ex army Land Rovers?  (Read 94169 times)

Offline STDDIVER

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Re: Is there a place here for modified ex army Land Rovers?
« Reply #135 on: October 30, 2019, 05:24:15 PM »
Question? - Anyone driven the vehicle in 4WD on the bitumen?  FWH engaged?   Drive line windup?    Horrible luck though

STDDIVER

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Re: Is there a place here for modified ex army Land Rovers?
« Reply #136 on: October 30, 2019, 07:49:20 PM »
Nope.

Prior to selling it several years ago, I had a minor clearance issue with the clutch slave mount coming loose and snicking the jack shaft, in turn bending the actuator rod, so I removed the jack shaft when I did the repair and pressed for time, I never reinstalled it.

My brother never bothered to reinstall it either as he only used it on bitumen.

From what I’ve read online, it’s apparently more common to snap the right hand axle, so again the mystery remains.

I’ve checked the splines in the centre and they’re mint, as are those on the drive flanges and right axle.

Even the splines on the undamaged end of the snapped axle are mint.

The inside of the diff appears as new, and there were zero metal pieces or flecks in the oil.

The only thing I can think of, is that when loaded with parts from front to back, from floor to roof, that it’s snapped the axle on a turn.

My brother swears that both wheels were driving up to when he loaded it onto the trailer to transport it up to me, but it was only driving one wheel upon arrival.

I believe him but I reckon it’s snapped perhaps on one of the very last turns he’s made, and it was totally silent, and didn’t make any noises at all, until the crown wheel bolt head snapped.

Someone even suggested that the head of the crown wheel bolt may have jammed somewhere within the locker and somehow caused the axle to snap, though I’m not sure if that’s possible.

I’m not overly worried about the matter, but I sure hope it doesn’t happen again.

I’ll get advice about the crown wheel bolts and I’m not sure if I should grab a pair of axles and all the other stuff ir just throw a single axle in and run with that.

Unsure yet...

I’ll wait till people who know more about these things than I, give over their opinions.


Offline STDDIVER

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Re: Is there a place here for modified ex army Land Rovers?
« Reply #137 on: October 31, 2019, 11:56:08 AM »
Fair enough!  Good luck with it.    STDDIVER

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Re: Is there a place here for modified ex army Land Rovers?
« Reply #138 on: October 31, 2019, 02:47:19 PM »
Had another quick look at it today as I needed to find out what thread the crown wheel bolts are and in so doing, discovered that about every third bolt was barely nipped up.

Now glad I’m replacing them all.

The first loose(ish) one was wet with diff oil from end to end and the threadlock was detached from the thread.

The second loose(ish) one was dry, yet it appears the threadlock had lost its grip and it was quite easy to remove.

Interesting...

Offline STDDIVER

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Re: Is there a place here for modified ex army Land Rovers?
« Reply #139 on: October 31, 2019, 03:15:43 PM »
You might want to pull the other axle and check it while you are there - being RH and all ;)

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Re: Is there a place here for modified ex army Land Rovers?
« Reply #140 on: October 31, 2019, 05:36:44 PM »
Yes, I already did.

The splines throughout are in really good condition.
Can’t even see signs of wear.

My brother thinks he knows how and where it happened.

It was fully loaded and he’d weighed it and it came up at 1960kg.

He then fuelled it and reports that it was dragging the tyres upon entry to the servo, but after filling it with fuel, he reckons he doesn’t recall any more squealing of the rear tyres from that point until he arrived home.

I checked the tyre pressures after it arrived and prior to unloading it and found the rears to be at around 28 psi.

I reckon the weight and low tyre pressures, with perhaps a skid and grab at the servo and snap.

Whatever the case may be, it’s happened and is now in the throes of being repaired.

Finding it hard to source crown wheel bolts but the rest of the bits are already being freighted in from the southern states.

I’ll source the crown wheel bolts and remove the snapped one over the weekend and with luck it’ll be back on the road next week.

I’m constantly amazed at how easy this thing is to work on, so basic and fast to do.

The most time consuming element will be cleaning the respective parts prior to re-assembly.

I really like how straight forward they are to work on.

It’s sitting on stands fully now, all four corners and it’s perfectly level, even the engine is reading zero, which is good to see.

It shows that the massive efforts I went to when I built it all those years ago, are still there.

All zeros, you beauty.

Once the new drive shaft bolts arrive and are in place, then I can double check my pinion angles from transfer box to diffs, and from memory those were the same.

That’s why I lowered the front of the engine to where it sits flush with the chassis...

Then had an adapter plate made to lean the carburettor backwards by 7 degrees so it was then at zero also.

I’m conscious of the rear axle wrapped under aggressive acceleration and the squatting is on my list of things to address this time.

I’ll do my homework and figure out a rear spring ride height which will be a tad above the azimuth of zero, to allow for the diff to wrap under load, but at speed I want the chassis, engine, carby running at zero.

It probably sounds complicated and may be puzzling to most people but when I set out to improve my 109 and make it perform the way I believe it should have performed from factory, it got a bit out of hand and once begun, has to be followed through with.

Still looking for a roll bar/cage as I remember it felt sketchy on high speed bends.

Worked 202, high speed diffs, high speed transfer box and 5 speed overdrive gearbox, hence the Detroit Locker.

It goes really well off road but I built it to terrorise wrx suburu type buzz boxes at traffic lights...

The project will now recommence, but I’ll have to be a bit careful as I’ve been warned that a single traffic infringement will result in a review of my concealable weapon licence so I better just behave myself as I don’t wanna lose that.


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Re: Is there a place here for modified ex army Land Rovers?
« Reply #141 on: October 31, 2019, 09:36:16 PM »
I found the schematic for the 20x circuit Chevrolet spec hot rod loom tonight, along with the data for the water methanol injection, electric water pump and thermo fan computer, as well as the Crane Cams Hi6 capacitive discharge ignition, plus a large number of Brisk Premium LGS spark plugs, along with another new in the box Edelbrock water methanol injection unit and a heap of copper core spark plug leads.

There are a number of new BOSCH HEI distributor caps and rotor buttons, Hall Effect Sensors, and plethora other things to mess around with.

The box of engine oil filters is a welcome find too.

I really have to make the time to sift through all the boxes to find other items I need, but so far so good, plenty of bits and pieces to stroke around with.

The very first item to catch my eye was an aircraft throttle cable.

A true tinkerer may be able to appreciate what that item can do on a long trip, laden or empty, when that item is attached to a custom made bracket at the base of the distributor, allowing the advance to be altered incrementally on the fly by merely turning the dial a notch at a time forward or backward, and monitoring the vacuum, temp, fuel flow etc etc, enabling the operator to trim the tune according to conditions.

Post trip, all you do is hit the button to reset the dizzy back to its standard setting.

There’s a tap attached to the vacuum advance line too, which you can use to limit the application of the vacuum advance, much like a locked dizzy as used in old school speedway cars way back when.

I sourced that cable from a scrapped aircraft in USA.

The trick is to find one the correct length and that can be a bit of a headache as series Land Rovers are so short, that a typical aircraft throttle cable is just far too long and wieldy to be practical. You want it to go straight from the dash to the dizzy with only just enough surplus cable to allow for the flex of the engine upon the engine mounts.
That way, a single click, relative to the length of the arm you’ve carefully hose clamped to the dizzy shaft and attached the cable end to, once nutted out, can be adjusted to provide .1, .2, .3, .4 etc of a degree of advance at will.

Push the button in to reset the dizzy back to baseline.

I did have an aviation spec Flowscan fuel flow meter but that appears to be missing.

That was last used in 2010 at the NSW RTA EPA Nox emission tests. No clue where that went but it’s possible it was knocked off when my laser thermometer and spectrum analyser disappeared.

I know a few people are eager for me to get back into the area of plasma physics and thermodynamics and while all that equipment arrived with the 109, I’m unsure if I’ll be dipping a toe back in that pond just yet.

For now it’s purely mechanical, getting it running like it was before, after that, who knows.

I have no desire to spend money on it as I have other things that are of a higher priority for me these days.

Land Rover owners are generally the most miserably tight people ever born, such that they loathe to spend any more than pocket change but want a Rolls Royce in exchange, so I’m aiming at gravitating toward a similar behaviour pattern as those strange creatures.

(tongue in cheek)

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Re: Is there a place here for modified ex army Land Rovers?
« Reply #142 on: November 05, 2019, 07:15:52 AM »
Spoke too soon...

Now I’m squeeking about part prices.

Drive shaft bolts were nicely priced, as was the replacement axle.

Couldn’t source crown wheel bolts so had to place an order to replicate them...

Cost was $330 for 12 bolts with a 2-3 week waiting period.

The wait is extended as the steel stock has to come from Perth, on a speedy camel I think.

Going to use the waiting period to go over the suspension and steering and other undercarriage bits and pieces.

I just noticed that I need to reroute the exhaust too, so it’s clear of where the left hand side fuel tank sits, because I want the other tank installed finally so as to utilise it as the primary tank to help offset weight.

The ceramic exhaust wrap has perished and looks mangy, so I might re-wrap that too at some stage, though I somehow recall that job causing extreme itching as the fibreglass shards go everywhere.

Need to fabricate a heat shield to deflect heat away from the electric fuel pump as the new exhaust will be basically underneath the fuel pump.

Hard to get excited...

Trying to dive into it but the old body isn’t as limber as it once was and once I flop down on the ground I just wanna stay there and would if the sun wasn’t so bright and if I had a pillow, there’s no way anything would get done.

These bolt places are red hot, they’re happy to get in the bolts but only if you buy a minimum of 50x.

The first quote I got to replicate the crown wheel bolts was $50 per bolt, but the second guy was $25 per bolt.

Gee, I hope I don’t have to do these again for a while...whinge whinge...

Offline Ravvin

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Re: Is there a place here for modified ex army Land Rovers?
« Reply #143 on: November 05, 2019, 08:37:32 AM »
A quick tip with the fibreglass itching. Guys doing fibreglass repairs in the boatyards will rub down any exposed skin with baby powder before handling it.
The only problem I see is that its starting to heat up, and if you sweat, it will wash it off. Its worth a try though, especially around your neck and face.

Greg.

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Re: Is there a place here for modified ex army Land Rovers?
« Reply #144 on: November 05, 2019, 08:40:14 AM »
Good information, thank you.

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Re: Is there a place here for modified ex army Land Rovers?
« Reply #145 on: November 08, 2019, 09:00:32 AM »
The new axle arrived yesterday.

I only ordered the one as I was sceptical as per the quality given the $20 price tag, but upon arrival and having discovered this axle to be NOS, very probably ex army due to the way it was packed, and by the looks and feel, it was probably wrapped in the 60’s or 70’s, thus I’ll be happily grabbing a couple more in due course.

Reminds me of a tale my father related to me when I was a kid.
Dad was a senior store man at the PMG, in charge of various big warehouses around Melbourne.
Having started out as a telegram boy on a pushbike during the war, he rose up through the ranks to reach the top, thus he always had some interesting tales to tell.

Anyway, he said that during the war, the Americans were given some big stores near South Melbourne, probably Salmon St, to run some of their mechanical operations out of as part of their staging program, and apparently a large number of 44 gallon drums were stacked in the corner of one store, so the yanks figured that someone had thoughtfully left them there for use by the US forces, and apparently the stuff smelled ordinary and had a consistency akin to a grease, so that’s what they thought it was and thus, they applied it to all their wheel bearings etc.

He reckoned that diggers would often remark that they smelled vegimite whenever a yank vehicle went by, and apparently by the time the matter was finally addressed, the yanks ended up just shrugging their shoulders and didn’t worry about rectifying the error as apparently the vegimite worked well in its new found role.

Dunno how true the tale was, but it seemed plausible to me at the time.


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Re: Is there a place here for modified ex army Land Rovers?
« Reply #146 on: November 18, 2019, 07:46:46 AM »
Tick tock...

I’m under the impression that the custom made crown wheel bolts will be made this week, hopefully by mid week.

Being so pressed for time, not much has been done but I dedicated 5 hours to the differential on Saturday, and wasn’t pleased with the brakes which have been on it for goodness, ten plus years, so being lazy and not wanting to waste time cleaning the brake assemblies etc, I simply grabbed a couple of spare entire assemblies and prepped them for use.

Nice and easy.

Ended up tearing the whole diff down just to check on everything else as it felt wrong to just chuck it back together and running the gauntlet as per the unknown condition of the other parts.

Everything looks good, nothing appears dodgy.

A bit surprised at how clean the diff is inside, like new.

I need to figure out which oils to use now, but I need advice on which one to choose as I’m hoping to run the same oil in both diffs as well as gearbox and transfer case.

Anyone have a handle on this topic? I’d appreciate the advice.

The plan is to await delivery of the crown wheel bolts, then attack the broken crown wheel bolt, remove and fit the new ones, then after that’s done, finish assembling the rest of the diff and then do all the oils at once.

Can’t see it stopping there as I’d like to sort the ride heights and steering, but my primary vehicle cracked a radiator header tank on Saturday morning as I was heading in to work on the 109, so that’s gotta be sorted but at the same time, I really need to get the 109 back on the road.

I also need to figure out how to air condition it as I’m a sook these days and want aircon.

Another thought is to shelve this diff and fit a standard ine with high speed gearing the same as what it already has and in so doing, live with the wheel spin issues. The Detroit locker is kind of aggressive for the street...perhaps...

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Re: Is there a place here for modified ex army Land Rovers?
« Reply #147 on: November 25, 2019, 01:30:03 AM »
I picked up the crown wheel bolts late Friday afternoon but stayed home this weekend to rest.

Too many distractions...

The latest distraction is in trying to overcome an ocular occlusion that decided to visit just as I took delivery of my custom built 92G Beretta.

After several weeks of waiting for the occlusion to fade, only to have it recur a few more times, it’s reached the point where now I’m over it and want a surgeon to laser it to stop the leak.

To hasten things, I’ve sourced a 500 lumen torch that fits to the bottom of the gun and a red dot laser sight as well. I’m yet to source a green one but I probably will be shortly.

The idea is to laser bore sight the barrel to the frame mounted laser, then huck the torch underneath and with luck that’ll allow me to see the targets.

I’m aware that the occlusion is fading really quick now that a surgeon is being sought, which of course is always the way. Just hoping it doesn’t recur as there’s nothing worse than not being able to see properly.

It’s always the way though, one thing after another.

I keep seeing Series 2a workshops and really regret not building one of those instead of the 109.







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Re: Is there a place here for modified ex army Land Rovers?
« Reply #148 on: November 25, 2019, 06:43:07 AM »
The crown wheel bolts came up great.

The heads are a whisker deeper so if another one backs out, it’ll sheer a whisker sooner than before...I think...

The machinist fitted nuts on them to protect the threads which I thought was nice.

No clue if these will solve the problem but it’s a step in the right direction.

Still haven’t tried to remove the broken bolt but so far everyone agrees with my hypothesis in that given the sheer point of the broken bolt, and given the couple (so far) of loose ones I found near the broken one, odds are good that the broken one backed out and got sheered, so if I’m right, it’s not secured by the threadlock.
Fingers crossed because if it’s a clean snap it might be easier to remove.

Offline BEARMAN

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Re: Is there a place here for modified ex army Land Rovers?
« Reply #149 on: November 25, 2019, 09:32:42 AM »
G'day Navigator, I only just saw the bit about your rear diff. I reckon I can tell you what has happened as I went through the same thing in my 109 about 30 years ago. In my case the cause was the crownwheel bolts had not been loctited from new and every one of them was loose. I couldn't find any trace of loctite on any of them when I stripped it down. I reckon my diff was made on a Monday morning by someone with a hangover from the weekend. When mine let go the same thing happened, a bolt came out far enough to catch on the diff casing and when it snapped it flew through the rear cover a bit lower than where yours did and let all the oil out. I was cruising on a dirt road in the Gulf country and didn't hear anything until the diff get very hot and seized. Didn't break either axle but stuffed the pinion/crownwheel and even cracked the carrier. Had to buy a used diff from the wreckers to repair it. Also I probably could have helped you with those crownwheel bolts had I known - I am pretty sure I have a few of them here.
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