More Defender repairs + last of 't Kreng's daily duties

I am pleased to be able to report that the Defender's gearbox is back where it belongs underneath the car, together with a completely new clutch assembly, and a partial new exhaust. But as mentioned in one of my previous posts, there were some other issues with the car. The first one to address was a by now rather major oil leak from the steering box:

This should have been repaired during its annual service last August. But the repair consisted of sealant that was applied over original seal. I wouldn't have worried to much if that had done the job. But it hadn't, actually the opposite happened. Since this repair the leak had worsened! Luckily I noticed it just in time before the reservoir had emptied itself completely on the parking space opposite the house!

Another item that should have been addressed was a tendency of the car to pull to the right under braking. But judging by the state of the brake callipers they were not touched during the service:

On one of the rear callipers the dust cover from one of the pistons even had come of completely! Luckily all pistons still moved, or could be made to move again without damage to the seals. So as there were no leaks and the pads and discs are still in good working condition we decided on a thorough clean and leave the brakes as they are for the time being. By the time the pads are worn I'll either have all callipers reconditioned or put new ones on ...

And finally one of the universal joints from one of the prop shafts needed renewal. One wonders why they fit grease nipples!

But if everything goes to plan the Defender will be ready to roll again this weekend! Time to end 't Kreng's daily duties, and tuck her away in the shed. But before that I'll bore you with some final pictures!

To start with 't Kreng patiently waiting in an empty street for me to return from an appointment in Venlo:

In front of one of our sewage water pumping stations, in this case RG Horn Oude Maas:

At a sand pit beside the river Maas between Neer and Buggenum:

And finally alongside the river Maas, close to the river ferry between Beesel and Kessel:

And as you can see I have removed the stickers from the 2013 AutoEcosse at last. At the time the plan was to start on some major work on this car (solid roof, panhard rear suspension, welded in cage and new paint) so I decided to leave them on till the new paint would be applied. But as life and other projects intervened these jobs were postponed. To be continued one day ...