Who is doing what maintenance today?

[cameronbutler]

Hi guys I'm a new owner of a second hand land cruiser 96 tray back, and decided to go test her last weekend... Well let's say wow and thank f&$k the winch worked it's taken me the best part of 3 hours to wash the mud out from underneath but I had her bogged up to the chassis, does anyone recommend what kind of extra cleaning like hubs, brakes extra I should do so she doesn't rust out.... Damn was fun though


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[clivehorridge]

As there's so little maintenance needed on an 80 (the essentials not neglected of course) I set about getting rid of my offending front number plate. It's been bashed, bent and it never fitted properly, so yesterday afternoon I had to run the gauntlet of filling in forms at the registration department.

I had had to fill in a request for new plates;
A declaration of why they were being changed (separate form);
I had to provide the original and a copy of the vehicle registration document;
The original and a copy of the "Talon" which is a mini version of the registration document, to be carried at all times;
The original and a copy of my passport; and
The original and a copy of my Residency Permit.

Join a queue that took 50 minutes to get to the front of, then it was too late to get the new plates made up. That meant me lying on the declaration, saying they were lost not damaged, so I could refit them to the car and go back the next day to collect. That was this morning, and after a 10 minute queue, I got my plates!

before



After



The plates cost the equivalent of £4 each and the same for the plastic carrier bit that bolts to the truck. 15 minutes of fitting, and job done!

 

[Bob]

Jeez, that's some palaver Clive. Here you just walk into a motor factors and ask for a couple of plates. Most places don't even look for proof of ownership.. kinda dangerous really!

 

[Shayne]

Halfrauds asked me for something other than money when i wanted plates made so i went home and ordered some from ebay at a quarter the price .

In fact the ebay account is Helen's so ......

 

[Bob]

They probably asked if you wanted them fitted too...

I went in one evening while rebuilding a tractor, wearing branded overalls, somewhat greasy with a vernier calliper in my chest pocket, to buy a 12v bulb for a side light on it.. "Do you need that fitted?"

 

[Chas]

Those plates look much better Clive, now you can get all that lovely LED light on the road.

 

[120mm]

Yesterday I found that my front diff had sucked up my birf grease. Hoping it was a plugged vent, I drained the soup, and fitted extended breathers, made from fuel tube and cheap fuel filters.



While I was working on the diff breathers, the UPS man showed up with my driver's door gaskets, which took "maybe" 5 minutes to install. No more raggedy door gaskets.

 

[Paddler Ed]

Jeez, that's some palaver Clive. Here you just walk into a motor factors and ask for a couple of plates. Most places don't even look for proof of ownership.. kinda dangerous really!

Here it's go to the RMS office, and get a new set of plates; they don't re-issue the same numbers/letters for a couple of years, so if you lose one, you need a whole new set, and as I have the fancy little one for the bike carrier as well it's a lot of hassle... Give them my driving licence and I get the plates, all linked together... strange how well an integrated system works... if you change your address all your rego paperwork and compulsory insurance is automatically updated, as well as a pretty pink sticker for your driving licence, done with one form.

 

[Paddler Ed]

Oh, and vehicle stuff? I found a set of Narva 150 driving lights for a friend for sale for $60, so she got those... and muggins here had to fit them.
-Rewired from the bulb back as it looked like they were done by a monkey...
-Relay and switch in the cab to isolate them... found a nice little panel that popped out nicely and already had a switch mounted in it... which didn't seem to do anything... so I suspect the fog light bulbs have blown... as well as 4 fuses in trying to reconnect the cables correctly... oops... damn illuminated switches. Fixed some more dodgy cabling found under the dashboard as well (twist and tape on something that had been professionally installed?!)
-Find the correct feed on the headlight... 3 goes to get the right one... damn Ford Ranger's
-All cables in conduit through the engine bay
-All connections crimped properly, rather than twist and tape...
And some how that took most of the day... I don't work fast.

Only photo:

And I'm rumaging under the dash replacing the blown fuses...

edit: Just been paid in the standard Australian currency...beer... got a carton of Coopers Green...

 

[Sag]

Well after coming back off holiday with the caravan it seemed to have taken its toll on the exhaust going up that cliff face (so called hill),its vibrated the little metal bracket off the middle section,so it was out with the wielding stuff to put it back on,then the fun began,it's only just over 12 months old exhaust and I've seen thicker baked bean cans,ended up seeing little holes so thought may as well do them and in the end wished I'd just got another,all done now and better than new

 

[clivehorridge]

Jeez, that's some palaver Clive. Here you just walk into a motor factors and ask for a couple of plates. Most places don't even look for proof of ownership.. kinda dangerous really!

It's a PITA Bob, they have computer records but don't use them, I think it's more to keep people employed than for "security" reasons.

Vehicle registration here is a local affair, so each city or region has its own system, but they all operate the same. The UK used to have regional registration until the centralized it by creating the DVLC in Swansea back in the mid 60's.

They love forms here, documents, copies thereof and sight of the original. One guy in the queue was personally importing a car from Italy, and he was exchanging (changing) the registration from Italy to Romania. They rejected his application on the spot because of a "tear" in the Italian document! He now has to go to Italy to renew the document, before Romania effectively tears it up by the issue of a Romanian registration.

He wasn't happy. I thought myself lucky!

 

[Chris]

Secured all my mudflaps with nice stainless bolts, screws and assorted Rivnuts. We know what a pain mudflaps are on old 80s' when the tinworm has taken hold. Put some nice galv strips behind to secure to. Rock solid now.

 

[Paddler Ed]

Todays job for the 4Runner was sorting out the lack of handbrake and slightly dodgy brake performance; took it to a mate who works in a workshop and put it up on the hoist and found that the fronts were fine, as were the drum shoes and drum itself... but the cylinders had gone. $153ea from Toyota, about $28 each from one chain (+$8 handling for a special order), $69ea from another chain - who got pissed when I told them I could get them for that much for the pair, and $45ea from another chain, and the local independent could do them for $25 each... only took me about 45mins to get round everywhere, I go in to speak to people rather than ringing around here.

Bits should be in Friday Lunchtime, and I'll get them fitted on Sunday afternoon, as well as flushing the brake fluid and possibly the clutch fluid.

 

[clivehorridge]

Secured all my mudflaps with nice stainless bolts, screws and assorted Rivnuts. We know what a pain mudflaps are on old 80s' when the tinworm has taken hold. Put some nice galv strips behind to secure to. Rock solid now.

Thats a job to be done on mine, too. I've got one bolt missing and another where the bolt has torn through. Some nice stainless bolts with some load spreading washers would do nicely. Hate to see flaps flapping, so I need to get on it before I lose one, they're a hell of a price from Mr T.

 

[mussy]

Secured all my mudflaps with nice stainless bolts, screws and assorted Rivnuts. We know what a pain mudflaps are on old 80s' when the tinworm has taken hold. Put some nice galv strips behind to secure to. Rock solid now.

I need to do the same Clive any chance of pics and source? Pretty please!

 

[Chris]

Clive?

 

[SteveS]

Did a practice run to do a field/bush tyre change onto a rim. This was by no means easy. We need to so this as we're (were) planning to have a spare tyre-only 6th wheel and thus if we ever needed to use it then I'd need to be able to put it on. So received two 600mm long tyre levers today, watched a couple of videos on youtube....how difficult could it be? Answer = PITA. So first problem was to break the first bead (outside of wheel).....the levers were no use for this so used the drive over the tyre technique - this worked well (3 attempts). Breaking the second bead (inside of wheel) was just a matter of going round with the tyre levers and pushing it across the width of the wheel. The first bead (outer side of tyre) then was levered over the rim edge (with the tyre sitting in the relief) - just brute force. Getting the inside bead was over the tyre was the hardest task....seemed to rely on a trick to lever tyre in a specific way (not on the rim edge/bead). Using the diluted soap liquid helped with the sticky rubber on metal. All in - learning along the way - it was 2hrs to get the tyre off the rim. Tomorrow we will see how long it will take to put it back on again and to get the beads to seat.

On the basis of this experiment I will need to think hard as to whether carrying just a tyre without the weight of the wheel is worth the potential agro of putting a tyre on a rim (a net 7kg saving). Having said that a second spare is an insurance on an insurance......but damaging two tyres in quick succession can and does happen. We're carrying a tyre plug kit so that should allow an ability to fix some punctures.....hopefully without taking off the tyre.

 

[Chris]

Steve, bit of a tip here. To break the bead on a big tyre you need to apply pressure right into the rim against the wire bead. Right in the joint. One way is with a High Lift jack. I made a small foot to go on the bottom plate with a couple of bolts. Use a slider or tow ball to stop the jack lifting and jack downwards to break the bead. It works effortlessly. The other thing to have is tyre soap or a good glug of washing up liquid. The whole thing needs to be slippery.

I have tyre strings, plugs, patches and just ordered an inner tube. Handy for side wall failures. I thought about taking a carcass too. Maybe not for me to fit, but waiting around for some local chap to order a replacement could be quite trying. If you have the tyre you are two steps ahead already. Plus I have tyre goo in my tyres so punctures are less likely. You can carry a bottle of this and just treat a tyre if and when you get a flat.

 

[Scott]

Tomorrow we will see how long it will take to put it back on again and to get the beads to seat.

Sounds like you've been having fun Steve! I'm with Chris on the technique for breaking the bead, I have done this on a LR. I've done BFGs and a Michelin XZL and they're tough/thick tyres, cheap or 'normal' tyres are a lot easier.

When it comes to reseating the beads try a ratchet strap around the tyre to compress the bead onto the wheel and hold air, releasing the strap as soon as the tyre starts to hold air. Another trick I've used a couple of times.

I have done both of the methods that your considering, took a 6th carcus with us on our first Morroco trip (had to use the spare but not the carcus), took two spares on the 2nd Morocco trip as we were travelling solo, and two spares again in Oz as we were travelling solo in remote and harsh conditions. Didn't need any of the spares, but very glad to have them. For me when things go wrong it's always on top of other things which aren't ideal, extreme heat/poor weather/late in the day/driver fatigue etc, so I'd rather have the two spares up my sleave should I find myself up against whilst travelling solo.

 

[Chas]

I've been tearing my hair out the last couple of days, a while ago I fitted a double USB socket in the dash, which has been used before to charge the phone.
On Sunday I plugged my mobile in to recharge and the plug went dead. It's tapped off the CB radio feed which is a permanent live (not off the ignition) and the radio went dead too, I've checked every fuse (twice) and all are OK. I just couldn't figure it out until today when I was talking to another 4x4 mate and he said is there an in-line fuse anywhere.

BINGO, I had completely forgotten the one behind the CB, It's a 2A fuse so I'm surprised the phone blew it, the CB wasn't switched on at the time, I'll check that in the morning when it's light but that must be it.