First anniversary for Bèrke

Already 5 years ago today, that I took delivery of my current daily driver. A 2008 Land Rover Defender 110SW. Or Bèrke as he’s been christened. And although I have had a few problems with it, the highlights are clearly in the majority. Of course it has been used for one of the main reason it was bought for, moving Triumph TR7’s around, and for transporting the tools etcetera to the shed on a regular basis.

One of the other reason for purchasing this car is my daily job.

Where it can sometimes be useful to have a capable off-roader and work horse!

 

And finally he proved to be an excellent touring and holiday car. The fact that he proved very capable when there was some unexpected snow on higher grounds didn’t come much as a surprise (Toll booth conversation at the Timmelsjoch Q: haben sie Schneeketten dabei? A: Nein die brauch ich nicht!)

Timmeltaler Urweg, on top of the Timmelsjoch

Exiting the Seebertal, a side valley on the Timmelsjoch

Heading down a rather white Stelvio Pass

Also heading down a very frozen and slippery Umbrail Pass

And as ever with a car, he received a bit of personalisation over the years:

As presented to me

As delivered

And it’s current guise

Yes I do have a soft spot for these cars. True British engineering that will go wrong from time to time! Roll on the next 5 years!

FHC resto nr. 97; Front bumper

Went in search of a FHC front bumper yesterday. Those who follow this blog might be slightly puzzled here! And that’s because I had prepared both a front and a rear bumper for the car a few years ago. But I didn’t pay enough attention here and put too much trust in the experts on the social media 😜 So when I found out that my only spare FHC front bumper needed a fair amount of welding, I hoped that using a DHC bumper bar on the ’76 FHC indeed was an easy solution. Well, I have to admit it can be done but you either have to drill new holes in the bumper mounting plates of the car’s body, or you have to cut open the steel armature to change the mounting plate inside the bumper bar. The difference between the two mounting points should be clear from these two pictures:

DHC bumper

FHC bumper

As I didn’t fancy drilling holes in the body, nor cutting up the nicely coated bumper bar to change the mounting plates, I went for an easier option. I visited a friend yesterday, who also has a reasonable stock of TR7 spares. And he did have a few FHC bumper bars to choose from. Turned out one of these also was a DHC bar, despite coming from a FHC. But inspecting that car’s shell, showed they indeed had drilled extra holes to fit the bumper to the car. Luckily the other bumper was a proper FHC bumper. And after removing the side lamps and bumper covers it turned out to be in pretty good condition. No welding needed, just light blasting and coating!

So this will be dropped off for shot blasting hopefully soon. And the DHC bumper I prepared? Well that will be put in storage for when I want (or have) to fit a euro style bumper to my DHC.

And I also found a more or less intact exhaust to gearbox bracket. Though this one also needs a bit of reshaping and some remedial welding to strengthen it, before it can be coated.

MOT: next in line

Last week the DHC got a certificate of good health during her biennial MOT. And this week it was ‘t Kreng’s turn. But not before I checked a few items that might cause trouble during the inspection last weekend. I started under the bonnet. First in line for a closer look were the carburettors:

Everything fine there. The linkage was still smooth and the inside of the throats also looked nice and clean, with no visible signs of back firing. Also the K&N air filters, the fuel hoses and all fuel connections were in good condition.

A further inspection of the engine bay showed nothing obviously wrong. No leaks and all levels on the mark.

The spark plugs and the brakes were not touched as the car behaved rather well during her first, and so far only, outing this year! And the rest of the engine bay also looked quite all right. Actually for a car that has been in more or less constant use since 1997, it doesn’t look too shabby!

Last in line were the front wheel bearings. Here I found the biggest problem, a slightly loose left hand front wheel bearing. But that was quite easy to rectify (or should be), using my tried and tested technique:

1. Remove the wheel to access and remove the bearing dust cap;

2. Refit the wheel, making sure it is firmly clamped down to the hub.

This way it is easier to detect any play in the bearing and to turn the wheel,

to listen for rumbling noises;

3. Make the necessary adjustments, until the wheel turns freely, and without any noticeable play. After which the nut retainer (21H5129) and split pin were refitted.

4. And finally the dust cap was refitted to the hub (sorry! I forgot the picture).

But I have to admit that one way or another I wasn’t quite happy with how the bearing felt. But maybe I am just overly worried, hearing rumbling bearings everywhere 😜. Luckily I had no time to inquire any further. So I decided to leave it for the professionals to judge during the biennial inspection!

And today was judgement day, so I again visited a friend’s workshop to present a car for her biennial test (or APK as it is called here). As usual the test started on the brake test platform. Sadly due to an injury (and partly old age J) the tester couldn’t get in the car. So I had to perform that part of the test for him. So no pictures of the three readings. But the car passed with flying colour with the following average readings; front ±4750N, rear ±1700N and handbrake ±1600N. The emissions test was next, and as expected this was also spot on, with a reading of just above 3,0 % vol. CO. (yes I was a bit too quick to take the picture, so I missed the point where the meter levelled out!).

The last part of the test was the visual inspection of the engine bay and suspension. And despite my slight worries all turned out to be fine. Another clean health declaration for the next 2 years!

And last but not least, at the end of this month my daily LaRo Defender will be the last in line! In that case it will be a full service and its annual inspection.