Forest Bump

It wasn't that dramatic to bring the Christmast tree home this year. Last year I ended up in my brothers potato field, bogged down to my hubs. The most exiting this year was that the trailer I used was to wide for the little road at one place where I had one wheel in each dich and the trailer sledging at its axle. Yes, I had to use a trailer this year. I'm too much careful of my paintwork. My old series3 had a roof rack and the rangie, well there I simply put the goods at the roof and tied it down through the passenger compartment.

2WD

Vibrations grew. Finally they were disturbing. I started to fear something was wrong with the gearbox or converter. The engine ran smoothly and perfect, so it wasn't a power problem. Friends guessed a bad mount or a bad joint in a propeller shaft. I gave Fredrik (a friend from SLRK) a call and asked if I could pop by at his work to do a check in their grease pit. He was going to work at one of his cars the same evening, so he could gladly help me out.

So, with two epson greens side by side I almost made up my mind to let Plutten get this beautiful tint as well.

It took Fredrik less than a anything to confirm that it was a bad universal joint that most likely caused my problems.

















Again our kitchen table was made with car parts.

For the moment we better stick to the road. We now have an ordinary SUV, a car that looks as if you could use it off road. But on the other hand, I didn't always use four wheel drive when off roading with my series3. Anyhoo, the disco almost felt like a racing car in two wheel drive, joke, but I imagined that it in some way felt lighter. Like a VW-van.

I think I have to give the shaft to Daniel asap, he has promised to help me with the joint change. I have to admit that it makes me nervous driving around with a lot of lights shining at the dashboard. TC-info, ABS-warning, dif lock light...

Well, this was it for today.

clean parts

It's not everyday you're allowed to put engine parts at the white kitchen table. New valves and guides will make my 2,25 happy!

Cool

A cold shiver went down my spine when I looked at the coolant level the day after a 300km trip. Almost empty! I topped up and hoped it was one of these mystic Land Rover whims. The same evening we had a 200km trip and I had to fill about 5dl coolant after this. Now I was starting to be afraid. I drove the car to work (1km) and had to top up with 2,5dl.

Everything else was ok, the temperature didn't rise, the heater worked normally, oil looked good, no coolant coming out from the exhaust... So I checked the hoses under the bonnet and fond them wet and pink. Eventually I found a leak. It dripped from the plastic air vent in the top hose above the fan. When I touched the plastic plop it fell off and water started to run. I pushed it back and drew a strap around it and drove home slowly.

At home I took the hose inside and started to pull away the old plastic bolt. A phone call to the local LR mechanic showed that this air screw wasn't to buy separately, you had to buy the whole hose, which of course is an expensive item. So, I found a bolt with a matching thread. There are no threads in the hose, the bolt is held in place by a form of plate from the inside of the hose. This plate had fallen out when I pulled away the remains from the plastic thing. To get it back I used a piece of string with a spacer tied to it as a drag stop to draw it in place. I had marked the top position with a pen previously so I could turn it into the right position. Finally I tightened with the new bolt and a rubber seal.

If I do this again, I will use something else than a ordinary metallic bolt since it was a little bit hot for the fingers to bleed the system afterwards. But anyhow, the car has stopped leaking as it seams.


(Hoping, hoping, hoping this was it... I'm not interested in another top work!)

SLS

Towed a heavy trailer with the disco yesterday. SLS works!

Off road, but not off pist

It feels nice to have a mobile café for your Sunday trip. Last Sunday Måns and I had our 'fika' on top of the local ski center after our skateboard practise.

I didn't get the HDC to work though, so I have to consult the manual next time. We descended the 'old school' way by locking firs gear and drive safely.

A few days ago my mother, the notorius Land Rover opponent, had to borrow our devilish piece of British machinery. My wife showed her how to drive an automatic and my mother set of without the 'if this happens do that' scheme, since a discovery in many ways is like a normal car.

Fifteen minutes later she called from a parking lot with the alarm screaming. She had turned the alarm on and then tried to enter by using the metal key. At home we laughed, convinced that she would hate the make even more after this. But, to our surprise she returned the car with a smile saying se'd want one for herself! ! Miacles can happen! From now on it's likely to hear good words about Land Rover even from her!

First Aid

Today I saw two men trying to pull a Ford Escort convertible up from a small slope where it stood with its front in a pudddle of mud. The owner had got a call from the police who had found his stolen car, and he was about to bring it home. The Volvo they brought to tow it home hadn't much to give in this situation, so I hooked their towing line to our car, locked up first gear low ratio and took my foot of the brake pedal. The V8 started to pull nicely on just ideling. Suddenly there was a bang and their towing line snapped and whipped our spare wheel cover. Fortunately the rope hit the cover, which is a soft one, so no harm done. Unfortunately for him, he has to do some body work on his boot... Since my strong off-road equipment was in a case at home, the Ford owner descided to call the breakdown unit instead. But I drove off, confident and proud of our new strong team member.