Defender rebuild - leave galvanised or paint?

[addjunkie]

At least you could get to it. Try changing the starter on a JCB 2CX.

There's an access plate in the side of the engine bay which is inaccessible if the loader arms are down. Even then you pretty much have to do everything left handed as that's the only one you can get in.

Once you finally feel where the nuts are you then find you can't get a socket on them because there's a special CV jointed shallow socket they made to fit in the groove they machined out of the casing. You can get a spanner onto two of the three but the third doesn't have enough space. You then have to cut a 15mm spanner in half to make it fit, remove the coolant expansion bottle and lie on top of the engine to place said custom spanner on the nut. Go underneath, carefully place a small pipe on the end of the spanner taking extreme care not to knock it off and then **** it with a sledge hammer to crack the nut off. Once knuckles babe been suitably skinned you can then return to lying on top of the engine to use two fingers to undo the nut 1/12th of a turn at a time at which point you drop the nut into the mud because that's always where they decide to break down.

Once you have undone the three nuts and disconnected all the wires which are all conveniently JCB yellow then you can proceed to pray that you can squeeze it past the 3" hose that feeds the hydraulic pump from the tank because if you can't that means draining down the best part of 22 gallons of hydraulic fluid.

Oh and the wings are 1" plate and you can't remove them.

There is a simple solution to such jobs, it begins with a phone call, and ends up with an invoice to pay!

 

[sako243]

There is a simple solution to such jobs, it begins with a phone call, and ends up with an invoice to pay!

It sort of started with a phone call (well I called in at the only person nearby who'd tackle the job) and it ended up with an invoice in the form of a new gear reduction starter motor and a comment - we really don't want to do the job because we've got more than we can cope with that's a lot easier.

 

[sako243]

Oh I forgot you can make the job slightly easier by jacking up the front of the JCB and removing the front-left wheel to give you more space to squat down next to the access panel. Whether you trust a "3t" axle stand on a nominally 5.5t JCB (without buckets)... Well I did use two of them and the back actor and front loader were down on the ground so that's a fair weight off.

Installation with the gear reduction motor was fairly straight forward because you could actually get a socket onto those nuts because the motor was much smaller. It was what prompted me to buy the M12 ratchet because it would have been a bit faster with one of those - as it was I was able to use some wibbly wobbly bars to at least get the handle of the ratchet to the access hole but could only turn it about 15 degrees at a time. My Proxxon fast ratchet / rotating ratchet thingy was a bit too big to squeeze in the space but the Milwaukee would have.

 

[armalites]

Td5 starter motor is a total **Language**ing pain from memory. There's one of the nuts I didn't bother refitting. I did the solenoid fix on my Discovery and it was fine. Ran it to 165000 miles.

I have to say it seems to be a common LR thing, if something is a bit tricky just leave it off. It's one of my pet hates, sure one of the fixing isn't dead easy but it's really not that difficult. Seems to be nobody can refit the engine lifting bracket after changing the the fuel pressure regulator on TD5 either. Got three TD5 here and it's missing on all of them.

 

[Robotstar5]

I have to say it seems to be a common LR thing, if something is a bit tricky just leave it off. It's one of my pet hates, sure one of the fixing isn't dead easy but it's really not that difficult. Seems to be nobody can refit the engine lifting bracket after changing the the fuel pressure regulator on TD5 either. Got three TD5 here and it's missing on all of them.

It's not just LR, if you did a clutch on an original Mini you never put the bottom bellhousing bolt back in after you had spent ages with a cut down spanner getting it out half a flat at a time.

 

[Rannsachair]

It's not just LR, if you did a clutch on an original Mini you never put the bottom bellhousing bolt back in after you had spent ages with a cut down spanner getting it out half a flat at a time.

Had forgotten that, not done one since the 80's.

 

[armalites]

It's not just LR, if you did a clutch on an original Mini you never put the bottom bellhousing bolt back in after you had spent ages with a cut down spanner getting it out half a flat at a time.

To be fair if it took 30mins I'd still put it back but that's me. I think in the modern world people expect everything to be easy because they've watched a video.

I tend to buy cars that are cheap because they have issues and I've had some really great results. I don't think I've ever bought a car that didn't have some issue caused by someone too lazy to do the right job or didn't have a clue what they were doing.

Just bought a V50 with running issues and I'm working through the problems, instead of replacing a £10-15 headlight washer pump that takes 20mins to swap someone sealed up the spray heads so it looked like it didn't have them.

 

[OJCar]

It's not just LR, if you did a clutch on an original Mini you never put the bottom bellhousing bolt back in after you had spent ages with a cut down spanner getting it out half a flat at a time.

Had forgotten that, not done one since the 80's.

The self healing properties of the human mind are were marvellous.

Thanks for reminding me ....

 

[Bobupndown]

I have to say it seems to be a common LR thing, if something is a bit tricky just leave it off. It's one of my pet hates, sure one of the fixing isn't dead easy but it's really not that difficult. Seems to be nobody can refit the engine lifting bracket after changing the the fuel pressure regulator on TD5 either. Got three TD5 here and it's missing on all of them.

I've still got the bracket, don't have the Td5 it belongs on though.

It's not just LR, if you did a clutch on an original Mini you never put the bottom bellhousing bolt back in after you had spent ages with a cut down spanner getting it out half a flat at a time.

Also got the mini with the awkward 'wok' bolt removed.

 

[Rannsachair]

I had the defender out in the floods over the weekend. I noticed a clicking from the drivers wiper gear box, I have a spare on the shelf, so thought, may as well swap it out before it becomes a problem.

Bit of a pig to get out, most of the dash needed to come out

Getting the old one out is not as easy as I suspected, needed use of a crow bar to bend the dash top panel to give clearance to remove. New one all greased up, and greased the passenger side too. Not too bad a design but a right faff to replace.
The wiper motor needs pulled out to free out the drive cable, as well I was on holiday today.

as well I took it out the shaft of the wiper drive was partially seized, was a struggle pulling the cable out.

 

[Shox Dr]

Pig of a job. After rebuilding mine I found the wipers were both swiping inwards . I took the whole lot out before I figured the problem.

(One day I might get round to fitting a set in the PU. Not that it would help the screen is so old and scratched, driving at night is like looking though a LSD induced Kelidscope)

 

[octo0072000]

Pig of a job. After rebuilding mine I found the wipers were both swiping inwards . I took the whole lot out before I figured the problem.

(One day I might get round to fitting a set in the PU. Not that it would help the screen is so old and scratched, driving at night is like looking though a LSD induced Kelidscope)

if thats a flat screen dave you should be able to get a plant place to cut you one to pattern

 

[Shox Dr]

if thats a flat screen dave you should be able to get a plant place to cut you one to pattern

I could but there's period stickers on them.

 

[octo0072000]

I could but there's period stickers on them.

must be away to remove them in one piece?
WD40 soak stickers repeat razer blade at shallow angle to remove bit at a time

 

[Beeezer]

I had the defender out in the floods over the weekend. I noticed a clicking from the drivers wiper gear box, I have a spare on the shelf, so thought, may as well swap it out before it becomes a problem.

Bit of a pig to get out, most of the dash needed to come out
View attachment 420873

Getting the old one out is not as easy as I suspected, needed use of a crow bar to bend the dash top panel to give clearance to remove. New one all greased up, and greased the passenger side too. Not too bad a design but a right faff to replace.
The wiper motor needs pulled out to free out the drive cable, as well I was on holiday today.
View attachment 420874
as well I took it out the shaft of the wiper drive was partially seized, was a struggle pulling the cable out.

Could do with another grass cut before winter, looking a tad untidy

 

[MoreWellie]

needed use of a crow bar to bend the dash top panel to give clearance to remove

If replacing the box then you can also hacksaw off the shaft outside before pulling it out

 

[Rannsachair]

If replacing the box then you can also hacksaw off the shaft outside before pulling it out

I almost did that, then decided if I need to get the new one in am as well using a crowbar to bend the dash panel.

 

[Rannsachair]

Horrible job wiper gearboxes greased up

at least its easy enough to pull appart:

and back together:

wipers nice and quiet now

You do tend to need wipers living in Scotland, we get occasional rain.......most days.

 

[Bobupndown]

What seats have you fitted? Look a bit more comfortable than the originals.

 

[Rannsachair]

What seats have you fitted? Look a bit more comfortable than the originals.

RX8 quite a common conversion, they are comfy the the higher sides make it more difficult to get in for the vertically challenged (under 6 feet). Larger tyres plus a 2" lift does not help either.