Land Rover MOT Failure Help

[Rannsachair]

Not much to add: good advice from @willie.macleod

I used a Britpart swivel kit on my 52 plate Defender, I may have been overcautious but i bought OEM seals and branded bearings to replace the ones in the kit. My nearside went about 5 years ago and I just bought the kit for both sides, the offside is still on my spares shelf, cost quite lot less then.

I also swapped to the older style wheel bearing locknuts with tab washers, remember to ditch the spacer tubes if you do, see https://forums.lr4x4.com/topic/101949-wheel-bearing-lock-nut-types/ for background and if bearings need replaced buy Timken.

A Bilstein steering damper is likely an upgrade - only replace if no longer damping.

I have a Richards chassis happy with it. Just be prepared that you may have to do bulkhead repairs when you get the chassis off, I got mine galvanised when the chassis was done.

 

[Migmac]

252 spares used to be the cheapest place in Dumfries for Landy bits. Are they still going?

 

[eSCHEn]

252 spares used to be the cheapest place in Dumfries for Landy bits. Are they still going?

I'm not sure if they are or not Al, the missus uses www.the4x4shop.co.uk run by Tracy who used to be at 252.


Bowled over at the help from everyone, thanks very much

 

[Robotstar5]

I have box spanner for hub nuts with homemade half inch conversion as I no longer have a Landy I can drop it in the post if it's of any use.

 

[julianf]

I have box spanner for hub nuts with homemade half inch conversion as I no longer have a Landy I can drop it in the post if it's of any use.

View attachment 253368

If he is just doing the pins, he can get away with leaving all that be, by taking the whole hub off.

For someone with experience the usual way is probably to take the hub apart, but that requires judgement to put it back again. Just removing the whole thing is, in a way, simpler. For a novice like me anyway!

To the op -

As I mentioned I had to do the whole ball on mine. The ball mounts to the axel, and the screws have washers.... They're somthing like a quid each! For washers! So if, if you have to go that far, try and not let the old ones roll down the drain without thinking about it...

 

[Migmac]

I'm not sure if they are or not Al, the missus uses www.the4x4shop.co.uk run by Tracy who used to be at 252.


Bowled over at the help from everyone, thanks very much

Think 252, was father and daughter. Tracy might be the daughter. It was the early 90’s when I unfortunately had a Landy.

 

[Alan Reynolds]

I had to do the swivel on my 300tdi disco last mot. I don't recall it being hard. I think i was lazy and took off the whole hub in one go, so as not to have to mess with the bearing loading.

I can't see half of your list and my brain isn't active enough to work out the missing half.

Ps.this was on the road outside my house. A friend came round to help and just watched me... It really wasn't as involved as I was considering. And that was replacing the whole swivel ball.

You can use the slider at the bottom of his text to scroll across.

 

[eSCHEn]

I have box spanner for hub nuts with homemade half inch conversion as I no longer have a Landy I can drop it in the post if it's of any use.

View attachment 253368

That is very kind of you indeed and I would love to but let me PayPal you the P&P please

Think 252, was father and daughter. Tracy might be the daughter. It was the early 90’s when I unfortunately had a Landy.

And now two different shops possibly - the intrigue! I shall have to ask the wife to ask

 

[slim_boy_fat]

If you're about to embark on all this yourself, space available being of prime importance, why not declared it SORN and get a banger with a long MOT for a few £000 [they are available if you search] for Mrs E to run around it?

This would take the time pressure/decision making element out of the equation and let you concentrate on what you need to do, how and when.

 

[eSCHEn]

If you're about to embark on all this yourself, space available being of prime importance, why not declared it SORN and get a banger with a long MOT for a few £000 [they are available if you search] for Mrs E to run around it?

This would take the time pressure/decision making element out of the equation and let you concentrate on what you need to do, how and when.

She's driving my car right now - I don't really need one so it's cool on that front

 

[sako243]

@willie.macleod summarised things well.

My only extra input would be with regards to the steering, get your other half to wiggle the steering wheel (just as much as the play) and have a look under the front. Any joint (from drop arm down) or play in the panhard rod will affect things greatly. It should be pretty obvious where the play is in the steering joints then.

That way you can see what needs replacing. I'd recommend swapping over to the Disco steering drop arm setup too, after getting fed up of the swan neck I bought one of Gwyn Lewis' conversion kits and the steering was so much tighter (both new joints but a nicer setup as well). Also makes replacing things easier. I recently had some play and what was normally a couple of hours battling with the swan neck ball joint was 15 minutes swapping a TRE (I'd greased it up nicely before installation).

 

[sg66]

Note on Richards chassis, they welded the steering damper bracket on the wrong way and wouldn't let us cut it off and turn it round, so it had to be swapped out, we only discovered this after making a full rolling chassis, by sheer bad misfortune we built it up from the rear forward.

 

[winchman]

Do you not have a local independent Land Rover man?

 

[MoreWellie]

I think you need someone that knows land rovers to have a good look over it and decide what you need overall BEFORE you start fixing anything. That way you can decide whether you want to go ahead at all as chassis swaps aren't for the faint hearted and your chassis sounds to be in need of a fair bit of work

@sg66 obviously had a nightmare, the other side of the coin is that I have been involved in fitting 4 Richards replacement chassis and they have all been ok. If you want to do a good job then you do end up replacing or refurbishing a lot of other parts in the process do the spending doesn't stop at the chassis as @Rannsachair says the bulkhead may well need work and the tub is another area that usually requires patching but there are repair sections/plates easily available

Whilst you can lift the whole body as an assembly (two post hoist needed) I think the chances are you will want to separate bits to repair them and then the whole deal takes time and space but the good news is then it can be all be done with just an engine crane and a willing helper or two at strategic points

Not trying to put you off, just give you the chance to make an informed decision

Can buy Britpart kits which should have all you need for doing these for reasonable money.

only buy a kit from britpart if it is one that includes Timken bearings. I fitted a set of britpart wheel bearings that needed replacing very quickly.

 

[Rannsachair]

I was going to go with a Marsland Chassis, only went with the Richards due to leadtime, though no problems with it, think Marsland was a higher specification.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

I was going to go with a Marsland Chassis, only went with the Richards due to leadtime, though no problems with it, think Marsland was a higher specification.

Worth a trip to Marslands to see some of their work before dismissing Richards. I was surprised to see the repairs they do to some chassis AFTER they have been galv'd then painted with Galvafroid and sold as normal !

 

[armalites]

Worth a trip to Marslands to see some of their work before dismissing Richards. I was surprised to see the repairs they do to some chassis AFTER they have been galv'd then painted with Galvafroid and sold as normal !

That would annoy the hell out of me if I found painted sections on a galv chassis, kind of defeats the whole point of doing it

 

[MoreWellie]

kind of defeats the whole point of doing it

Yes, it's not right and I am suprised they are having to do it
and No, galvafroid is like Zinga and if you prepare steel and then Zinga it you will find it can be left outside and doesn't rust very quickly at all. I have a bit of what was very rusty C section which I attacked with an angle grinder wire brush and then coated in Zinga. It was bolted in place about 12 years ago and still hasn't rusted although it does have a rust mark on it that has dripped from a bit of zinc plated stuff above it

The worst bit about Zinga is it scratches easily, as long as you bear this in mind it is good stuff although make sure the place is well ventilated when using it

 

[slim_boy_fat]

@KimB is the Collective's hands-on 'expert' on these rebuilds - check out her excellent thread on the job she did on hers.

 

[eSCHEn]

As the wife is using my car, getting over to see her LR and assess / get some pictures has been a bit tricky but after an early start today I've managed to get underneath with the creeper

A replacement chassis seems unwarranted given the corrosion found and marked. I've had a good look underneath and everything other than the bits shown is sound, as in it rings true with a wee hammer and nothing's pokeable with a prodder.

The rear cross member is in poor condition and as a replacement part is readily available I'd say to replace that like for like.

The front cross member is rotted out on the bottom and back at each side where it joins the two main rails. Prodding inside through the hole yields no problems on the rails where the box occludes it but the cross member itself on the bottom and back faces doesn't sound correct and I suspect replacing the entire cross member would be the best approach. Not sure if the part is available though, will ask OH to check with wherever the rear one would come from.

Aside from the need to brace well and the lack of access, I feel the cross members are achievable with the body on and some perseverance. However, I would very much appreciate the input of those that have done this before?


The swivel pins are manky, one assumes this is normal. You can, however, see the more manky one that failed.