diarypage2000

2000

This page is intended as a historical/hysterical record of the the past breakages/new breakages and soon to be breakages....and other bits that have happened to Cartman since we first adopted him. This record is in the order of most recent happenings at the top to the past at the bottom.

December 2000 (72355 miles)

New forward facing/removable rear seat fitted. Now room for three!!
Rear prop removed. Diff end UJ totally shot and strip-down reveals that no lubrication had been present on two of the lobes for some considerable time due to the blockage of the grease passage. A usual problem with very little past maintenance (Photo). Both UJ's removed and replaced with new. No-longer any snatch on transmission pick-up or 'clutch' judder at very low speeds. Also noticed that transfer box end of the front prop has a slightly bad UJ. Look at replacing that also.
Slighty vibration (something out of balance?) and knock from the drivetrain when the clutch is depressed at low speeds. Probably the rear prop universal joints? Need to take a look this week. Cheap repair if it is, approx. £15.
Water around my local area of Southern Hampshire is still causing chaos on the roads and 'lanes. Believe me..these were roads!!!!. Not much of a problem for Cartman though! Just have to take it easy at avoid water on the electrics and in the air intake.

Checked all fluids after Bordon and the wading due to all the local flooding. No evidence of any water ingress anywhere, even from the slightly leaky off-side hub ball joint. Cannot be anywhere near as bad as I thought ?
Paint coming off the front wing and passenger door hinges after a heavy attack with a jet washer. All of the paint comes from areas that I had either applied new paint over rubbed back existing paintwork, or zinc primed bare metal. My fault? Re-apply during the spring/summer.

November 2000 (72100 miles)

26th November HBRO Off-Road driving day at Bordon Camp. Cartman is running well and the 'novelty' of a smooth and non-jumpin' out gbx was well worth the cost. The best days mud play that I have ever had. Cartman is now decidedly mud splattered from the roof down. Didn't get stuck anywhere,though it took 2-3 attempts at some points that were well dug-up late in the day. But that's the price for having mild 'Wrangler' AT's I suppose? Fuel consumption seems to have improved at around 22-23 mpg but I will need to check my calcs before I can be definite.

Now that's a serious peace of kit !!?

Mark at West's when trying to check the timing had pointed out that the distributor shaft was worn and it would be better if this was changed. Fitted a new Lucas distributor and a new coil at the same time. Cost for both and delivery was £44 from MVS on next day delivery. The advance pipe to the distributor was sucking in air in several places so this was also repaired. The engine no-longer wants to run on when the ignition is shut off so that must be a good thing.
In an attempt to reduce the 'rattle' on the top end of the engine I carried out an investigation into the source. With the engine running and the rocker cover removed I could see that the oil flow on the rear four valve rockers was only dripping while the front four had a good rate of constant flow. On strip-down there was a slight warp in the rocker shaft (1.5mm) and noticable wear on the shaft the securing pin locating the shaft in position had broken-the oil passage holes had then moved out of alignment. The rockers, valve rods seemed to be fine so a new shaft was fitted and valve clearances adjusted. Oil flow is now fine and the top end noise is far less than before. Any noise left is due to tappet and roller follower wear and the cam lobes. Though noise though reduced increases in intensity after periods of low stress such as pootling around town, if I take it for a good run then the noise is reduced. i.e. oil pressure and oil viscosity at high temperatures? Currently used 10/40 GTX so a trial at the next change with good 20/50 may be in order?

One small problem though (STUPID BOY!), with the engine up to temp I tried to clean off the oil from the engine surfaces with some cleaning agent. The can did say flammable so what happened - FLAMES all around the fuel pump. Luckily the solvent burnt off before the fuel line was damaged!! The fire extingisher in Cartman was found to be dead - just when I need it !!! Replaced ASAP. Just in case.
NOTE- Remember, other dopes out there, don't spray flammable substances on hot surfaces with local sources of ignition!!!!!!!
Recon box fitted. What a difference its obviously a lot stiffer but we now have no rattles and it doesn't pop out of gear! Overdrive whines a bit but its smooth and it works! Time will tell whether we have a difference in fuel consumption because of this.

Old one out and new one in

Damage found to the original gearbox was:- 3&4th detent springs missing; 3&4th gear missing two teeth; layshaft missing a couple of teeth; 2nd gear worn; plus a lot of general wear due to all those other bits bouncing around. So the best bet is to for a re-con box. A new one ordered from Paddocks direct to West 4x4 (and I get a free T-shirt for an order over £25!). The original overdrive had several main gear teeth missing and Superwinch had no stock. When they do they would be £95 each! West had a good second-hand gear so that went in. The damage to the O/D was most likely due to previous owners not checking the oil level at very regular intervals (when we first got Cartman it was very low).

Spot the missing O/D teeth?

October 2000 (71600 miles)

Sodbury sortout was a complete washout. Should have taken some pics for the site but the weather was so bad I even gave that idea up for the risk of damaging the digi cam. Did aquire both a new front recoil seat belt (if I can mod it to fit) and a pair of new wiper arms.
Oh nooo, have to bite the bullet now. Gearbox has managed to generate an additional rattle. Took it for a quick check by West 4x4 in Bishops Waltham. Mark is insistent that it is not the detent springs that are allowing the box to jump out of 1st and 2nd and that the noise is a symptom of both a damaged gear in the main box (found teeth in '99) and damaged teeth on the overdrive sliding gear assy (that's why its so noisey?). The springs found in '99 when draining the main box are from the synchro assy on 3rd and 4th. I found two then so its surprising it still works? It is now booked in for an expensive gbx drop and repair in early November. At the end of it I should have a nice 'quiet' box and a working overdrive which will be a novelty. So watch this space.
Modified the air demister blower to direct more air onto the drivers screen than the LH passenger side. To restrict the air flow a night light candle base with a 10mm hole through the centre was fitted into the air duct (the night light fitted spot-on that's why I used it). I'll see if this improves the de-mist 'performance'.

Bare wire found under the front of Cartman when I was fitting the new oil filter (surprising what you notice when you're rolling around underneath a vehicle). The cable had been stripped of its insulation for 3 inches. Investigation then showed this cable to be for the rear reversing light. Stupid place to run a cable anyway. New cable routed inside the vehicle.
New brake piston fitted to the top RH front drum. This seemed to have been dragging when Cartman had not been used for a few days. Brakes bled through. Drivers side front hub seal replaced & bearings re-packed.
Engine oil flushed and drained. New filter fitted. 750ml Slick 50 added with Castrol GTX 10/40. There is a lot of debate whether Slick 50 gives much of benefit and whether it can cause problems with oil way blockages, but I have used it on all my vehicles for the past 15 years without any problems (or proven benefits?). The LR engine being very basic and 'agricultural' should benefit more than higher tech motors anyway - at least that's my theory. I noticed that the paperwork provided with the additive does not make anywhere near as many claims to its benefits as it did 5-10 years ago. That is probably due to the law suits against Pennzoil in the U.S.A. some time ago against their unsubstantiatable claims.
Shire LRC driving day at Brick Kiln Farm saw Cartman get stuck between two trees and extreme mud (those that know the site know how bad it can get. Alistair the ROW officer of Shire LRC suffered slight embarrasment at his predicament in 'The hole'. The only solution was to for him to be 'tugged off' the hump that he straddled his Range Rover with.

Stuck! - Alistair suffers a slight altercation with a muddy mound.- Un-stuck!

After leaving site another poor soul managed to flip his Rangey onto its roof - and he still drove home (wheels pointing down of course).

Whoops - wrong way up? (Courtesy Shire LRC Web site)

September 2000 (71236 miles)

In preparation for the coming 'Winter' months (won't be long now!) I have modified the washer pipework for the front screen. After a suggestion in LRO (something useful in LROI??!!!!) I re-ran the washer bottle pipework and wrapped it several times around the heater matrix pipework. My logic is if it is cold enough to require heated water for the screen,then I will have the heater on in the cab. Installation is as shown below. The pipework will be wrapped in aluminium tape in the next week.

Green lane day with Shire LRC was eventful with one vehicle rammed twice by a farm hand in a tractor. His defence was ,'They were on my bosses land'. Police called and the man questioned and cautioned for criminal damage. The 'land' in question was a R.o.W. listed on Hants CC definitive map (highway). Several other club vehicles arrived and witnessed the incident. Damage to the 'R' reg (1998) County SWB Defender will be expensive and the shock to the lady driving it cannot be repaid. Watch this space for a successful prosecution. Accidental damage will not wash,as he reversed for another go.

Update on the above...- The Police do not seem to be interested in a prosecution and the insurance companies for both parties are sorting out the claim. However, the injured party is considering a civil prosecution. We wait to see the result?

1 tonne shackles fitted. Not as straight-forward as I first thought. A lot of precarious balancing on jacks etc. But they are now on and the LR is looking level. Better still the ride at the rear has improved. Don't know why but even Liz's independent opinion agrees. See shackle info site for details.

Night laning locally caused a fright. Parked on the downs, lights off at 9PM in the blackness. Gunshot 30-50yds to my right in the brush (.22LR probably). Didn't stop to find out who, let them know I was there by switching on the lights and getting the hell out of there.

Pintle and ball hitch aquired from the Shire LRC rally for the pricely sum of £10 (Good man Stewart!). New price £45. Now fitted to the Dixon-Bate hitch.

Simple light guards made up for the rear lights and the reversing lamp. The guard over the reversing lamp prevents the spare tyre mounted on the door from resting on the lens when the door is held open. Manufactured from bent 8mm steel rod with washers mounted at either end. Chance of accidental damage is reduced and they are all easily removable if I have to change the bulbs.

Guards fitted

Rear brake that was reported on the MOT was resolved. The 'sticky' rear brake cylinder was actually a return spring that had fallen off and was resting in the assembly. So that was a straight forward job to resolve. The flexi hose was replaced and the system bled through. Once after the hose was fitted and again 12 hours later just to make sure. As I expected the worst I had already purchased another set of SWB front cylinders - now spare - at the moment.

August 2000 (71000 miles)

STOP PRESS!!!!!!!!!! Fuel consumption on Cartman has improved!!!! We are now up to 19.5MPG! Error in calculation with tyre sizes brought this about plus the 7% CO prob. Apparently this is good for a 2.25 petrol ?

Kenlowe only working intermittantly. Faulty relay connections. Loose wiring causing arcing and excessive heat. Stripped and replaced connectors.Working fine now but will have to consider locating all under bonnet relays in a sealed box.

Cartman PASSED!! As I thought the emissions were high at 7% CO (garage tweaked the mix to 4.5%), and the headlights were low (they reset them). And for these two adjustments they only charged me £3 over the MOT cost. Good work fellas!!!!!!. I had an advisory though on one rear brake cylinder that was 'sticky' (not returning quickly) and a 'squidgey' rear brake flexible hose. Ordered them from Paddocks and hope to get them done in the next week. The mixture adjustment has made him run smoother and quieter as well.

The rear folding seats never get used and are taking up load space. They are not the most comfortable way for people to sit anyway. I have a plan to sell all four of these off and replace them with two forward facing folders from BLRS. They are in reasonable condition and are preferable to the 'standard' bench seat so hopefully I can sell the whole set for around £70 which will at least pay for one new seat? Two removed for now and if they are wanted I can unscrew the other two in 15 minutes.

Cartman is due for another MOT. Booked in for Saturday 12th August. General check over before the test. All lights work,steering rigid and no excessive play; brakes are all new and are almost bedded in now. Only points of concern are emissions (passed last time OK-but played with it since); headlight alignment (set it up in the car park) and the frequency of the indicators (depending on their mood anything from .1 to 1 second intervals).

Tightened all the suspension mounts and lubricated all suspension pivots and springs - amazing,isn't squeaking now!

New CB antenna arrived. Had to mount this to the rear on the gutter mount above the door. Matching on the side gutter would not acheive an SWR better than 2 to 2.5. The rear gutter sees 1.1 across the range of 27.951 to 27.551MHz. Now suffering from loud 'twanging' as I travel down the local lanes - surprising that!! Antenna kept inside most of the time anyway.

HBRO Bowhill rally and driving day on the South Downs near Chichester. Second gear on the box now starting to pop out on inclines - not good. Need to check out the detent springs.

Bowhill Farm near Chichester 6 August 2000

CB fully fitted into Cartman with a gutter mount over the passenger door. First outing and the antenna is sheared off at the loading coil - as I left the drive. Need a re-think on that one.

Dismantled the rear passenger hub. Oil seal and felt seal replaced, bearings OK. Half shaft has signs of spline wear at the hub end and past corrosion that has eaten away at the thread. I'll look for another one and a castle nut at Sodbury.

July 2000 (70500 miles)

Found the problem with the front brakes. The manual adjusters on the front brake shoes would not permit full contact with the drum (11" LWB hubs). Therefore, the initial depression was forcing it onto the drum but allowed the shoe to return back too far unless the pedal was depressed soon after. Stripped down both front hubs. Replaced the manual adjusters on both sides, as they were worn, and also fitted new shoes as there were signs of past contamination of the linings. Managed to pop out one piston during assembly and had to bleed the whole system through again.

The front passenger hub was also removed just as a preventative measure and checked for bearing condition and the state of both the oil seal and shaft felt seal. The bearings were fine and were lightly re-packed. The oil seal was replaced along with the felt seal. Freewheeling hubs regreased with LM.

Rear drivers side hub was removed and the oil seal replaced. Though the seal appeared to be in good condition the bearing/hub securing nuts (52mm) were both loose and required only hand effort on the hub spanner to remove them (after knocking back the retaining washer). A new oil seal was fitted. The bearings were in good condition though, but required repacking with LM grease.I will also check the other rear hub assy. this weekend. I will keep an eye on this hub but I have to assume that the cause of the leak was the excessive movement allowed on the seal which them permitted oil seepage.

Brakes are still not what they were. Initial depression gets them working but a second depression within 5 seconds improves them no end. Most people that I refer this problem to say the usual leaking pistons. But they are fine. It seems as if the pistons move the shoes out and then they slowly retract under spring pressure against the hydraulic action of the pistons. Maybe the master cylinder? I need to dismantle and check them again.

Rear drivers side hub is now leaking EP90 very slightly. The passenger side failed and was replaced just over a year ago so its about time this one went as well. This time I want to rectify the problem myself. So a delve into the Haynes manual is called for. I picked up a hub spanner at Sodbury so it may now be put to good use.

Wheels & Tracks at Bordon sources another gear knob (Nice shiney and new, and I can excuse the extravagance as it was only a £1) and a new reversing light. The old lamp was getting yellow and brittle.

June 2000 (70200 miles)

Fan belt squealing. Adjusted.

Tappets adjusted, plugs cleaned and points re-gaped. Whoops, rocker gasket that I picked up at Sodbury is the wrong type, pooh. Luckily the local auto factors can get one in next day. More mud found in the radiator cooling fins (from scenic drive at the ARC). Brushed and washed out. Seems that the engine is running cooler now. Surprising that?

When I purchased Cartman he was equipped with one of those in-line fuel devices intended to allow you to run the leaded head on unleaded. Every publication that I have ever read has said (other than the manufacturers suppliers bunph) that they are unproven. So off it came and still resides in the corner of the garage. Since then I have been running with either Castrol standard lead replcement additive or the octane booster equivalent (this does work well). Now this head has been subjected to lead or 'equivalent' lubrication and anti-knock additives for 22 years so how long would it carry on working before it required hardened exhaust valve seats I wonder? Additive works out as an additional cost of 2-4p per litre and with the cost of petrol creeping up (yet again) I am considering just running unleaded. Several people I spoke to at the ARC are doing just that with one individual acheiving 15k miles with no noticable ill affects.

Or, I just bolt the in-line unit back in and stop putting in additive. This cannot be worse than using none! Watch this space and see how we get on.

Rear brake shoes replaced with Mintex equivalents. I have heard so many horror stories about bleeding the braking system on series vehicles and dreaded carrying this out so the ease at which it was achieved (on my own) came as an anti-climax.

Some years ago I purchased one of those Gunson's 'Easy bleed kits' that attach to your master cylinder reservoir and pressurize the brake system with the tyre pressure. The only problem I had with this was that the joints on the rubber connecting pipe between the reservoir and the master cylinder were not sealed for pressure and would then weep. A couple of tie wraps at either end stopped this. I bled the whole system through and replaced it with new DOT4 fluid in about 1 hour including removing all four 750's.

Using the Halfords two part flushing agent I spent around 2 hours flushing through the whole cooling system. I believe a lot of crud found its way out but I cannot be certain. But the running temp of the engine is still sitting at just below the red even with the Kenlowe at full chat. Could it be that the temperature sender has developed a fault? That is now the only item left in the chain. But the engine definitely warms-up quicker now.

Water pump,'stat',rad top & bottom hose etc. were fitted but the engine was still heating up past half way. My theory is that the original over-heating from the ARC has caused a lot of rusty sediment to become dislodged and block up some of the rad waterways. So the next item will be to flush out the whole cooling system.

May 2000

Back from the ARC and 3 days of Scenic Drive marshalling have left their toll. Brakes are now spongey, hand brake almost useless, water pump leaking and horn now sounds like a tortured rodent.

Hand brake assy dismantled and adjusted - OK

Horn (removed liquid mud) and added a second, both now relocated away and up from the front grill.

Main brake drums dismantled,cleaned and adjusted. Back shoes were worn past caring on the trailing edge so they require replacement.

Water pump leak caused us to stop 3 times on the way back from the ARC to top-up then mysteriously rectified itself. Not to be relied upon so I have a new pump, 'stat and rad cap to fit this weekend.

Both diffs,tx box,gbx,o/d and engine were all drained and oils replaced (no evidence of water), the right-hand front hub had some water in it but the left was OK. Both were refilled but I will keep an eye on the RH one.

Drivers door barrel fitted. 'Wayhay' we now have a 'secure' vehicle. Modifying the passenger door to accept a key lock will have to wait until after the ARC - too much other stuff to do.

Rear door barrel fitted so only two to go now. Managed to shuffle my wifes motorcycle from across the front of Cartman and extricate him (despite the lack of a front wheel). First laning trip for 3 weeks - nearly got stuck!! Newly painted door gets scratched.

One week later one door lock turned up. Not 2 as ordered, just 1. To top it all despite their incompetence at supplying the wrong part they then charge my credit card (without consent to the sum of £4 - not a lot but it is the principle of the thing) Why do we deal with these people? I'll remind myself next time not to deal with Cra*****s.Given up with mail order for now. Visited Kingsley Cross Country near Bordon and ordered them there (they also give an HBRO discount).

Ignition lock and a pair of door lock barrels arrive. Ignition lock is OK and goes straight on but the door barrels are the wrong type. The supplier says, 'Send them back with a sketch of the correct type and I will send the others by return of post'.

April 2000

While the LR is 'off-road' due to lack of locks I decided to try my hand at painting. Removed drivers side door, filled all the dents, primered and rollered a new coat of enamel on. Not a bad finish even with this method of application. Pity about the flies that decided to exhale their last breath on it though. Liz say's that there is little point in painting it as it will only get scratched. I will need to rub it back at some point though to remove some of the runs at the top curve of the door - at some point.

HBRO driving day at Nelley's Dell cannot be attended by Cartman due to his state of dismemberment. So alternatively the SJ413 has a day out (much to the humour of those in HBRO). It did get very muddy though!

Leave the LR at the airport and fly North. All well and good until I begin the trip back and realise that the only set if keys that I possess are somewhere in the hire car in Newcastle.
The hire company could not locate them so the recovery team (my wife Liz and I) had to salvage Cartman with the assistance of a battery drill and a box of tools. Ignition lock off and home he went. New locks ordered at a cost of £80. Pity that we cannot predict these probs - I was at Sodbury a couple of weeks before and saw several secondhand units :). Another benefit of forthought - I would have had a spare set of keys cut.
Sodbury Sort Out achieves the aquisition of one brand new recoil seat belt for the pricley sum of £5.

One bulb has failed on the new 100 watt spots already. A Disco driving colleague reported the same fault and has heard of others. It seems that the lamp assembly cannot dissipate the additional heat that this size of bulb generates, the bulb eventually overheats and blows. I had a couple of 55 watt bulbs available and those were popped in. No problems since.

March 2000

Successfully finished the installation of the two 100 watt Ring Phaser halogen front spots and a set of rear axle check-straps. Bit more Waxoyl on the exposed rear underside.

Stripped down rear door. Welded-up the cracked frame, replaced the bottom strip (rusted) and welded in some re-inforcement. 1" thick sound-proofing fitted as well. 6mm thick tread plate fitted to the interior of the door. This re-inforces it tremendously. It's now rigid as a very rigid thing.

January 2000

Charge light seems to be always on on the dash. It was definitely due to the battery as the next day it did not want to start. New battery was fitted. At the same time the alternator output was checked and found to be 15.2 vdc. A bit high and was not doing the battery much good (this is also the source of the charge light indicator signal). This was also replaced with an exchange item. No more problems there.

Cartman's first off-road driving day with Hants & Berks results in a bent wing and nearside sill. Closer inspection reveals that the passenger floor pan was also damaged beyond repair when the wing support bracket pushed up through it.

I had a footwell section spare so this was welded in. The wing was pushed out with the aid of a scissor jack. The original footwell was severely rusted anyway so I did it a favour. For damage limitation I fitted some aluminium sill protectors and rear corner unit - until next time. A few sections of scaffolding pole are lying in the garden and may be fitted later also.

Numb bum prevention. BLRS kindly supplied me with a pair of front high back seats - in exchange for some cash.

Any comments regarding manufacturers or suppliers parts or services are only from my personal experience. Those items I find to be less than satisfactory I will state that they are not up to scratch, and if they're good then I will say so. I am not associated my marriage, employ, or money (unfortunately) with any of those companies mentioned.

Paul Maidment - 11 June 2000

Updated 13 January 2003

me at pjboomer@freeuk.com