Freelander off the road again, update time..... Drive shaft adventure....

[stuboy]

nice press

[Marina door handles]

I suppose I better finish this tail off. The bearings and back box arrived.

I had really mashed the back box good and proper......

So I replaced it with this very high quality............ okay it was cheap.....

Exhaust job done, I moved back to the bearing.

 

The passenger side front bearing went in pretty easily, I decided not to touch the drivers side (it hadn't been noticeably noisey) and I put the car back together for a test drive and within a few meters I realised I had made a mistake, the ABS, Traction and Hill descent warnings would not go out.... Initially I thought I must have put the bearing in the wrong way around but it occurred to me that I hadn't notice a magnetic ring..... Then I inspected the spare bearing and yep no magnetic ring, well bollocks!

I managed to get hold of the correct style of bearing and went through the whole process again....   

Finally success! The car is back up and slightly quieter...

Oh yes and I picked up another new tool, a very cheap bearing puller. Its main task was getting the remains of the bearing race off the wheel hub. Yes you need to get the bearing moving initially as you need space to get in behind it but it removes all that awkward drifting at funny angles to keep the race moving down and off the shaft....

Anyway, its now back on the road, so i can now focus on my other cars........

 

[Marina door handles]

A month or so back whilst investigating the wheel bearing noise issue I got to test all of the jacking points fairly thoroughly.... Unfortunately the one on the driver's side sill at the rear rather failed that test! It went crunch quite badly.  At the time I had more pressing concerns and decided the car was solid enough in most other areas so I would mentally park that but make some plans to deal with it...

Its the Easter weekend plus I have next week off so what better time to get back in the garage for some choppy choppy buzzy buzzy action?!

Firstly how bad is it? well the jacking point has split in half and has crunched upwards into the sill which has clearly split.....

I removed a foot or so of sill for a good look see... 

So not great, then I removed the sill plastic end cap and found that the back corner of the sill had basically disintegrated......

 

 

The arch is a bit scrappy too, this is going to take a bit of thought and some elbow grease.  

I then scrabbled underneath the car to find out exactly how much of the back of the sill needed replacing and the out rigger section has been collecting water and disintegrated when I tapped it with a hammer.  (excuse the upside downness ) . Not a pretty site but could be worse.

At this point I figured the best place to start was probably replacing the jacking point and work from there. I had some 2mm thick steel  in my stash which is as close to the 2.5mm original that I could find (I will reinforce it with some more plate).  Had sod of a job matching the shape, actually used my press and an old bolt to make the divot down the middle.

Close enough I think....

I have to admit when I bought the car I had noticed a bit of scabbyness in places but had decided because it had a long MOT, it was pretty cheap and I quite liked the car, I was okay to to ignore that little concerned voice in my head....... That's all for now!

 

 

[Marina door handles]

Monday was a bit of a write off so today I have been back in the garage.

The home made jacking point was shaped a bit more and then welded on, then I went about reinforcing it as I figured having it made of two halves was immediately introducing a bit of a weak point .

Its not pretty but most of it will be hidden and it should do the job. 

Next bit was more awkward, try and re make a good section of the inner sill. Folding the shape was easy in card, not so much in the metal were the two folds are too close to each other to do both in my cheapo metal folding  jog thing...

I had to improvise just a bit and no my 2nd work bench does not need tidying, its meant to look like that!

I actually didn't have much success with the breaker bar. I ended up using a long piece of wood and a lump hammer to get the bend I needed, just forgot to take a picture of that attempt.

The finished sill repair piece....

Trial fitting..

Now tacked in place,  that took most of the day. Slow progress....

 

[Marina door handles]

Slow progress continues...

Welded up the back of the first large repair section...

The image has flipped upside down again..... Spot the pin holes, don't worry they have all been filled with yet more weld!

Then cut out part of the end and started making that up, so the inner sill is now solid from end to end, just the inner sill, strengthener plate and outer to sort out!

 

Then created a new section from some 2mm sheet.

 

That was what all I managed up to Friday. The weekend has been  a bit busy but I have continued in fits and starts.

Saturday's massive addition - spot the difference.

Sunday's fabbing/welding has been a bit casual, I've been busy with other things but I did get an extra strengthener plate welded in.

haven't quite finished the inner skin yet or even started welding it in but you have to start some were......

You get the idea though?! Looks like I wont be taking the Freelander to work on Monday then! 

Guess what I will be doing most evenings this coming week then.......

 

 

[Andyrew]

Nice work saving this, there's not many who would but they are nice things to drive

Doing a great job Too

[Marina door handles]

Things have been slightly delayed by an annoying incident, normally if i have an issue with weld spatter its because its landed on my arm are gone into my shoe, resulting in some swearing! This time however a sneaky bit of weld spatter managed to get the gas tube to the welding torch resulting in a bit of a gas leak. 

Not wishing to waste loads of lovely inert gas I affected an expert repair....

It worked for a bit  but started leaking again, not wanting to waste any more gas. I ordered some tube.

Well the tube arrived but didn't fit, pretty certain I had picked the right part.... So that delayed things a bit more. So I decided to order a new torch and hose (the MIG would now be getting its 2nd replacement torch, its definitely triggers welder now!).

The torch arrived this afternoon so I rolled my sleeves up and took the welder apart.

I do like how modular these Clarke welders are and they are actually pretty easy to repair...

 Is this glove abuse? I used the old leather glove as a shield so I don't drop blobs of solder into the electrics of the welder... 

The welder is now tested, up and running, so I should get back on the Freelander tomorrow....

 

[Marina door handles]

Got a bit more done, started on the membrane/inner sill.

Hmm upside down again.... then made up the next section...

Then I re fitted the bottom of the B pillar panel which I had previously cut off for access.

Back to upside down again.....

Progress is actually happening, just slowly and sometimes the right way up.......

 

[Andyrew]

Assuming your taking photos on a smart phone.  My old phone depended on what way I had rotated it in my hands changed the way it appeared on here if that makes sense.  I had to make sure the bottom of the phone was in my right hand when taking a landscape photo to keep them the correct way up.

Excellent progress on the repair too!

 

[Marina door handles]

A bit more progress this weekend, lets see which way up the photos go this time!?

I cleaned up and replaced a small section of wheel arch.

Then decided to tackle the really visible and awkward part, the outer sill. I have bought an after market outer sill its not brilliant, its mostly the right shape! So I cut out what I needed and started the slow process of offering it up and trimming it to fit.

It took a while but I was reasonably happy with the fit (and clearly so was Henry) so I started welding it into place..

I feel like I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.......

 

[Marina door handles]

After all the fun of getting the Rover back on the road, I haven't forgotten about the Land Rover that still needs work! This weekend I have managed to get back on it and have actually made a small amount of progress. The main focus was the rear wheel arch which is extremely crumbly. 

Cutting out a piece of sheet steel with the right curve took some figuring out and a very delicate touch with the grinder but I think I got away with it...

Then weld it in and tidy up a bit.....

Its slow progress but its progress. I will try and get back on this in the evenings if I can take my focus back off the Rover....

 

 

 

[stuboy]

1 hour ago, Marina door handles said:

After all the fun of getting the Rover back on the road, I haven't forgotten about the Land Rover that still needs work! This weekend I have managed to get back on it and have actually made a small amount of progress. The main focus was the rear wheel arch which is extremely crumbly. 

Cutting out a piece of sheet steel with the right curve took some figuring out and a very delicate touch with the grinder but I think I got away with it...

Then weld it in and tidy up a bit.....

Its slow progress but its progress. I will try and get back on this in the evenings if I can take my focus back off the Rover....

 

 

 

good to see uve persevered.

[Marina door handles]

What's this tall car at the back of my garage that I forgot I had, oh its the Freelander! I probably better get back on it really?

Actually in truth I have been slowly fiddling with bits on this as and when I have time, the Rover and the Subaru have got most of the attention lately.  One of the  jobs I had planned for the Landrover was the off side wheel bearing. The passenger side was obviously knackered and I had already detailed changing that so I wasn't really going to post much about this but then the job went a bit wrong.....

Firstly getting the hub nut off was even more awkward than on the other side and even when free'ed was hard to turn. Firstly I had managed to slightly bend a couple of the wheel studs and then on trying to re fit a fresh nut I found that the drive shaft end was not in great shape the threads a bit distorted, actually too damaged to re use so I ended up buying a new drive shaft. 

You can't really see the damage but you can definitely see the shiney new wheel studs! 

New shaft....

It doesn't end there though, on removing the old drive shaft I found the best way to get access and free it off was to remove the lower engine mount - not really a problem until I discovered that the rubber section of the mount was as floppy as a shoe gazers hair cut. So that now needs replacing and the TD4 mount is the most expensive of the version of that mount by nearly double the price, so that's another £80 on top of the unexpected drive shaft, lovely!

The offending article..

At this point it was back to the internet to order yet more parts, who needs money anyway!

Next body work.....

 

[Marina door handles]

There are three main jobs to finish on the sill and wheel arch. 

The inner arch still needs sorting and the outer tidying up...

Yep definitely needs some work. 

Then there is a missing/rusted away box section between the sill and fake chassis rail.

And there is another hole in the back of the sill I missed the first time...

Firstly I decided to tackle the underneath and go for the big box section. So I replaced it with a bit of an Amazon box...

Which I then skilfully primer'ed to look like steel.....

Okay I did actually make it out of steel, I also cut back the metal around the rust hole in the sill in preparation of a repair. 

That's all for now, more updates to come this week as I am on my summer hols, which will mostly consist of hiding in the garage tinkering, cutting grinding and welding! 

 

[Marina door handles]

I have been a bit busier with the other cars but I have progressed this a bit further, then ran out of welding supplies......

The brace is now drilled out so it matches the other side and tacked into place.

The inner wheel arch is now under construction too. most of the frilly metal now removed.

Template made up...

And then a funny shape cut in actual steel.....

So its still progressing just as ever not as quickly as I would like. Now just waiting for the DPD/Evri/Amazon van to arrive.........

 

[Marina door handles]

Little more progress. I got the closing panel stitched in and then created a lip for the wheel arch....

 

Part way through this I discovered that my trousers were not very weld safe..

Sitting on the floor whilst welding in a wheel well,  wearing cargo pants with too high a nylon mix was probably not the best idea!

Also to add insult to injured slacks the welder decided to crap out and stop feeding welding wire. The welder has had two new torches (and its not an easy replaceable Euro torch) and one new motor feed. Maybe its time for a new welder? 

 

[Marina door handles]

Slight continuity fail... Going back in time by about a week.....

I remembered that for the car to look complete, you need to re attach all its plasticky wheel archy bits, including the bit on the back of the sill...

One issue I have with this is the attachment point above the sill is surrounded by thin very rusty metal...

You can guess what comes next... Although I did make a small mod. The original has a plastic square peg with a screw hole. I decided that re cutting a square hole for my square peg was too awkward so welded in a nut on the metal plate.

Using the plastic arch cover to help hold the plate in place and align it before I tack it...

And then I removed it before putting some proper heat into things...

Job jobbed, if slightly out of sequence!

[Marina door handles]

Hmm I think a few updates might have been accidentally skipped as this thread has now reached this point.....

Yep I have achieved a JLR driveway. Admittedly my J and my LR pre date the actual JLR mashup but I think I prefer these cars to later ones anyway! 

To get to this point I ended up having to do this to the other sill after I managed to stick a finger through it 🫣 These things really did like to rot out their sills  but that is no reason to send it to the scrappies...

And then finally some paint...

Yay 70s style black sills because I just happen to have loads of black stone chip!

This has taken far too long, my excuse is that I kept getting distracted by other cars and things....

Anyway the Freelander is now back on the road and taking miles off the XK8 which is good as my fuel budget was being squeezed somewhat..

 

[sdkrc]

@Marina door handles superb work. 

[Andyrew]

Indeed, top work saving this hipppo. 

 

[Marina door handles]

Small update, the Freelander has been soldering on and proving to be a very useful car. But yesterday this happened.....

Glad this happened after its recent MOT! Pretty sure the wipers shouldn't flap about independently? I checked under the scuttle panel and found this....

I did try and affect a repair with a tried and tested method....

Yeah that worked for about 2 cycles on intermittent then failed... I have ordered a new wiper linkage should be with me Monday or Tuesday.

 

[Marina door handles]

Best update this thread too...

The wiper linkage arrived, hurrah!

I removed the old linkage, swapped the motor across but due to the borked linkage didn't pay enough attention to were the angles of the motor to linkage arm went.. I fitted the part and was immediately annoyed with the wiping pattern, so I took it off again.

I faffed with the linkage and tried to judge by memory were the motor arm was, re fitted it and got it massively wrong! The action snapped the new linkage and made it useless,,,,,,,

Shitey fuck bollocks! That's £48 straight down the drain.......

This was Tuesday evening, I really wanted to use the Freelander the following day due to the lovely weather, so what to do? Well I eye balled the original linkage and in a flash of inspiration, fired up the welder! I welded short screws to the original ball joints and then drilled out the plastic ends of the original linkage, they were clearly too worn to pop back on to the joints but I could do this.....

I am not sure what you would call this in engineering terms............ A bodge is the word that springs to mind! So I sleeved over the thread of the bolt with some copper fuel pipe, stuck a washer on top and a little nyloc nut to hold things in place and hey presto I had re secured the linkages but made sure they were free to swivel as they should.

I re fitted it and tested the wiping pattern more carefully, firstly using cable ties to replicate the wipers and adjusted the motor arm accordingly, once happy re fitted the wipers and now have a working set of wipers once more.

 

 

[comfortablynumb]

Not stupid if it works👍

[Marina door handles]

During the seemingly endless winter months the freelander has developed a less than charming and slightly distressing grinding noise from the rear end.. It sounded like the brakes scrapping but on stripping the drums it was definitely not that.

On inspecting were the drive shafts enter the hubs I found on the drivers side quite a disturbingly rusty mess and bits sort of accumulating between the edge of the hub/knuckle and the drive shaft, really a bit odd but possibly the source of  the noise.

Last weekend I started a proper investigation . I pulled the drive shaft out of the hub and....

I found what appeared to be a large rusty ring floating freely in the hub..

Turns out it should be rather firmly attached to the drive shaft as a kind of shield to stop crap getting into the wheel bearing...

It should go here..

Not good but it would definitely explain the horrible noise..

 Fortunately I had already decided I didn't like the look of the old drive shaft and had already bought its replacement.

 

And here it is modelling the old one's ring of shame....

I replaced the wheel bearing too, it didn't seem too bad but who knows how much rusty crap has worked its way into it? just seemed sensible as everything was apart. 

The car also has quite a clonk from the rear when changing gear so I looked at the the suspension bushes, all seemed okay. The centre bearings (there are two on a Freelander as the viscous coupling sits in between them) can be source of noise/movement were virtually new anyway and all okay. Next I checked the diff mounts, the front mount was utterly knackered, so replaced them, its much easier with one drive shaft removed, hopefully that is the culprit..

So far I had done a good job been lucky anticipating which parts I would need and had most of them in already...

As this car has drums on the rear I had to disconnect the cylinder on the drivers side, which means the brakes now need bleeding, actually they are over due a brake fluid change so, its a good excuse. The car had really stumpy little bleed nipples making bleeding virtually impossible. I had bought longer ones to sort the issue. Fitting one to the removed cylinder, dead easy. Then I went to fit one to the other side... Hmm the old nipple is just rounding off, oh well I will just unbolt the cylinder which will give me better access to the nipple... The two little bolts holding in place appear to be made of some kind of rust composite and just turn to dust as I tried to turn them, great! 

I attempted various method to remove the bolts but in the end I had to get medieval with the cylinder, and carefully put an angle grinder through it, which eventually gave me access to the bolts, from the inside! New cylinder now on order....

That's the car now off the road until the factors re open next week anyway.