Bedford TK

[mylesdw]

Not very interesting but progress never the less. The Radiator sits on rubber bushes and a pair of bolts that were lock-wired to keep them from turning. It was tricky to line up the holes from underneath and easy to start the bolts cross-threaded so I made a couple of studs by turning down some bolts



These could be locked in place



and then the whole thing dropped in from above with nylocs instead of lockwire



The top of the radiator has two steady bars, also on rubber bushes

 

[mylesdw]

Of all the photos I took I find I don't have one of the rear propshaft in place. Does anyone know whether the slip joint goes at the front or the back? I think it goes at the back nearest the diff but I am not sure.

 

[colnerov]

Hi, I would have the sliding joint up at the front because it's less likely to get plastered with road dirt which with sliding action could get inside and act like a grinding paste.

Colin

 

[mylesdw]

That's a good point. So is there is no definite right and wrong way to do it I might turn it round and have the joint at the front tucked up out of the worst of the grit as you suggest.

 

[Ton-up]

As Colin says, put sliding joint at gearbox end because of dirt and damage. Has it got a gaiter on it? If not, it would be beneficial to find one that would fit.
Excellent rebuild by the way....

 

[DAPPH]

I concur the sliding joint always goes to the highest end on most occasions ,

If I remember it correctly .......... You may also like to renew the cork casket in the screw cap before you grease the splines & reconnect things I can't remember if there is a master spline or that you should have dot punched the joint to ensure it goes back in the correct yoke alignment to have the best balance for the shaft .
I can't remember if the yokes align up through a taut length of cotton running through the middle of the spider bearing caps either . , but I do know that a prop shaft will soon throw the UJ's if it's out of alignment /balance .

 

[colnerov]

Hi, yes the yokes should be aligned along the length of the shaft. Coil sprung Land Rover front shafts are, as always, an exception because yokes are aligned one spline out to stop vibration caused by the flanges at each end being at different angles.

Colin

 

[mylesdw]

I'll take a closer look at the state of it, turn it round and try and find a gaiter.

I fitted a new safety valve to the air condenser (the original was leaking)



Then pressurised the system up with the workshop compressor and it all seems good. There is a small leak in the hose to the spring brake to fix.

Best news was that the new air clutch seems to work really well - very light and just what I had hoped for.

Working on anything at the front of the engine now - radiator, electric fan, heater hoses, compressor hose, alternator and remaining power steering hose. Access to all this is pretty poor once the cab goes back on.

 

[mr migwire]

great stuff, really enjoying following this build...

 

[DAPPH]

If you have a single shaped sheet of mild steel making a cowl for the fan , you could do far worse than cut th cowl into three sections so that you can undo a few machine screws fitting into tigged on nuts to remove the new access panel you have created .

I say this because water pumps on the military MK's with the fixed cab were an absolute pig to replace . We had to wrap a hacksaw blade in tape to make a sort of handle , then spend the next hour or more to cut the access plate out by hand. & use a pair of jointing strips pop riveted on the centre piece and self tappers to fit it back in place . It may /may not apply to your TK ..I don't know .

 

[mylesdw]

With the original fan removed (fitting an electric one) I think the fan shroud will drop down through the bottom in one piece. Is that what you meant?

 

[DAPPH]

No ... On the MK fixed cab the only access to the fan ( between the rad and the engine block was from the area by the rocker cover . If you can easily get at it from underneath on your TK once everything is rebuilt then that's brilliant .

 

[colnerov]

You feel like a gynaecologist doing some jobs on a TK

 

[mylesdw]

The pipe from the lower radiator was too short for some reason and did not join up with the new hoses, I'm guessing something to do with it having been re-powered at some time in the past (not the original engine) so I extended it





and then blasted clean and painted



Quite a big earthquake here last night but luckily no damage!

 

[Wendelspanswick]

The pipe from the lower radiator was too short for some reason and did not join up with the new hoses, I'm guessing something to do with it having been re-powered at some time in the past (not the original engine) so I extended it

View attachment 95063

View attachment 95064

and then blasted clean and painted

View attachment 95065

Quite a big earthquake here last night but luckily no damage!

Drop, Cover, Hold!
My daughter is in Hamilton and experienced her first earthquake last night, she is a geologist so she is really happy.

 

[the snooper]

The pipe from the lower radiator was too short for some reason and did not join up with the new hoses, I'm guessing something to do with it having been re-powered at some time in the past (not the original engine) so I extended it

View attachment 95063

View attachment 95064

and then blasted clean and painted

View attachment 95065

Quite a big earthquake here last night but luckily no damage!

good to hear you're all ok

 

[Dieselman 63]

Looks good. I'm in Horowhenua and we got a powerful rock. Friends in Wellington more so, the ferry terminal is damaged at both ends so the ferries are stuck in the harbour

 

[mylesdw]

Some really big slips on SH1 near Kaikoura; goodness knows how long it will take to open that again. We ended up with a house full of refugees from the beach settlements who were evacuated because a tsunami was expected. Friends in Cheviot are cut off for the time being.

 

[mylesdw]

Some time ago I bought an electric fan on eBay. There are some real advantages in both fuel economy and noise levels over the mechanical fan.



I have never liked the standard way of fitting these fans by pushing plastic ties through the radiator core so I got to wondering whether I could adapt the original cowling.



First I cut off some of the depth to give extra clearance



Then cut an oversize blanking plate



On the Binky mini videos I had seen a tool like this



Used to create a lip like this



So I made a lip right around the edge and then welded it in place



Then after drawing around the new fan cowl I cut the middle out and formed another lip



and the fan sat in there just fine

 

[KimB]

Some time ago I bought an electric fan on eBay. There are some real advantages in both fuel economy and noise levels over the mechanical fan.

View attachment 95506

I have never liked the standard way of fitting these fans by pushing plastic ties through the radiator core so I got to wondering whether I could adapt the original cowling.

View attachment 95507

First I cut off some of the depth to give extra clearance

View attachment 95508

Then cut an oversize blanking plate

View attachment 95509

On the Binky mini videos I had seen a tool like this

View attachment 95510

Used to create a lip like this

View attachment 95511

So I made a lip right around the edge and then welded it in place

View attachment 95513

Then after drawing around the new fan cowl I cut the middle out and formed another lip

View attachment 95514

and the fan sat in there just fine

View attachment 95515

What a terrific idea. I may look at doing that to mine. Although I know you can buy kits for land rovers. Hmm
Also when you're bending the lip up like that. In the past I took a steel bar and slotted the end. Then just work around and around till I had a perfect lip. That may be handy for you in the future. Rather than doing it with Fidely mole grips.