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Terrafirma coil springs suspension

Busy with the “normal” work load but have find some time in between to sort out the spring trouble on the 130 Station Wagon. Last summer I’ve replace the sagging Britpart rear springs with my ‘old’ Old Man Emu 754 ones but those turned out to be way to strong for the weight of the vehicle. I’ve now found the perfect spring (hopefully) with the right load specifications of 330 lbs/in and a free spring length of 435mm. These new TF019 springs are manufactured by Allmakes and their Terrafirma brand. I’m awaiting my spring order and will update my blog as soon as these Terrafrima springs have arrived!

Terrafirma-springs-Land-Rover-TF019

Terrafirma

Terrafirma TF019 rear springs medium duty for Land Rover 110 and 130. There are several ratings available including heavy load like the old OME springs I’m replacing at the moment. For front I do consider to match the rear springs with the TF018 spring. The rating of those springs should be good enough for my 130 fitted with Superwinch X9 winch and (steel) steering protector.

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Land Rover LT230 Transfer Box

Busy with work, holiday and now some vehicle maintenance. Still sorting out the springs on the 130. Will post more on that one a little later. Main problem with the Defender 130 Station Wagon is a real bad oil leak.  The EP 80/90 oil is leaking via the intermediate shaft out of the LT230 transfer box.  The unit has been reconditioned 35.000km back by a professional company….

I do expect the o-ring seal on the intermediate shaft to be broken and searching on the Internet revealed it to be a common problem.  It should be an “easy repair” but the only way to get to this rubber seal is by taking out the transfer box of the vehicle and dismantle it! So it’s actually a lot of work!

As I do have two other LT230 units on the shelf I’ve decided to recondition one of the boxes by myself! OK I’m not novice to gearboxes, reconditioned two Series 3 gearboxes back in the nineties.

As it is difficult to take a picture of the actual leak I’ve edited the image below. The red circle on the left is the intermediate shaft. The right circle is the input gear / shaft and connecting to the main gearbox, a LT77.

230a-leaks

The first image is the oil leak of the LT230 fitted to the vehicle right now, second image is the serial number with suffix ‘E’ and another engraving which might be a referrer to a previous reconditioning of this transfer box. This actual unit is 1992.  The third image, the complete box dismantled into pieces. The fourth image a close up of the gears, on the left the intermediate gears + shaft. On the right the main shaft with differential.

My next step is ordering all new bearings, seals, gaskets and some small bits and pieces. The most difficult of the full reconditioning job is to get the bearing pre loads right. Main shaft & intermediate shaft. Special tools are needed which I don’t have.

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Timing Belt change 200Tdi Defender

This weekend I’ve changed the timing belt of my 200Tdi Defender (Kanga).  I’m glad I did as the old drive belt did have some serious damage! See the two pictures below. Mileage on the old belt 22.000km.

At this stage it’s wise to replace the cam shaft and crank shaft oil seals + fit a new genuine tensioner. I did also replace the waterpump. Belt OEM made by DAYCO.

On this Land Rover website page you can read and down load a full article on changing the timimg belt of a 200Tdi.
Tools I’ve been using are the Difflock Timing Kit and the Difllock Crank Shaft Pully Tool.

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Springs and shocks @ 130 Defender

Spend some time this weekend on changing the suspension on my 130 Defender. New shocks and front springs. Some funny noises triggered this repair job. Removing the plastic cover above the front suspension turret revealed a sheared off shock absorber bracket. No wonder that side did feel a bit spongy!

Yellow Britpart HD front springs replacing the old ones. New HD shock absorber turrets and Delphi De-Carbon gas dampers.

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Upington Land Rover

In SA now @ the Upington Land Rover garage, no breakdown but just an aircon service for the Td5! It’s 45 degrees max. so some better cooling is most welcome. Just left Augrabies Falls and now on the way to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park. Freshing up my knowledge as the last visit to the National Parks dates back to 1999! Expect not much to be changed except the increase in wilderness and rest camps (and traffic). Back in the nineties (and the Kalahari Gemsbok years) the only 3 camps were Twee Rivieren, Nossob and Mata Mata. First night will be camping and from there on we will stay at several wilderness  camps.

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Botswana break downs 1995

Just some good old Botswana Land Rover pictures! It’s my Series Land Rover on the Maun 2 Sepupa road, the wheel almost came off! Probably a loose wheel bearing causing the hub to over heat and break the axle shaft. But within 24 hours back on the road with 2nd hand replacement parts! As you can see on the first image I did cut off the 2nd door (1st door can be divided as standard on a Series Landy) to increase visibility for the 2nd row passengers.

The third image is another break down, all rear spring blades broken! It did happen in Chobe National Park, Botswana.  As a bush repair I did use the ground anchor and some straps to secure the rear axle. This repair did last all the way from Chobe National Park to my base in Harare (Zimbabwe).