Member Since: 06 Mar 2014
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1172
Finally, to cheer myself up from all of this tedious maintenance, I fitted my recently acquired D4 rear lights. These came already fitted with resistors so really were a straight swap.
Half way through:
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The finished article:
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Originally, I planned to re-fit the light guards, suitably modified, but having offered up the first one I decided against it. The black border on the new lights against the black bodywork changes the proportions considerably and I'm really pleased with the look.
Click image to enlarge
Darren
"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 24th Mar 2024 10:24 pm. Edited 1 time in total
27th Jul 2014 5:08 pm
LandRoverAnorak
Member Since: 06 Mar 2014
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1172
Spent a couple of hours yesterday knocking up a bit of storage for the boot:
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Despite my general car clutter in the picture, the section on the left is designed to accept a small folding ladder/platform that I use for putting bikes on the roof. The section on the right is designed to be easily removable to enable one rear seat to be used:
Click image to enlarge
Eventually, the whole thing will be finished with paint and rubber matting but it'll have to do as is for the time being due to an upcoming holiday.Darren
"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 24th Mar 2024 10:28 pm. Edited 1 time in total
4th Aug 2014 8:08 pm
LandRoverAnorak
Member Since: 06 Mar 2014
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1172
I'm taking the lack of any comments as people just being in awe of my vehicle DIY skills, so onwards and upwards
Rain stopped play yesterday so this evening I managed to replace the front diff oil with the correct stuff. I've covered about 400 miles since the last oil change and what came out was still pretty brown, although I guess that's down to the residue of the used-to-be-oil that I drained first time around.
The drain plug had a new little forest of metal fillings. Nowhere near as bad as last time but there were still some distinct tiny flakes visible.
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I'm not really sure what to take from this, if I'm honest, but I'm a long way from condemning the diff yet. I'm content with the belief that the nice new expensive oil will protect it for a good while.
I ran out of impetus to do the rear (and the pizza arrived) so that'll have to wait for another day Darren
"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 24th Mar 2024 10:30 pm. Edited 1 time in total
6th Aug 2014 6:57 pm
LandRoverAnorak
Member Since: 06 Mar 2014
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1172
Another day, another oil change This time it was the turn of the rear diff. Comparatively easier than the front as it's more accessible, although the larger oil volume means it takes forever to fill.
Anyway, first thing's first - removing the filler plug. This the same as the front, requiring an 8mm hex key, but it wasn't immediately obvious due to corrosion:
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A quick tap with a hammer got the key home and then a clean up with wire wool made re-fitting it much easier.
Next, with a container underneath, the drain plug was removed. Again, as with the front, this is a 3/8th square drive and came out quite easily. It revealed a fairly impressive forest of metal filings and gunk:
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Once cleaned up though, all was good:
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What came out was pretty foul, although it was at least more oil-like than the front. Again, it looks like the original oil, which really makes you wonder what Land Rover were thinking with these things:
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Then began the tedious process of re-filling with 1.1 litres of lovely Castrol Syntrax Longlife. With a pipe in the filler hole, I cable-tied it to, er, something to keep it in place:
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And then lashed up support for a funnel. It took fifteen minutes to set up and drain the oil then nearly an hour and a half to fill it again
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Oil changes are always satisfying Just got the transfer box to now, but that's going to have to wait until next month after holidays.Darren
"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Last edited by LandRoverAnorak on 25th Mar 2024 8:53 pm. Edited 1 time in total
15th Aug 2014 6:57 pm
LandRoverAnorak
Member Since: 06 Mar 2014
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1172
Just back from a couple of weeks' family hols, where the Discovery did exactly the sort of things it was designed for:
Click image to enlarge
With that out of the way, next job on the list is an oil change for the transfer box. I visited the LR dealer in Reading and spent a small fortune on the mysterious 'special transfer box oil', only afterwards realising that I've bought too much
Click image to enlarge
Darren
"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Member Since: 14 Oct 2013
Location: 'Sunny' Zomerset
Posts: 9424
Sorry been behind with posts, love what you've done, especially the rear storage area - what do you use to support the sides, any additional pics?
May copy you if OK Iggy/Ieuan
Current LR =
2015 RR Sport Autobiography
&
1992 Land Rover Defender Camper
- Gone but not forgotten:
MY10 D4 GS
MY05 Disco 3 'S'
MY14 FL2 HSE manual in Blue
MY15 Disco 4 HSE Lux in Santorini Black
MY08 Disco 3 SE manual in Buck Blue
1960 Series 2 88" (No idea why I sold it!)
2nd Sep 2014 7:24 pm
robo
Member Since: 30 Jul 2010
Location: solihull
Posts: 298
enjoyed your thread, done similar today,diffs,transfer case, engine oil + filter and fuel filter, oh and 2 rear drop links, busy day but nice to see fresh oil going in.gone not forgotten 2 classics
gone forgotten 2 p38s
current d3 se 2006 td standard for now
2nd Sep 2014 7:38 pm
LandRoverAnorak
Member Since: 06 Mar 2014
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1172
Iguana wrote:
Sorry been behind with posts, love what you've done, especially the rear storage area - what do you use to support the sides, any additional pics?
May copy you if OK
The sides are supported on more MDF that sit on the bases of the tie downs. They're cut short to avoid the dog guard stays amd then the front corners are supported on individual timber legs. I'll try and get some pics of the parts out of the car.
It all worked perfectly - particularly the removable bit to make one rear seat available. However, I'll probably re-build it from plywood before I need to use it again in anger. In hindsight, the larger span on the right was a bit much for MDF and it's not really taking the knocks very well either.
I'm in two minds whether to leave it in all of the time. For day to day use, I don't really need the divided storage but having the boot floor raised up to nearly top of lower tailgate height is surprisingly handy.Darren
"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
Member Since: 06 Mar 2014
Location: Surrey
Posts: 1172
Changed the transfer box oil today. All fairly straightforward apart from filling the b@$tard thing up again!
With the drain and filler plugs removed:
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No magnetic plugs in this 'box, unfortunately:
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My funnel lash-up for re-filling:
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What that didn't show was the small plastic water bottle that I had to use to pour the oil into the funnel, as it was the biggest thing that I could get in the space above the funnel. Ten minutes to drain and then another hour lying on my back holding a small bottle in the air to coax the new stuff in
Anyway, eventually got the plugs back in and tidied up:
Click image to enlarge
The oil that came out was a bit discoloured, but nowhere near as bad as the diff oils. There was a smattering of metal filings in the bottom, but nothing to be concerned about:
Click image to enlarge
And the outcome? No noticeable difference whatsoever. Still, the warm glow of satisfaction will keep me going Darren
"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia
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Just got the transfer box to now, but that's going to have to wait until next month after holidays.
